Otherworldly: 'Celestial' Music on Tap at Danbury Music Centre

DANBURY, CT —When Charles Ives Concert Series Artistic Director Paul Frucht set about crafting the program for the 2019 program, he wasn’t worried that many people would be turned off by some of the ultra-modern sounds and themes.

He counted on it.

"We're getting push back, but you always want some push back. If you are pleasing everyone, I don’t know if you are really doing something right," Frucht said. "I'd rather make 90 percent of the people feel great and have 10 percent of the people push back then have 100 percent of the people just feel okay."

Charles Ives Concert Series Artistic Director Paul Frucht

Frucht says that, based upon feedback he had received following last year’s performances, he
developed an appetite "to do some things that were a little more 'out there.'"

"Not necessarily in terms of dissonance or harmonic language," the Danbury native explained, "but in terms of texture and timbre, and just the different sounds that can be created by any kind of instruments."

And George Crumb’s "Celestial Mechanics" clearly fits that bill. It is the fourth and final volume of piano works in the composer's magnum opus, "Makrokosmos." Subtitled "Cosmic Dances for Amplified Piano, Four Hands," the composition was released in 1979, and manages to be simultaneously atmospheric and lyrical.

It's also an ingenious use of some very special resources. Performing at Danbury Centre this season are Mika Sasaki and George Fu, two immensely talented pianists, and Crumb's "Celestial Mechanics" is that rarest of musical compositions, written for one piano played with four hands.

You can see where this is going.

Pianist George Fu

"Crumb's music, you can frame it, it's so beautiful," Sasaki said. "The sounds he makes happen at the piano are otherworldly. 'Celestial Mechanics' in particular is so symphonic in scope because of the two pianists at one keyboard. But there is also the page turner, who gets involved occasionally, so it's really massive in scope."

Think of playing Twister, while playing a piano.

"Crumb himself wrote something in the program notes about 'cosmic choreography,'" Sasaki
explained. "It's not just your fingers at the keyboard, it's when to stand up, how are you going to keep the pedal down? Do you need a sand bag, or extra assistance so that your right foot is not
stuck on the pedal, and you don't hurt your back? It's about figuring out the extended techniques."

Those techniques include dropping three metal 12-inch rulers onto the piano strings at the beginning of the third movement. All the machinations and gyrations are worth it in the end, according to the pianist, because of the unique sounds all those gymnastics allow her to pull from her instrument.

Frucht is such a big fan of the piece he has programmed the whole August 8 concert around it, and what it means to be "celestial."

Capturing that essence sublimely, if not perfectly, will be "Star Crossing" by Robert Patterson, the Danbury Music Centre’s composer in residence. Frucht describes the otherwise unclassifiable
composition as a "really cool, kind of textural piece, due to the instrumentation: flute, clarinet, vibraphone and piano. It's a really fascinating sound he gets out of these four instruments...
like almost a journey in space."

Deluxe Bonus: Principal Clarinet of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Anton Rist, will be a guest artist on “Star Crossing.”

The concert will also feature works by Jared Miller, Augusta Read Thomas, the Centre’s 2019
Call For Scores winner Hannah Lipton, and Associate Artistic Director Jonathan Cziner. All told, "the 'Celestial Mechanics' concert is not just about its eerie nature, its weird sounds," Frucht
said, "it's also about heaven, and peace, and all sorts of existential questions."

The artistic director has also kept a slot open for his own work. His composition "Double Cascade" is another piano duet, this time played the old-fashioned way on two separate pianos. It’s a piece of music specifically designed to be played by two virtuso pianists, a deck Frucht was able to stack for his work this time with Misaki and Fu. It’s good to be the king.

Frucht believes he can get away with a lot of his boundary-stretching because Danbury has a certain innate understanding and acceptance of modern American concert music that comes with being the birthplace of Charles Ives.

"In the Danbury area, Ives is a really central figure," said Frucht. "That culture that he grew up in is still so present and so pervasive around here. And that's what's made this series really leapfrog a couple of steps we would have to take if we were in a town or area that was not the home to a famous American composer."

The Charles Ives Concert Series kicks off Sunday, August 4.

Sasaki had some advice for concert-goers who might be intimidated by Crumb's modern masterwork, and especially for those who are not.

"It's about these bright stars," she explained. "I think I would like the audience to close their eyes and imagine this cosmic dance. It's very tempting to look at what is happening, because we will be standing up, and dropping rulers, but it's really about the sound, so I hope they will be mind-blown by what the piano is capable of doing."

The 2019 Charles Ives Concert Series is four concerts that play various venues the week of August 4. "Celestial Mechanics" will be performed at the Marian Anderson Recital Hall at the Danbury Music Centre on Thursday, August 8, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are general admission and $20 online, $25 at the door, $10 for seniors, students, and children.