Music Review | Brooklyn Philharmonic: A Musical Night In Brooklyn, With Dance And Didgeridoo

Music from Down Under opened a Brooklyn Philharmonic concert on Saturday evening as the hypnotic, intense drone of an unseen (and amplified) didgeridoo echoed through the Howard Gilman Opera House of the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Then William Barton, an Australian of Aboriginal descent, came into view, walking slowly down the aisle playing his instrument.

Mr. Barton was the soloist in two works by the Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe that formed the first half of the program. Didgeridoos arent usually part of the lineup of increasingly exotic instruments that mingle on New York stages. But it was a natural connection for Michael Christie, the Brooklyn Philharmonics personable 32-year-old music director, who was chief conductor of the Queensland Orchestra in Australia from 2001 to 2004 and met Mr. Barton during his tenure there.

Mr. Sculthorpe describes the didgeridoo as the quintessential Australian instrument and says in the program that he started composing for it before Aborigines were even allowed to vote.

His Mangrove (1979) and Earth Cry (1986) seemed appropriate inclusions alongside Stravinskys Rite of Spring. The orchestral writing in the propulsive Earth Cry (a sort of Outback Appalachian Spring) is straightforward and melodic. Instrumental lines are often doubled throughout (violins in unison and lower strings partnered with lower brass) with the didgeridoo, which Mr. Sculthorpe decided to add later, providing welcome texture, color and ritualistic spice. Mangrove, inspired by gorges in the Northern Territory of Australia, is a canvas of sound clusters, with the violins evoking a swarm of disgruntled flies at one point.

Mr. Bartons entrancing playing was entirely improvised in both works, and the score simply indicates his entrances. Between the two pieces Mr. Christie and Mr. Barton discussed how a didgeridoo works, with some amusing demonstrations by the latter that had the audience in stitches.

After intermission, Mr. Christie and the orchestra decamped to the pit while the Nicholasleichterdance company performed the world premiere of Nicholas Leichters mesmerizing choreography to The Rite of Spring. Instead of pagan sacrifice or sexual awakening, Mr. Leichter had his dancers evoke working-class struggles dressed in gray one-piece uniforms that resembled those of factory workers, mechanics or perhaps even prisoners.

It was a rebellious and optimistic dance whose athletic and sensual Afro-Cuban-influenced moves spoke about finding strength in community. The dancers moved both alone and intertwined with one another, with the women sometimes lifting the men. An edgy confrontation between two male dancers, Mr. Leichter said during a lively question-and-answer session afterward, was about exploring the idea of two people competing to control each other.

Mr. Christie, who conducted The Rite of Spring more than 30 times at the Zurich Opera, seemed at ease on Saturday, leading a bristling, taut account to inspire the dancers. Brooklyn Philharmonic concerts in coming seasons are to feature premieres of choreography to Stravinskys Firebird and Petrushka.

During the discussion, a woman in the audience enthusiastically told Mr. Christie, now in his second season as music director of the Brooklyn Philharmonic, that he is developing a real Brooklyn sound. There was certainly a sense of adventure in the air.

The Brooklyn Philharmonics next concert, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on March 10 at 8 p.m., will include music by Mahler and Osvaldo Golijov; brooklynphilharmonic.org or (718) 636-4100.

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