Bang On A Can All-Stars / BBC Concert Orchestra - Bang On! (recorded live, 28 Feb 2020)

A fantastic concert given last Friday at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, in which the BBC Concert Orchestra were paired with the Bang On A Can All-Stars.  The group's parent organisation Bang On A Can, founded in the late 80s, have performed works by Reich, Riley, Glass and many others, as well as a famous full-album cover of Brian Eno's Music For Airports.

John Adams' The Chairman Dances proves to be the perfect curtain-raiser for the show, played just by the BBC Concert Orchestra with great swing and verve - find the original recording here.  The main event concludes the first half of the concert, with the orchestra backing the All-Stars in the European premiere of Julia Wolfe's (one of the BOAC founders) Flower Power.  Written as a tribute to 1960s counterculture, it starts in woozy drones that reminded me a bit of Fausto Romitelli, before kicking into gear and embarking on a stunning journey through rock and psychedelia, dramatic orchestral evocations of protest and social upheaval, some gorgeous reflective passages and much more.

The group and orchestra play separately in the second half, with Bang On A Can All-Stars up first.  They play Horses Of Instruction, a work written for them in 1994 by a composer I only discovered last year, Steve Martland.  Like Martland's Babi Yar on that album, the influences of muscular, driving rock and Martland's teacher Louis Andriessen are both very much in evidence, but this work is much less dark in tone.  Made me think of a more melodic version of 90s King Crimson at times.  To close, the strings of the orchestra perform Philip Glass' Symphony No. 3.  I've largely avoided symphonic Glass over the years, but for all the received wisdom of this facet of his ouevre being interminable stodge, it was an enjoyable listen and a nice reflective comedown to end such a spectacular concert. Highly recommended, especially the Julia Wolfe centrepiece.

link
pw: sgtg