MUSIC

Ligeti: Atmosphères / Perry: Stabat Mater / Holst: The Planets

WEDNESDAY & FRIDAY – SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22 & 24 – 25, 2023
7:00 PM WEDNESDAY
8:00 PM FRIDAY & SATURDAY

New York Philharmonic
David Geffen Hall, Lincoln Center
10 Lincoln Center Plaza, Upper West Side, Manhattan

$91-$275
TICKETS + INFORMATION

The stunningly cosmic Atmosphères was the first Ligeti many of us heard, in its memorable place on the soundtrack of 2001: A Space Odyssey. You can see how in theory Holst’s The Planets could be thought to go with it, given the two pieces’ emphasis on tone color and the connotations Kubrick bestowed on the Ligeti — even though the best you can say for The Planets, as for most British holdover Late Romantic, is that it’s nice to bathe in if you’re in the mood to overlook how fundamentally stupid it is (which is why all those ‘70s Prog Rockers adapted it). As for Julia Perry’s Stabat Mater (which I guess they figured they might as well play since they already had a chorus around for The Planets): grab every chance you can to hear the music of this scandalously overlooked (for the usual reasons) composer, whose transition from sprightly Neoclassical to a still-sprightly form of Modernism this excellent piece is the fulcrum of. And the lush (I mean her voice; I have no idea what her drinking habits are) mezzo J’Nai Bridges will handle to solo vocal part!

MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Long-standing neighborhood French at Le Boite en Bois.