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By Michael Cooper PHILADELPHIA — “Can I get one with whiz, no onion?” a hungry young man called into the window of Pat’s King of Steaks. The counterman deftly flipped a sizzling skein of thinly sliced steak onto a roll and then applied a lacquer of Cheez Whiz to create a classic Philly cheesesteak. Taking it all in with a digital recorder and high-end binaural microphones one day in February was the composer Tod Machover, who writes symphonies about cities around the world and brings some of their most characteristic sounds into the concert hall. 
(Photo Credit: Jessica Kourkounis for The New York Times)
Mr. Machover was nearly finished with his latest work, “Philadelphia Voices,” which the Philadelphia Orchestra and the conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin will perform at Carnegie Hall on Tuesday, but he was not quite satisfied with an earlier attempt to capture the sizzle of a cheesesteak. So he went back for a second helping By Russell Pratt Another new-music event of interest comes courtesy of the exciting conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Philadelphia Orchestra (April 10, at Carnegie Hall): a performance of “Philadelphia Voices,” a new piece by Tod Machover, a gifted composer who occupies a unique space between high art and advanced technology. The work, which incorporates sounds from the city and its people, is part of a program that also includes Bernstein’s “Chichester Psalms” and Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition.”  (Illustration by Seb Agresti)
By David Patrick Stearns The stage of Verizon Hall was so crowded with complex percussion and electronic equipment and, of course, the Philadelphia Orchestra that you weren’t sure how anyone could physically maneuver during the Thursday premiere of Philadelphia Voices by Tod Machover. 
(Photo Courtesy of the Philadelphia Orchestra)
And that didn’t even count the amassed choirs that crowded the seating area overlooking the stage. Living up to its name meant Philadelphia Voices had a lot to encompass, and a seasoned composer like Machover cast a wide net that included not just orchestral effects but speech, singing, much in between, and field recordings made around Philadelphia. Based at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology but currently a guest professor at the Curtis Institute, Machover has written a number of city-driven pieces, and he spent the last year assembling this one in the spirit of a documentary filmmaker — though with no obligation to tell a linear story. By David Patrick Stearns Suffering for art took on frigid new meaning for composer Tod Machover while creating his new symphony for the Philadelphia Orchestra. His Philadelphia Voices couldn't possibly live up to its name without Machover experiencing the Mummers, so there he was at the parade on New Year's Day. Remember how cold it was? "My butt was frozen to the metal bleachers at the viewing stand," said the brainy, bushy-haired Machover.  COURTESY PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA Composer Tod Machover at Pat’s King of Steaks, where he sampled the sound of sizzling cheesesteaks for his new piece, “Philadelphia Voices.”
By Margaret Darby.  Tod Machover. Photo by Joi Ito.
Knowing that the program would contain a collage of sounds and poetry collected and collaged by Tod Machover, creative director at MIT’s Media Lab, I assumed Philadelphia Voices would be a cute, little, piece of popular music with trite songs about cheesesteaks. It was neither trite nor trivial. Machover created some serious music and selected some very striking poetry by Philadelphians. My favorite verses came from the pen of a brilliant teenager named Jayda Hepburn. Hepburn, a Mighty Writer, wrote some lines that resonate: “The City of Brotherly Love rests on the river/And we all await the next morning/Waiting to love again.”Another verse by Ms. Hepburn stayed with me: “The country is full of black people/And pain and blood and gunsmoke/And anger and a mother’s tears/And screaming/And us black people scream back/And pray for the night to end/For mom to dry her tears/And for someone to fucking listen.” The uncensored verses were deftly incorporated into a surprisingly classical score, undergirded by a strong organ part which provided both musical support and, in other sections, a musical backdrop of sports arena music and dancing block parties. Machover used rhythms to great effect: a series of 5/8 measures for “Philadelphia” and some 7/8 for “Benjamin Franklin” which the Keystone State Boychoir and Pennsylvania Girlchoir sang with crisp and controlled intonation. |
