Interstellar birdsong at Carnegie Hall: Messiaen's Des canyons aux étoiles... with Ensemble ACJW

AS part of his "Perspectives" series at Carnegie Hall, Sir Simon Rattle takes time to coach young musicians in a controversial modern score.

Ensemble ACJW's thoughtful approach to programming pays off in Akiho, Bach, Benjamin, Birtwistle, and Ligeti.

Ensemble ACJW performed works by Berio, Reich, and Bartók with conductor David Robertson and soprano Dawn Upshaw at Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall. This attractively programmed concert featured an admirable first half, though the Bartók left something to be desired.

Inside Juilliard’s Paul Hall, a splendid spectacle of geometric juxtaposition greets the eyes. The wood-paneled interior is a busy mishmash of thin vertical rectangles and squares of varying sizes, whose right angles are further contrasted by a row of glossy spherical lights on each wall.

“I put into your hands manuscripts that I very much wish will remain after me,” wrote Émilie du Châtelet shortly before the birth of her fourth child in 1749. “I hope... that my lying-in, which I am expecting at any moment, will not be fatal, as I fear.” Her fears did prove fatal, and she died days after giving birth, at the age of 42.

In Atlanta, conductor Robert Spano, mandolinist Avi Avital and composer Jennifer Higdon ignite fiery performances.