Andrew Norman, born 1979, Grand Rapids, Michigan
Saturday, May 16, 2026
Berliner Philharmonie, Herbert-von-Karajan-Straße, Berlin
The German premiere of Play was two nights ago, this third performance simply astonishing of a remarkable score, its title open to numerous explanations involving control, games, and – anyway – just who is in control, who is being controlled. Lasting forty-five minutes Play is initially complex in activity and detail – there’s a hell of a lot going on – suggesting a high-energy machine wildly stalking the landscape out of control. When it runs out of juice the respite is much-needed, string glissandos rather more than effects pointing the way to ‘Level 3’ otherworldliness, percussion now silent. Commissioned, premiered (2013) and recorded by Boston Modern Orchestra Project and Gil Rose, Play makes,for sensational listening especially in an account as dynamic, precise and committed as this from Berlin with the composer in attendance, Klaus Mäkelä having already conducted it in Amsterdam and Oslo, his experience of the piece, and admiration for it, self-evident.
Mäkelä has recorded The Firebird in Paris for Decca, a notable release. Similarly his conducting of the complete 1910 ballet music was another triumph for him, the Berliners and, most of all, the music, which can have its longueurs, if not here, its fantastical qualities vividly brought out, with subtlety too, sustaining fifty minutes with a fairy-tale narrative, virtuoso playing, and personable solos, such as wonderfully bel canto horn contributions, the large-orchestra colours (including three harps, piano and celesta) relished, the ‘Infernal Dance’ explosive and the concluding ‘Apotheosis’ roof-raising.
“With his ballet music The Firebird, the young Igor Stravinsky revolutionised dance theatre – through an unusual fusion of Russian folk music with iridescent timbres and pulsating rhythms. Klaus Mäkelä, chief conductor designate of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, juxtaposes the ballet with Andrew Norman’s socially critical symphony Play, whose tonal language alternates between humour and aggressive abrasiveness.” [DCH]