Carnegie Hall to Present The Knights With Pianist Aaron Diehl

On Thursday, October 24, 2024 at 7:30pm at Zankel Hall, Carnegie Hall will present intrepid chamber orchestra The Knights with pianist Aaron Diehl in a continuation of The Knights' multi-year Rhapsody commissioning project, inspired by the centennial of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. In this program, pianist and master improviser Aaron Diehl joins The Knights, conducted by Eric Jacobsen, in a world premiere by Michael Schachter, a suite of music by Keith Jarrett, newly arranged by Michael P. Atkinson, and the original rhapsodic Gershwin masterpiece, also arranged for chamber orchestra by Michael P. Atkinson. The orchestra also treats audiences to Beethoven's exhilarating Fourth Symphony.

A suite of music by Keith Jarrett, in a world premiere arrangement by Michael P. Atkinson features Aaron Diehl on harpsichord: the Suite from Book of Ways. Keith Jarrett, American pianist, composer, and improviser, is well known across the globe through an extensive recording catalog spanning nearly 50 years and over 100 albums. Book of Ways was recorded for ECM on the 14th of July 1986 in Ludwigsburg, Germany. Jarrett reflected on the process: "We had three clavichords in the studio, two of which were angled together so that I could play them both simultaneously, and the third off to the side. Also we miked the instruments very closely so that the full range of dynamics could be used (clavichords are very quiet and cannot be heard more than a few feet away)... No material was organized beforehand. Everything was spontaneous. The recording was done in four hours." The result is an impressive series of 19 separate improvisations totaling 100 minutes. Jarrett takes the Clavichords through a vast range of styles, ranging from Neo-Baroque to the avant-garde.

An evening highlight is the world premiere of Michael Schachter's Being and Becoming, a Rhapsody work co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall. The title Being and Becoming refers not only to the kaleidoscopic form of the rhapsody, but more broadly to the inescapable interplay between presence and transience. Schachter states that "In a sense, each of us is a collective-a partnership of particles and spirit, held together in that dynamic combination of consistency and change that we call the self, experiencing an impulsive, episodic assortment of infinite present moments, until we eventually dissipate and return to the source."

Schachter's rhapsody set out not to create a pastiche of Gershwin's New York, but rather to take the context of his rhapsodic project as impetus to reckon with the here and now. Through those priorities and more, the piece comes to life as a proper, old-school rhapsody, an extension of a through-line from Liszt through Bartók and Gershwin to the Beatles, Queen, and Radiohead: a single-movement work, tuneful and vernacular, moving more by the hot thrill of impulse than the cool logic of austere design. Across the escalation of themes and grooves, the piano and orchestra examine what it means to make acoustic music-vibrations, bodies, resonance, in a space together-in the digital age, with the rise of social media and short form "content" evoking a pendulum swing back to the variety show of the vaudeville/silent era.

Rounding out the program will be Ludwig van Beethoven's inventive and effervescent Symphony No. 4 in B-flat major, Op. 60. After writing the Eroica, his Third Symphony, Beethoven did not complete a new symphony for almost three years. In summer 1806, Beethoven was commissioned by Count Franz von Oppersdorff to write a work in his earlier pre-Eroica style. This piece was chosen to be paired with the rest of the works in the program due to the complimentary instrumental forces that work together to create cohesion.

The Knights multi-year Rhapsody commissioning project, inspired by the Rhapsody in Blue centennial, invites a wide array of today's most visionary composers to create an original rhapsody, which artistic directors Colin and Eric Jacobsen describe as "one of the most ecstatically joyful expressions of art ... [a] combination of virtuosity, improvisation, and unfettered imagination." Future Rhapsody commissions this season include Allison Loggins-Hull's world premiere Rhapsody with Alex Sopp as flute soloist at the Peoples' Symphony Concerts performance on December 8th and Christina Courtin's World Premiere Rhapsody on May 15th at Carnegie Hall.

The program also features an arrangement by Knights member Michael P. Atkinson of George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, featuring Diehl as soloist.

Program Information
Thursday, October 24, 2024 at 7:30pm
The Knights at Carnegie Hall with Aaron Diehl
Zankel Hall Carnegie Hall | New York, NY
Tickets: Start at $74, through CarnegieCharge (212) 247-7800, carnegiehall.org, or at the Box Office on 57th Street and Seventh Avenue.
Link: www.carnegiehall.org/Calendar/2024/10/24/The-Knights-0730PM

Program:
Keith Jarrett (arr. Michael P. Atkinson) - Suite from Book of Ways [WORLD PREMIERE]
Aaron Diehl, harpsichord
Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphony No. 4 in B-flat Major, Op. 60
Michael Schachter - New Work / Rhapsody [WORLD PREMIERE, co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall]
Aaron Diehl, piano
George Gershwin (arr. Michael P. Atkinson) - Rhapsody in Blue
Aaron Diehl, piano

The Knights
Colin Jacobsen, Artistic Director and Violin
Eric Jacobsen, Artistic Director and Conductor
Aaron Diehl, Piano and Harpsichord

Photo credit: Shervin Lainez