While ostensibly about the earth, the New York Philharmonic’s final two programs of the season demonstrated the difficulty that composers face in translating the climate crisis into music. Julia Wolfe’s new oratorio, “unEarth,” was an explicitly activist work that decried ecological violence and proposed a way forward towards recovery. In contrast, John Luther Adams’s “Become Desert” mourned the desertification of environments while also marveling at and showing reverence for the forces that are larger than us. The difference between these two approaches is like the distinction between declaring an emergency and bringing it right to one’s feet.
The Philharmonic also had mixed success with its own “Earth” concerts, both conducted by Jaap van Zweden. Wolfgang’s work was presented alongside a seemingly unrehearsed version of Sibelius’s Violin Concerto. The second program, an improvement from the first, traced a path from the ocean to the desert, showcasing Britten’s “Four Sea Interludes From ‘Peter Grimes’” and Toru Takemitsu’s “I Hear the Water Dreaming.” However, Adams’s “Become Desert” was overshadowed by van Zweden’s speedy slicing through the score, causing the loss of some of the piece’s delicate magic.
Adams is a master of his craft, as evidenced by his deference to his subject in the trilogy of which “Become Desert” is a part. The trilogy began with “Become River,” followed by “Become Ocean,” and concluded with “Become Desert” in 2018. The work evokes a musical representation of an expansive landscape, capturing the repetitive yet ever-changing environment of a desert as the day breaks and recedes, then returns. Its 4/4 time signature becomes openly apparent, but the overall effect immerses its listeners in the unpredictability of grand swells and ebbs, a musical image of the earth that is awesome in every sense of the word.
The earth is a subject that warrants the attention of composers, but it is a difficult theme to represent in a musical format. While Wolfe and Adams have both experimented with various modes of addressing the climate crisis through their music, they, along with the New York Philharmonic, are still adapting to the central issue at hand and developing ways to address it effectively through their art.
New York Philharmonic
This program will be repeated through Saturday at David Geffen Hall, Manhattan; Visit nyphil.org for details.
