By Helen Cronin

For the neophyte, trying to figure out the new music scene can be both confusing and overwhelming. The many splintered traditions as well as the huge variety of music out there can make it quite intimidating to get an idea of the bigger picture. That’s why the new Contact! Series organized by Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic has the potential to be a dynamic force in getting people interested in new music. Between the first concert in December and the second April 16th and 17th, 7 commissioned new works by 7 different composers were premiered by members of the New York Philharmonic. Alan Gilbert and composer-in-residence Magnus Lindberg chose a wide variety of composers that painted a nice picture of the different facets of composition today. The concert on April 16th and 17th (Friday at Symphony Space and Saturday at the Rainey Auditorium at The Metropolitan Museum of Art) featured new works by young composers Sam Shepard, Nico Muhly, and Matthias Pinscher. Each piece was a startlingly different take on the heritage of esoteric music in the West.

Shepard’s piece, These Particular Circumstances is best described as neo-Impressionist, drawing inspiration from and even quoting Debussy and Ravel. The piece’s seamless seven movement structure, would have been more interesting if one could have told Floating apart from Grinding. There were lovely moments and details in the piece, but there was something wanting in its overall structure. Nico Muhly’s Detailed Instructions drew obvious inspiration from minimalism, jazz and even indie rock, but found its own identity by creating a mood and staying within it. Though developmentally static the piece still grabbed the audience’s attention with its changing orchestration. Matthias Pinscher’s piece songs from Solomon’s garden featured baritone Thomas Hampson singing Hebrew text from the Songs of Solomon. The strong vocal line was backed by diverse orchestration, at times sparse and at others dissonantly dramatic, evoking quite a varied and interesting garden.

Beyond the pieces themselves, the concert was particularly impressive for the laidback and intimate feel generated by conductor Alan Gilbert. His amusing pre-performance interviews with each of the composers and obvious enthusiasm for the project did away with much of the stuffy institutionalism that can characterize Lincoln Center. One can only hope these concerts will continue with this enthusiastic and welcoming take on new music that encourages strangers to become fans.