For the past dozen years or so, I've been watching John Heginbotham perform with the Mark Morris Dance Group. He became one of those dancers whose presence I actively looked forward to: as the original and strikingly saintly Saint Ignatius in Four Saints in Three Acts; as the brilliantly feminine Mrs. Stahlbaum in The Hard Nut; as the highly sympathetic and touchingly rendered priest in Romeo and Juliet. So it was a combination of affection for the dancer and curiosity about his next step that took me to the Baryshnikov Arts Center on Saturday night, when two new pieces of choreography by Heginbotham were on the program. What started out as mere personal interest, however, turned into one of the most welcome experiences a critic can have--the profoundly impersonal yet wholehearted admiration of valuable new works of art.

Heginbotham turns out to have a true choreographic imagination and the technical skills to go along with it.  In the two pieces on the program--Closing Bell, which premiered last August at Jacob's Pillow, and Twin, which was having its world premiere in this run at BAC--he evinced the kind of brilliantly specific musicality one might expect of a Mark Morris protegé. He cleverly chose music, though, that was unlike anything Morris would ever use: electronic scores by Tyondai Braxton (for Closing Bell) and Aphex Twin (for Twin) that yielded powerful rhythms, occasional familiar-seeming melodies, and intermittent strange sounds in a manner that could only have come from recorded music. This meant that Heginbotham's faithfulness to his music, while practically as intense as Morris's, had a very different feel.  In the earlier piece, that feeling was mainly carnivalesque, circus-like, cartoonish, with many sparks of wit; in the premiere, the feeling was darker, more satiric, and sometimes rather frightening. And in each case he was able to bring something out in the music that I would not have heard if I had not been watching those dances.

The choreography required enormous skill on the part of the six dancers who, at least for that evening, constituted the group Dance Heginbotham.  (The standout among them was the marvelous John Eirich, but all the others--Kristen Foote, Allysen Hooks, Lindsey Jones, BJ Randolph, and Evan Teitelbaum--were terrific, too.) This was not mere technical skill:  Heginbotham knows how to ask a lot of his dancers in a way that gives their movement both psychological significance and emotional impact. The gestures ranged from the tiny (tongues poking into cheeks or stuck out of mouths) to the large (all the dancers jumping up and down in heartbeat-rhythm unison, in a way that made the bleachers holding the audience shake), and all of them existed to further the overall meaning of the dance. Most modern-dance choreographers these days have "ideas" that transcend and disdain technique, or else they have an almost mechanical obsession with showing what the human body can do, regardless of the gesture's point. Heginbotham avoids both these pitfalls: he has something to say through dance, but he knows enough about movement to say it with enormous complexity and skillful precision.

Closing Bell is a playful dance for three men and a woman, with thrilling passages in which each person dances solo, joyful combinations of all four dancing together, and many profusely active moments in between. It ends on a pounding, rhythmic finish and is a total delight. Twin is the more ambitious work--it is very difficult to convey threat and fear in dance, and I think Heginbotham manages it beautifully here, in a sequence where four of the other dancers alternately block and corner and scoop up and tower over a flimsily beskirted, obviously terrified Eirich--but as a performance it is finally a bit less coherent and slightly less satisfying than its predecessor. Both dances, though, especially in combination, signal the emergence of a serious new choreographic presence in our midst. I can't wait to see what he does next.

This week's links to NAJP members' work:

Larry Blumenfeld on the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (The Village Voice)
Robert Campbell reviews MassArt's bold new high-rise dorm (The Boston Globe)
Michael Feingold reviews "The Caretaker" at BAM (The Village Voice)
Michael Feingold reviews "Man and Superman" at Irish Rep (The Village Voice)
Matthew Gurewitsch views portraits at the Met and at Sardi's (The New York Times)
Patti Hartigan on "Avenue Q" at Lyric Stage Company (The Boston Globe)
Christopher Hawthorne on the new Barnes Foundation museum (Los Angeles Times)
Ann Hornaday reviews "Last Call at the Oasis" (The Washington Post)
Ann Hornaday reviews "The Dictator" (The Washington Post)
Allan M. Jalon on Wu Guanzhong at the Asia Society Museum (Los Angeles Times)
Cynthia Joyce on a nanny solution for touring artist parents (The Washington Post)
Glenn Lovell reviews Johnny Depp in "Dark Shadows" (CinemaDope.com)
Glenn Lovell reviews the Filipino fright film "The Road" (CinemaDope.com)
Donald Munro on the Fresno Grand Opera musicians' strike (The Fresno Bee)
Donald Munro reviews Fresno Grand Opera with non-union musicians (The Fresno Bee)
Ann Powers on Don Draper and "Tomorrow Never Knows" (NPR)
Craig Seligman reviews John Irving's "In One Person" (Bloomberg News)
Craig Seligman reviews Toni Morrison's "Home" (Bloomberg News)
Kenneth Turan reviews "Dark Shadows" (Los Angeles Times)
Calvin Wilson on Kevin Kline and "Darling Companion" (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
Calvin Wilson on Riverdance's last time around (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
Linda Winer on Jonathan Pryce in Harold Pinter's "The Caretaker" (Newsday)

In print:

MJ Andersen on Alex Katz at the Museum of Fine Arts (The Providence Journal)

And in book news:

Anita Amirrezvani's second novel, "Equal of the Sun," will be published by Scribner on June 5. For a review copy, contact her publicist, Kate Lloyd, at kate.lloyd@simonandschuster.com. For more on the book: www.anitaamirrezvani.com

This week's links to NAJP members' work:

Martin Bernheimer reviews the New York Philharmonic (Financial Times)
Martin Bernheimer reviews "The Makropulos Case" at the Met (Financial Times)
Larry Blumenfeld on the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (The Village Voice)
Michael Feingold reviews David Auburn's "The Columnist" (The Village Voice)
Michael Feingold reviews the musical "Leap of Faith" (The Village Voice)
James Hale reviews Gregg Allman's "My Cross To Bear" (Jazz Chronicles)
Patti Hartigan on Hershey Felder's "Maestro: Leonard Bernstein" (The Boston Globe)
Christopher Hawthorne on the design of the Expo Line (Los Angeles Times)
John Horn on making "Marigold Hotel" for older audiences (Los Angeles Times)
Ann Hornaday reviews "The Avengers" (The Washington Post)
Ann Hornaday reviews "Restless City" (The Washington Post) 
Lawrence B. Johnson reviews "Timon of Athens" (ChicagoOntheAisle.com)
Lawrence B. Johnson on Goodman's "Iceman Cometh" (ChicagoOntheAisle.com)
Julia M. Klein reviews Scott Martelle's "Detroit: A Biography" (Los Angeles Times)
Dennis Lim on Sacha Baron Cohen and "The Dictator" (The New York Times)
Dennis Lim interviews the Supreme Leader of Wadiya (The New York Times)
Ann Powers on Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe" (NPR)
Kenneth Turan reviews "First Position" (Los Angeles Times)
Kenneth Turan reviews "The Avengers" (Los Angeles Times)
Linda Winer reviews "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at CSC (Newsday)
Linda Winer on the Tony nominations (Newsday)

This week's links to NAJP members' work:

Robert Campbell on residential retro-modernism (The Boston Globe)
Robert Christgau on Todd Snider (Barnes & Noble Review)
Laura Collins-Hughes reviews David Auburn's "The Columnist" (The Boston Globe)
Michael Feingold reviews "Ghost: The Musical" (The Village Voice)
Michael Feingold reviews Emily Mann's "Streetcar" revival (The Village Voice)
Matthew Gurewitsch salutes Yveta Synek Graff (beyondcriticism.com)
Christopher Hawthorne on plans for Union Station (Los Angeles Times)
Ann Hornaday reviews "The Five-Year Engagement" (The Washington Post)
Ann Hornaday reviews Kenneth Lonergan's "Margaret" (The Washington Post)
Michael Kimmelman reviews Miami's Marlins Park (The New York Times)
Glenn Lovell reviews John Cusack in "The Raven" (CinemaDope.com)
Glenn Lovell reviews "The Three Stooges" (CinemaDope.com)
Renee Montagne interviews "Children's Picturebooks" author Martin Salisbury (NPR)
Renee Montagne interviews "Pigeon" series author Mo Willems (NPR)
Peter Plagens reviews Frank Stella, Bryan Hunt et al (The Wall Street Journal)
Ann Powers on Rufus Wainwright's "Out of the Game" (NPR)
John Rockwell on what's onstage in Europe (The New York Times)
Kenneth Turan reviews "Headhunters" (Los Angeles Times)
Kenneth Turan reviews "The Pirates! Band of Misfits" (Los Angeles Times)

This week's links to NAJP members' work:

Larry Blumenfeld on Dr. John at BAM (The Village Voice)
Robert Christgau on Dr. John at BAM (MSN)
Michael Feingold reviews "Massacre (Sing to Your Children)" (The Village Voice)
Michael Feingold reviews "In Masks Outrageous and Austere" (The Village Voice)
Matthew Gurewitsch reviews the Liceu "Lulu" on DVD (Opera News)
Patti Hartigan reviews Anne Bogart's "Café Variations" (The Boston Globe)
John Horn on a one-night run for Mel Gibson's "Get the Gringo" (Los Angeles Times)
Ann Hornaday reviews "Think Like a Man" (The Washington Post)
Ann Hornaday reviews "The Island President" (The Washington Post)
Lawrence B. Johnson on "The March" at Steppenwolf (ChicagoOntheAisle.com)
Lawrence B. Johnson on "Angels in America" at the Court (ChicagoOntheAisle.com)
Michael Kimmelman on Renzo Piano at Notre Dame du Haut (The New York Times)
Nancy Malitz on "Moscow, Cheryomushki" at Chicago Opera (ChicagoOntheAisle.com)
Laurie Muchnick on the Pulitzer board's dereliction of duty (Bloomberg News)
David Streitfeld on a small publisher that's said no to Amazon (The New York Times)
Kenneth Turan reviews "Marley" (Los Angeles Times)
Kenneth Turan reviews "Surviving Progress" (Los Angeles Times)
Linda Winer reviews "Peter and the Starcatcher" on Broadway (Newsday)

Anne Bogart's newest work "Cafe Variations" is a theatrical and dance meditation on texts by playwright Charles Mee. The work is essentially about romantic relationships, how they blossom, fracture, repair or perish. Although "Café" is an ensemble work, combining Bogart's SITI Company actors and Emerson College students, Ellen Lauren, a longtime member of SITI, has one of the primary roles, if not one of the most demanding theatrical roles. She plays "Edith A," the type of character who could have sprung from the minds of Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett and Lily Tomlin. But this one is pure Lauren. Opposite Leon Ingulsrud, Lauren is brassy, bossy, bitchy and ultimately very sympathetic. She is surrounded by a "Mad Men" elegance with the young actresses onstage and yet her elegance - the elegance of comedy - is writ large. "Directing Ellen is like driving a Rolls Royce," said Bogart. "She has smooth gears and can do things that most others cannot. Working with her is a constant lesson in what acting for the stage can encompass. ArtsEmerson presented the world premiere of "Cafe" last week at the Cutler Majestic in Boston, where it continues through Sunday, April 22. The following is an edited and condensed interview with Lauren about developing a character, telling stories onstage and being funny. 

This week's links to NAJP members' work:

Martin Bernheimer on "The Mikado" at Carnegie Hall (Financial Times)
Martin Bernheimer on Beijing's Bird's Egg and Wagner's "Dutchman" (Financial Times)
Laura Bleiberg profiles LA Music Center's programming director (Los Angeles Times)
Larry Blumenfeld on Dr. John at BAM (The Village Voice)
Robert Campbell reviews Mass General's new museum (The Boston Globe)
Robert Christgau on the Cloud Nothings (MSN)
Robert Christgau on Wild Flag (MSN)
Laura Collins-Hughes on Anne Bogart's Chuck Mee remix (The Boston Globe)
Michael Feingold on the Broadway revival of "The Best Man" (The Village Voice)
Michael Feingold on Peter Quilter's "End of the Rainbow" (The Village Voice)
James Hale on passing the baton at the Banff jazz workshop (CBC)
Will Hermes reviews "Locked Down" by Dr. John (Rolling Stone) 
John Horn on the mid-April movie-release bottleneck (Los Angeles Times)
John Horn on the documentary "Unraveled" (Los Angeles Times)
Ann Hornaday reviews "Bully" (The Washington Post)
Ann Hornaday reviews "The Cabin in the Woods" (The Washington Post)
Renee Montagne interviews Carole King (NPR)
Peter Plagens on Charles Atlas, Willard Boepple et al (The Wall Street Journal)
Ann Powers on the "Titanic" theme song and the power ballad (NPR)
Craig Seligman on Nadine Gordimer's "No Time Like the Present" (Bloomberg News)
David Streitfeld on Amazon's power to decide e-book prices (The New York Times)
Kenneth Turan reviews "Monsieur Lazhar" (Los Angeles Times)
Kenneth Turan reviews "Scenes of a Crime" (Los Angeles Times)
Douglas Wolk on books by Lynda Barry, Sean Phillips et al (The New York Times)

The past two weeks' links to NAJP members' work:

Martin Bernheimer reviews "Manon" at the Metropolitan Opera (Financial Times)
Laura Bleiberg reviews ABT's world-premiere "Firebird" (Los Angeles Times)
Larry Blumenfeld on Cuban saxophonist Yosvany Terry (The Wall Street Journal)
Larry Blumenfeld reviews Dr. John at BAM (The Village Voice)
Larry Blumenfeld on bassist/singer Esperanza Spalding (The Wall Street Journal)
Jeanne Carstensen on Eiko and Koma (The New York Times)
Jeanne Carstensen on law-and-order-themed storytelling (The New York Times)
Laura Collins-Hughes on Kirsten Greenidge's "Luck of the Irish" (The Boston Globe)
Laura Collins-Hughes on Kevin Moffett's "Further Interpretations" (The Boston Globe)
Michael Feingold on "Jesus Christ Superstar" (The Village Voice)
Michael Feingold on Dan LeFranc's "The Big Meal" (The Village Voice)
Michael Feingold on "Now. Here. This." (The Village Voice)
Michael Feingold on Disney's pro-union musical "Newsies" (The Village Voice)
Alan Hess on the Cliff May exhibit at UCSB Art Museum (The Architect's Newspaper)
Ann Hornaday reviews "Titanic 3D" (The Washington Post)
Ann Hornaday on the trope of the vigilante (The Washington Post)
Ann Hornaday on the flaws in 3-D (The Washington Post)
Ann Hornaday reviews "The Kid With a Bike" (The Washington Post)
Michael Kimmelman on Paris' Tour Bois-le-Prêtre project (The New York Times)
Julia M. Klein reviews "The Academy at 200" (The Wall Street Journal)
Nancy Malitz on theatrical attraction "Cascabel" (ChicagoOntheAisle.com)
Renee Montagne interviews director James Cameron (NPR)
Tom Moon on Dr. John's "Locked Down" (NPR)
Ann Powers on Bonnie Raitt's "Slipstream" (NPR)
Ann Powers on Nicki Minaj and Madonna (NPR)
Laura Sydell on the death of Adrienne Rich (NPR)
Laura Sydell on making it in the music business (NPR)
Calvin Wilson on Gedi Sibony's Pulitzer exhibition (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
Calvin Wilson on film director Joshua Marston (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
Calvin Wilson on musicians Joshua Redman and Brad Mehldau (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
Linda Winer reviews "Once" (Newsday)
Linda Winer reviews Frank Langella's memoir, "Dropped Names" (Newsday)
Linda Winer on a pair of unusual off-Broadway shows (Newsday)
Linda Winer reviews "Gore Vidal's The Best Man" (Newsday)

   

Once in a great while, the Los Angeles area plays host to a ballet world-premiere performance. Dance doesn't have the luxury of the out-of-town tryout, unlike musical theater. When a New York dance company ventures forth for a debut, it's marketed to ticket buyers as an exciting honor -- and it can be. But you have to understand that you're also being invited to serve as a guinea pig. Those first onstage performances can be rough. They allow the artistic director, choreographer and scenic designers a precious opportunity to sit out in the theater and evaluate how the fledgling production looks onstage. Then, they might tweak the ballet and take the (perhaps) improved version back to New York or elsewhere.

American Ballet Theatre was ensconced all last week at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts (in Orange County), unveiling a new production of "Firebird" (Thursday through Sunday) by company artist in residence Alexei Ratmansky. It was touted as a present for the center, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary.

It was a good weekend to be a test rodent.

This week's links to NAJP members' work:

Martin Bernheimer on "Così fan tutte" at New York City Opera (Financial Times)

Martin Bernheimer on "Macbeth" at the Metropolitan Opera (Financial Times)

Laura Collins-Hughes on Robert Lepage and "The Andersen Project" (The Boston Globe)

Steve Dollar on the SXSW film festival (GreenCine Daily)

Steve Dollar on the SXSW film festival, continued (GreenCine Daily)

Patti Hartigan on Liesl Tommy's "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" (The Boston Globe)

Ann Hornaday reviews "Declaration of War" (The Washington Post)

Lawrence B. Johnson reviews Goodman's "Camino Real" (ChicagoOntheAisle.com)

Lawrence B. Johnson on a Fleming-Ma pop-up event (ChicagoOntheAisle.com)

Michael Kimmelman on NYU and expanding in the Village (The New York Times)

Glenn Lovell reviews Jennifer Lawrence in "The Hunger Games" (CinemaDope.com)

Glenn Lovell reviews "21 Jump Street" (CinemaDope.com)

Nancy Malitz on Nathan Lane's punch lines (ChicagoOntheAisle.com)

Nancy Malitz on playwright Danai Gurira (ChicagoOntheAisle.com) 

Kenneth Turan reviews "The Hunger Games" (Los Angeles Times)

Linda Winer reviews "Jesus Christ Superstar" on Broadway (Newsday) 

Linda Winer on Streisand, Dunaway and acting one's age (Newsday)

This week's links to NAJP members' work:

Martin Bernheimer on "L'elisir d'amore" at the Met (Financial Times)
Martin Bernheimer on Netrebko's "Manon" (Promenade)
Laura Bleiberg reviews Los Angeles Ballet's "Swan Lake" (LA Weekly)
Laura Bleiberg on a tribute to choreographer Donald McKayle (Los Angeles Times)
Larry Blumenfeld on Don Byron's New Gospel Quintet (The Wall Street Journal)
Robert Campbell on Graham Gund's Perkins School building (The Boston Globe)
Robert Christgau on his favorite contemporary band (Barnes & Noble Review)
Ann Hornaday reviews "21 Jump Street" (The Washington Post)
Ann Hornaday reviews "Jeff, Who Lives at Home" (The Washington Post)
Lawrence B. Johnson on Sherwood's "Petrified Forest" (ChicagoOntheAisle.com)
Lawrence B. Johnson on youth-sized "Taming of the Shrew" (ChicagoOntheAisle.com)
Glenn Lovell reviews the real-time chiller "Silent House" (CinemaDope.com)
Nancy Malitz on countertenor Iestyn Davies (ChicagoOntheAisle.com)
Nancy Malitz on Lyric Opera's "Rinaldo" (ChicagoOntheAisle.com)
Karen Michel on the Whitney Biennial (NPR)
Claude Peck interviews Christopher Bram (Rain Taxi)
Kenneth Turan reviews "The Salt of Life" (Los Angeles Times)
Kenneth Turan reviews "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen" (Los Angeles Times)
Calvin Wilson on Herbie Hancock (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
Calvin Wilson on the Joffrey Ballet (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
Linda Winer reviews Mike Nichols ' revival of "Death of a Salesman" (Newsday)
Linda Winer reviews Albee's "The Lady From Dubuque" at Signature (Newsday)

I've been following the Pacifica Quartet for a few years now, and I've come to the conclusion that, despite some very fierce competition, they are my favorite string quartet. This is largely, of course, because of the way they play. Whether it's Beethoven or Shostakovich or something completely modern, the music seems to retain its own character and at the same time become completely theirs. There is nothing strident or self-dramatizing about their interpretations: they never depart from the norm in a way that shocks or unnerves. And yet the differences between their performances and everyone else's are distinct and important. It's something to do with the dynamics, the way the Pacificas delicately alter the volume on otherwise repeated phrases. It's something to do with the meshing of the four instruments, so that each one is heard separately, while at the same time their rhythmic collaboration seems almost uncannily coherent. And it's something to do with how pure their tones are, whether they are producing high, fast notes or somber, slow ones.

I would no doubt enjoy all of these qualities of theirs even in a recording--and in fact I do enjoy them in their latest recording, a Cedille Records CD of four Shostakovich quartets (numbers 5 through 8) plus one quartet by Shostakovich's colleague Myaskovsky. But something additional accrues when you see the Pacificas perform live. They are an attractive and various crew, to be sure: Simin Ganatra, the first violin, is a Pakistani-American who hails from Southern California; Sibbi Bernhardsson, the second violin, is from Iceland; Masumi Per Rostad, the violist, is a New Yorker whose parents are Norwegian and Japanese; and Brandon Vamos comes from one of those motley European Jewish backgrounds that involves cousins in numerous foreign countries, though he grew up in the Midwest. Simin, the only woman, is not only a great violinist, but she also has one of the most expressive faces in any chamber group performing today. And the others follow and reciprocate her expressiveness, partly in their glances toward her (she generally gives the cues) and partly in their own bodily and facial gestures. This is particularly true of Vamos, who sways from side-to-side with his cello on the most melodic passages, and whose interludes with Ganatra (when, as in many quartets, the first violin and the cello have collaborative moments) feel as intimate as two musicians can be.

This is as it should be, for Ganatra and Vamos are married to each other (Bernhardsson and Per Rostad are both married to other people) and form the core, as it were, of this familial company. The quartet was founded in 1994, but they all seem too young to have played that long together. Vamos met Ganatra when she was still in her teens, living in his parents' house and studying violin with his mother, a noted teacher in the Midwest. Ganatra met Bernhardsson when they were at college together and he too was studying with Vamos's parents. And Per Rostad, the relative latecomer, joined the group over a decade ago, when they lost their original violist and Bernhardsson suggested that they try out this talented acquaintance of his. Despite their name's allusion to the Pacific Ocean (a nod to Ganatra's L.A. origins, I think), the four of them currently teach and live in Champaign, Illinois, where they are the quartet-in-residence at the University of Illinois; they are also on the faculty at the University of Chicago, a few hours' drive away. All of this means that they have already spent more time together than most siblings who have grown up in large families--and unlike most grown siblings, they continue to spend that amount of time together every week, whether they are touring, teaching, rehearsing, or just hanging out at home.

All this would be mere gossip if the Pacificas did not convey exactly this feeling of intimacy to their chamber-music audience. You can sense their long-term ties and their ongoing affection in the way they play together--particularly in a live performance, when you can watch their glances and smiles and concerted bowstrokes and quietly dancing feet. These are four people who share a great deal, and yet they all manage to make their separate presences heard in the music. I know from listening to them talk about their work that they hash things out in private--individual interpretations, preferences for what to include in the reportoire, and so forth--and that they then come up with a unified performance that is the result of all these opinions melded together. It is an astonishing thing to behold, and audiences always respond warmly to it.

I first became aware of the group in 2001, when they were playing the full cycle of Beethoven quartets at a series of lunchtime concerts at Columbia's Philosophy Hall. After that I consciously began to follow their career--in Napa Valley, where they have played at Music in the Vineyards, and in New York, where they became the quartet-in-residence at the Metropolitan Museum. Two seasons ago, when they were performing the complete Shostakovich quartets at the Met, I volunteered my services as an onstage interviewer before the performances, and they readily accepted; it is a role that made me feel, if only briefly, as if I were one of the far-flung cousins in their extended family. I loved the way they performed Shostakovich: their rendering of the Second Quartet made it new to me, and their version of the Third is the best I've ever heard, and as for their Eighth...well, you get the idea. I've also loved hearing them do the full Beethoven cycle this year, bringing to full circle my encounter with their playing.

As they played Opus 135 last Saturday night--Beethoven's final work, and their final performance in the series of six concerts--Masumi Per Rostad announced from the stage that this would be their last appearance as the Met's quartet-in-residence. An audible, unanimous groan of disappointment arose from the audience. I too felt saddened (not to mention concerned that the Met didn't know when it had a good thing going). And then I reassured myself with the thought that the Pacificas, though they won't be appearing regularly at the Met anymore, will get plenty of gigs in New York and elsewhere. Next week they will be at the Konzerthaus in Berlin, doing a program of very modern music, and by chance I will be there to hear them. In May they will be in Montreal, presenting a complete Shostakovich cycle at the Festival of Chamber Music, and again I will be there (this time not at all by chance). But you too can play this game. Just look up the Pacifica Quartet's schedule on their website and find out when they will be coming to an auditorium near you. I guarantee you are in for a treat.

This week's links to NAJP members' work:

Martin Bernheimer reviews "Khovanshchina" at the Met (Financial Times)
Laura Bleiberg previews the spring dance season (Los Angeles Times)
Robert Campbell on making parks with public-private partnerships (The Boston Globe)
Laura Collins-Hughes on Helen Simpson's "In-Flight Entertainment" (The Boston Globe)
Michael Feingold on O'Neill's "Beyond the Horizon" at Irish Rep (The Village Voice)
Michael Feingold on Brecht's "Galileo" at Classic Stage Company (The Village Voice)
Christopher Hawthorne on Wang Shu winning the Pritzker Prize (Los Angeles Times)
Christopher Hawthorne on Wang Shu's UCLA lecture (Los Angeles Times)
Ann Hornaday reviews "Undefeated" (The Washington Post)
Ann Hornaday reviews "We Need to Talk About Kevin" (The Washington Post)
Glenn Lovell reviews the teen comedy "Project X" (CinemaDope.com)
Renee Montagne interviews Charles Duhigg about "The Power of Habit" (NPR)
Renee Montagne on Anthony Shadid's memoir, "House of Stone" (NPR)
Tom Moon reviews Heartless Bastards' "Arrow" (NPR)
Ann Powers on decision fatigue (NPR)
David Streitfeld on the Physical Archive of the Internet Archive (The New York Times)
Kenneth Turan reviews "This Is Not a Film" (Los Angeles Times)
Kenneth Turan reviews "Dr. Seuss' The Lorax" (Los Angeles Times)
Linda Winer reviews Katori Hall's "Hurt Village" at Signature (Newsday)
Linda Winer reviews the revamped "Carrie" musical at MCC (Newsday)

The audience knew it had been at something special.  You could tell by the murmuring in the crowd on the way out of Zellerbach Hall.  "Wasn't that amazing?"  "Have you ever heard anything like it?"  "He's always been terrific, but this was even beyond expections."  "They throw around the word 'genius' a lot, but in this case, it really applies."  And so on, all the way down Bancroft and out into the surrounding streets, as Berkeleyites and other Bay Areans returned to their cars and their homes and pondered what they had just heard.

Last night, Cal Performances presented András Schiff in a solo performance of Bach, Bartók, and Beethoven.  Sounds pretty good, eh?  You have no idea.  The program started with all fifteen of Bach's Three-Part Inventions, which Schiff played crisply, tenderly, pensively -- his foot never touching the pedal once, so as to give each note the equally weighted precision it deserved.  These little pieces, which Bach composed as instructive material for his son, became in Schiff's hands miniature contemplations of the possibilities of melody and counterpart, thoughtful expressions of interiority and communication.  It was as if we were peering into his mind through his fingers -- Schiff's mind, I mean, but also Bach's.

And then, with barely a pause for one round of applause, the amazing András launched into Bartok's vehement Sonata for Piano, which had been composed roughly two hundred years after the Bach.  This was a different piano entirely:  stormy, expressive, with a huge dynamic range and emphatic chords and discords.  Folk melodies interwove with previously unheard combinations of sound, in a wild musical adventure:  it took us to the edge of our seats, but Schiff had the whole thing firmly under control, and he landed us safely at the end.

Huge applause again.  But now, after the intermission, came the most challenging effort of all:  the entire 33 sections of Beethoven's Diabelli Variations, played almost without pause (and entirely without sheet music, as indeed the whole concert was:  this is truly what it means to know music "by heart").  If the contrast between the Bach and the Bartók had seemed severe, it was nothing compared to the contrasts we now encountered within the Beethoven:  from near-silent serenity to pounding aggressiveness, with humor and irony and melancholy thoughtfulness and dour triumph all mixed up together.  Or no, not mixed up, but carefully laid out side by side, in a way that only Schiff (and Beethoven) could manage.

And then, as if THAT were not enough, András Schiff gave the roaring crowd two encores:  a Beethoven Bagatelle and a Bartók Allegro, both just as pleasing and beautiful as everything that had come before.  This was generosity taken to a new level and energy of a previously unseen kind -- all housed in a pleasant, friendly, unassumingly modest person who quietly walked on and off stage, taking his repeated bows with a small gesture of thanks, looking to the sides and above so as to catch the eyes of as many audience members as possible.  We all had the feeling that we were in an intimate setting, despite the 2000-seat hall:  he seemed to be playing just for each one of us, and at the same time for all of us at once.  It was quite an astonishing achievement, and I am very glad indeed that I was there.

This week's links to NAJP members' work:

Laura Collins-Hughes reviews Geoff Dyer's "Zona" (The Boston Globe)
Michael Feingold reviews Athol Fugard's "Blood Knot" at Signature (The Village Voice)
Michael Feingold reviews Gabe McKinley's "CQ/CX" (The Village Voice)
Sasha Frere-Jones on the "Drive" score's Oscar ineligibility (The New Yorker)
Matthew Gurewitsch salutes forgotten balladeer Carl Loewe (The New York Times)
John Horn on marketing "Act of Valor" (Los Angeles Times)
Ann Hornaday reviews "Rampart" (The Washington Post)
Ann Hornaday detects reason for hope in the Oscars race (The Washington Post)
Julia M. Klein reviews "In the Garden of Beasts" (The Pennsylvania Gazette)
Glenn Lovell reviews the satanic crime thriller "Kill List" (CinemaDope.com)
Glenn Lovell reviews Amanda Seyfried in "Gone" (CinemaDope.com)
Claude Peck reviews Christopher Bram's "Eminent Outlaws" (Star Tribune, Minneapolis)
Ann Powers on why Rihanna's "Birthday Cake" is worth a listen (NPR)
Ann Powers on female trouble on "American Idol" (NPR)
Kenneth Turan reviews "Act of Valor" (Los Angeles Times)
Kenneth Turan on why "The Artist" should win best picture (Los Angeles Times)
Calvin Wilson on the photo show "Northern Haiti" (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
Calvin Wilson on photography at the St. Louis Art Museum (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
Linda Winer reviews "Galileo" at Classic Stage Company (Newsday)
Linda Winer on the stage roots of Oscar nominees (Newsday)

This week's links to NAJP members' work:

Martin Bernheimer reviews "This Enchanted Island" at the Met (Opera)
Laura Bleiberg reviews Heidi Duckler's "Cleopatra, CEO" (Los Angeles Times)
Laura Bleiberg reviews Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo's "Cinderella" (Los Angeles Times)
Larry Blumenfeld on pianist Fabian Almazan (The Wall Street Journal)
Robert Campbell on picturing structures with digital tools (The Boston Globe)
Robert Christgau on Etta James (Barnes & Noble Review)
Michael Feingold reviews Adam Guettel's "Myths and Hymns" (The Village Voice)
Michael Feingold reviews Kate Fodor's "Rx" at Primary Stages (The Village Voice)
Patti Hartigan on supernatural stage serial "Blood Rose Rising" (The Boston Globe)
Ann Hornaday reviews "Coriolanus" (The Washington Post)
Ann Hornaday reviews "This Means War" (The Washington Post)
Lawrence B. Johnson on a novel "Midsummer Night's Dream" (ChicagoOntheAisle.com)
Lawrence B. Johnson reviews Lyric Opera's "Show Boat" (ChicagoOntheAisle.com)
Julia M. Klein on the New-York Historical Society (Columbia Magazine)
Julia M. Klein reviews "The Buddha in the Attic" (Columbia Magazine)
Dennis Lim on director Nina Menkes (The New York Times)
Dennis Lim on the Berlin International Film Festival (The New York Times)
Renee Montagne interviews Chieftains founder Paddy Moloney (NPR)
Tom Moon on Dr. Dog's "Be the Void" (NPR)
Laurie Muchnick reviews William Landay's "Defending Jacob" (Bloomberg News)
Ann Powers on social media and the 2012 Grammys (NPR)
Ann Powers on Hollywood Week on "American Idol" (NPR)
Kenneth Turan reviews "The Secret World of Arrietty" (Los Angeles Times)
Calvin Wilson on artist John Stezaker (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
Linda Winer reviews "How I Learned to Drive" at Second Stage (Newsday)

Quick note to California and New York City colleagues:

Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra are on tour to San Francisco, Costa Mesa, Palm Desert and San Diego Feb. 14-19 and they will be in residence during opening week of the 2012-13 season at Carnegie Hall. Most of the draw is likely to be for Muti himself, and for the traditional works on his programs, which include "Carmina Burana," Schubert's ("Great") Symphony in C Major and the Franck Symphony in D minor.

But Muti is also aggressively promoting the orchestra's two young composers-in-residence -- Mason Bates, 35, also known as DJMasonic, and London-born Anna Clyne, 31. They have invigorated Muti while attracting their own followers. When was the last time you actually saw an auditorium thin out before the big romantic work on the program? It happened here in Chicago earlier this month. Here's a profile of the two composers.

This week's links to NAJP members' work:

Martin Bernheimer on Verdi's "Ernani" at the Metropolitan Opera (Financial Times)
Martin Bernheimer on Gluck's "Armide" at Juilliard (Financial Times)
Robert Campbell on the Boston Society of Architects' new HQ (The Boston Globe)
Michael Feingold reviews Roundabout's "Look Back in Anger" (The Village Voice)
Gayle Feldman on David vs. Goliath at Digital Book World (The Bookseller)
Matthew Gurewitsch profiles the Wagnerian Tomasz Konieczny (Opera News)
Matthew Gurewitsch on a monster production of "Andrea Chénier" (Opera News)
John Horn on director Daniel Espinosa and "Safe House" (Los Angeles Times)
Ann Hornaday reviews Madonna's "W.E." (The Washington Post)
Lawrence B. Johnson on "Time Stands Still" at Steppenwolf (ChicagoOntheAisle.com)
Lawrence B. Johnson reviews Ayad Akhtar's "Disgraced" (ChicagoOntheAisle.com)
Michael Kimmelman on how to fix Penn Station (The New York Times)
Michael Kimmelman on Mitch Epstein's photos of N.Y. trees (The New York Times)
Nancy Malitz interviews Jay Hunter Morris (ChicagoOntheAisle.com)
Karen Michel on a chefs' competition en route to the Bocuse d'Or (NPR)
Ann Powers on the death of Whitney Houston (NPR)
Ann Powers on the Grammys and pop music (NPR)
David Streitfeld on fallout from a star librarian's Amazon deal (The New York Times)
Laura Sydell on Amazon expanding its streaming inventory with Viacom (NPR)
Kenneth Turan reviews "Safe House" (Los Angeles Times)
Calvin Wilson on pianist Chucho Valdés (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
Linda Winer on revising "Carrie," the infamous Broadway flop (Newsday)
Linda Winer reviews "Merrily We Roll Along" at Encores! (Newsday)

And in print:

MJ Andersen on the Gardner Museum's new wing and the MFA's contemporary art wing (The Providence Journal)

This week's links to NAJP members' work:

Robert Christgau on Ani DiFranco's "Which Side Are You On?" (NPR)
Laura Collins-Hughes interviews Daniel Radcliffe (The Boston Globe)
Laura Collins-Hughes reviews Lysley Tenorio's "Monstress" (The Boston Globe)
Michael Feingold reviews Pearl Theatre's "The Philanderer" (The Village Voice)
Michael Feingold reviews MTC's revival of "Wit" (The Village Voice)
John Horn does a directors roundtable with Payne, Daldry et al (Los Angeles Times)
John Horn on Martin Scorsese and "Hugo" (Los Angeles Times)
Ann Hornaday on abysmal audience behavior (The Washington Post)
Glenn Lovell reviews Josh Trank's "Chronicle" (CinemaDope.com)
Glenn Lovell reviews Daniel Radcliffe in "The Woman in Black" (CinemaDope.com)
Renee Montagne talks to Lawrence Weschler about poet Wislawa Szymborska (NPR)
Laurie Muchnick reviews Robert Harris' "The Fear Index" (Bloomberg News)
Ann Powers on "American Idol" and older pop stars (NPR)
Kenneth Turan reviews Frederick Wiseman's "Crazy Horse" (Los Angeles Times)
Calvin Wilson interviews Wim Wenders about "Pina" (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
Linda Winer on appending authors' names to titles of plays and musicals (Newsday)
Linda Winer reviews "Look Back in Anger" at Roundabout (Newsday)

When I was in art school in Los Angeles in the 1990s, my mentor, artist Mitchell Syrop, occasionally told stories about Mike Kelley. He and Mike had been roommates when they were attending graduate school at CalArts in the late 1970s. Mike and a handful of other CalArts students became famous in the late 1980s and early 1990s, putting L.A. contemporary art on the map, at least as much as and possibly more than a previous generation of L.A. artists--including Ed Ruscha and Robert Irwin--had done in the 1960s. Kelley's work was high and low at the same time. It was funny, in-your-face, accessible, and also cerebral. Growing up working-class in Detroit, Kelley never talked down to his audience, despite the work's sophistication. Years ago, I remember seeing a series of sculptures that he made out of wood, which looked like strange riffs on high school shop-class projects. How could conceptual art be so folksy and yet so smart? I'm still not sure. Mitchell liked to say that while one of his most famous CalArts classmates turned out to be an asshole, Mike was and always would be a gentleman.

On November 19, I met Kelley for the first and last time. The occasion was an opening in L.A. of a show based around the former Detroit band, Destroy All Monsters, whose members first included Kelley and another L.A. artist, Jim Shaw. Kelley was standing against a wall wearing a black trench coat and black work boots. I went over, introduced myself, and told him how Mitchell used to call him a gentleman. Mike seemed touched, said that he hadn't seen Mitchell in years and asked that I send him his regards.

Then he got a bit gloomy. He said that he wasn't always nice to people, and that, in fact, he was often an asshole. He said that he constantly had to remind himself not to be an asshole. "See?" he said, holding up the back of his hand two inches in front of my eyes. I could see that he had written his first name in thick black ink across his knuckles. Below his name was smaller writing. But I was not wearing my glasses and could not read it. He said, "This is to remind me not to be an ass. Young people who are assholes can get away with it. But old men who are assholes are just pathetic grouches."

In the hours since Mike Kelley died, much has already been written about him and been digitally disseminated around the world. He obviously touched thousands of people through his remarkable work. Who knows what he had left to say? I'm sure Mitchell would agree that there won't be many more like him coming along anytime soon.