Exploring New Music, Tanglewood Ensembles Serve Up Bountiful Mix

This summer's Festival of Contemporary Music at Tanglewood unfolded under a cloud of institutional strife as the Boston Symphony Orchestra's music director, Andris Nelsons, was removed from his position. Despite the unrest among musicians and audiences, with visible public calls for Nelsons' reinstatement, the festival itself proceeded with artistic vigor.

The festival, held from July 23 to 27 in Lenox, Massachusetts, was curated by conductor and composer Esa-Pekka Salonen, who programmed a blend of his own compositions alongside works by established contemporary composers. Salonen’s leadership during the weekend brought a cohesive yet varied musical experience, focusing on accessibility and innovation.

Salonen’s presence added a complex layer to the festival’s ambiance, given his historical collaborative relationship with Boston Symphony Orchestra President and CEO Chad Smith at the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Amid speculation about their dynamic, Salonen chose to let the music speak, delivering five thoughtfully constructed programs featuring twelve new works that balanced rigor with engagement.

Among the notable premieres was Maya Miro Johnson’s "bruises (disambiguation)," a piano and piano interior piece exploring themes of aging through a combination of musical and theatrical elements. Performers used unconventional techniques like striking the piano with mallets and dampening strings to depict the physical and emotional impact of time on melody and instrument.

Gabriella Smith’s "Anthozoa," inspired by naturalistic underwater recordings, brought a vibrant energy reminiscent of the Kronos Quartet. With a piano trio augmented by percussion, the piece incorporated world-music influences and extended instrumental techniques to create a dense percussive texture evocative of coral reef soundscapes.

Other premieres included Alisson Kruusmaa’s "Mesmerism," a hypnotic marimba and piano duo blending instruments into a unified sound, and Hannah Ishizaki’s piano trio "Float/Shake," which featured dance rhythms and unconventional string techniques such as pizzicato and plucking. Anna Berg's string quintet "remnants of confetti unexploded" presented a series of fragmented Webern-like miniatures concluding with an incomplete fugue.

The festival also highlighted works by notable contemporary composers including Nico Muhly, whose arrangements of William Byrd motets received performances praised for their clarity and beauty. Salonen programmed pieces by Nordic composers Hans Abrahamsen, Kaija Saariaho, and Magnus Lindberg, alongside late 20th-century works by György Ligeti and Witold Lutosławski, demonstrating a broad curatorial scope.

Vocal music featured prominently, with Abrahamsen’s "let me tell you" performed by soprano Alexandra Henderson and conducted by Lauren Smith. The work, based on the character Ophelia, was noted for its atmospheric qualities and demanding vocal lines delivered with poetic depth. Baritones Holden Turner and Raphaël Laden-Guindon performed settings of poems by A.R. Ammons composed by Steven Stucky, offering another dimension of lyrical engagement.

Salonen also conducted his own cello concerto, showcasing Finnish cellist Senja Rummukainen alongside electronic elements. Other of his compositions incorporated historical references, such as "Saltat sobrius," derived from medieval polyphony, and "Fog," a fantasia on a Bach partita, performed dramatically by violinist Matthew Cone from an upper mezzanine, adding a spatial dimension to the experience.

The Festival of Contemporary Music, established in the 1950s, maintains a tradition of adventurous programming. This year’s iteration avoided an overemphasis on freshly written pieces, opting instead to highlight living but established composers, which offered audiences a curated snapshot of contemporary music’s evolving landscape.

While the artistic successes of the festival were clear, the ongoing organizational tensions within the Boston Symphony Orchestra cast a shadow on the event. The public dispute over Nelsons' dismissal raises questions about leadership stability and its potential impact on the orchestra’s future programming and audience relations.

Looking ahead, the festival's blend of innovative composition and performance under Salonen's direction may influence both the featured artists' reputations and the programming strategies of comparable contemporary music festivals. The inclusion of electronic elements and theatrical techniques points toward a growing trend of multimedia integration in classical music settings.

In conclusion, despite external conflicts, the Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music demonstrated resilience and artistic vitality, reaffirming its role as a vital platform for modern composers and performers. Its commitment to diverse programming and bold musical exploration continues to shape the contours of contemporary classical music.