He Put Vivaldi ‘in a Mixmaster' and Is Serious About Classical Humor
The composer Michael Abels laughed when he said this, but he meant it. As the creator of the memorable scores for all three films by the director Jordan Peele — including the horror-thriller-satire 'Get Out' (2017), which The Times recently named one of the 10 best films of the 21st century — Abels has mastered the art of writing music whose emotional heft is layered, sometimes with conflicting sensations.
At times, though, there's nothing ambiguous or veiled in his work. On Friday and Saturday, the Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center, led by Jane Glover, will perform Abels's orchestral piece 'More Seasons' (1999). It's a shot of pure whimsy: 'Vivaldi in a Mixmaster,' as Abels put it in a recent video interview from his home in Los Angeles.
Abels pointed out that many composers — from Bach to Astor Piazzolla — have pulled Vivaldi's 'Four Seasons' off the shelf to give it new twists. It's just so much fun to play with, he said, and its familiarity gives license to joke around.
'In classical music, we have lots of pathos and tragedy and big subjects,' Abels said. 'But humor is a really crucial, human, emotional connection that we don't treat with, ironically, the seriousness it deserves.'
The conductor Jonathon Heyward, the music director for the Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center, said this was one reason he was excited to include Abel's music.
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