If you want to catch musicians with their musical ideals intact, it's wise to catch 'em when they're young

180 Maiden Lane -- hey, free lunchtime concerts is more
than we usually get out of these real-estate boondoggles.

by Ken

Okay, I'm slow on the uptake. I never claimed otherwise. I'd been working in Manhattan's Financial District (in fact, in the building that adjoins the New York Stock Exchange, meaning that we're subject to the same security, including having to show our badges and have bags inspected outside the building just to get inside to go through airport-style security) for over a year, and was dimly aware that there were such concerts, before I actually attended one.

I don't know the exact sponsorship structure, but basically it's a weekly series of hourlong free concerts put on by the Juilliard School, the country's leading music conservatory, Tuesdays at 12:30 in the atrium-style lobby-off-the-lobby of a 40-story glass high-rise tower by the East River that used to be the Continental Center but is now called just 180 Maiden Lane. There's a small platform, with a decent (non-full-size) piano, and a few rows of chairs, as well as a number of tables that are put out. It's an odd setting, in that the extremely lively, swimmy acoustics aren't bad for music but also swoop up all kinds of noise of the sort that are standard for the lobby of any Manhattan office building. People are constantly walking through the "performance" area to get to the rest rooms, or the newsstand, or the phone, or the nearby building entrance. People who don't give a damn about some crappy classical-music concert going on feel remarkably free to make whatever noise they like.

Oh, and one other thing. In winter, it's -- br-r-r-r! -- cold! In this cruel winter we've had, once I finally bestirred myself to take a look at one of these concerts and made it a sort of Tuesday lunchtime habit, I attended a bunch in a row where the outside temperature was below freezing, and since the space is enclosed only by glass, the temperature inside is pretty much the temperature outside. The kids who were performing had to make some tough decisions about whether to do so with their coats on or off.

I assume the developer got some kind of humongous tax break for this "amenity." And while the building seems to have changed ownership a number of times in its short history, each ownership is apparently stuck with the obligation to continue this "public" use of the space.

I don't want to be too sarcastic about it, though. It's a nice or nice-ish (given all the distractions) space. And the idea of Juilliard having a place to send a steady succession of its kids to gain some invaluable publilc performing experience is terrific. Granted, the motley bunches that show up, at least in winter, aren't the chic audiences they're hoping to play for when they "make it." But right now they need to play, before real people, and as that we Tuesday 180-ers unquestionably qualify. So far I've seen a number of pianists and duos and chamber ensembles, and only one occasion seemed to me overall a misfire. I'd like to hope that even that day's performer may have sensed that all wasn't well, and taken that sense back to the studio.

Beyond the opportunity to hear some live music at the excellent price of free, what I enjoy about these concerts is the chance to hear some young musicians who may or may not have careers ahead of them but are still unspoiled by the horrific pressure and grind of the profession. On any given Tuesday you may hear talented performers making music out of the sheer love of it.

Like the Tristan Piano Quartet (pianist Peter Dugan, violinist Christel Lee, violist AJ Nilles, and cellist Jia Kim) today, attractive and personable musicians who play with remarkable sophistication. I was delighted by the consistency of the string players' bowing, which enabled them to produce a lovely unanimity of sound and of phrasing even in the smallest details. At the same time, at least in the two works they played, they showed no inclination to bog down in details. The music had a wonderful, unforced flow.

Mozart's two piano quartets are much more difficult pieces to make work than most of its performers seem to realize. The second, in E-flat major, K. 493, got off to a splendid start. All through the first movement the Tristan players seemed to feel a rhythmic engine driving the music that carried them through without forcing, and that sense of seemingly natural rhythm guided the more delicate flow of the slow movement just as surely.

In the Mozart I was thinking that all of the string players could stand to be more assertive, and wondered how that reticence might translate (or not!) to the grand passions of the first of Brahms's three piano quartets, the impassioned G minor, Op. 25. Well, they produced a different sound altogether, appropriately bigger and more dynamic. I assumed this was an interpretive choice, but chatting afterward with AJ the violist, I learned that while yes, it was partly that, it was also a deliberate adjustment to the extremely resonant acoustics of the 180 lobby. They all felt they needed to project more, and they were right, and they did! It was an excellent adjustment, and a great bit of performing experience.

I was sorry that they were playing only the first two movements of the Brahms, because they played them with energy that was released in the form of beautiful, dynamic phases rather than the clangy ponderousness so often inflicted on Brahms. I don't know whether these kids have any idea what a brutal ordeal they face making careers. I sure hope to hear more from them (as far as I'm concerned, they still owe me two movements of the Brahms quartet). Right now they seem to be having a love affair with this amazing music they're playing, and that was a lovely thing to share.

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