Cello Goddess
What does it mean to have “goddess energy”? Is it like stage presence, that ineffable quality that turns heads and locks eyes?
Maya Beiser — who performed Michael Gordon’s Travel Guide to Nicaragua at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall on Thursday, Nov. 17 — is a self-described “cello goddess.” It’s even her Instagram handle.
I found out about Travel Guide, in fact, through a targeted ad.
According to her website, Beiser has also been called the “reigning queen of avant-garde cello” by the Washington Post and a “cello rockstar” by Rolling Stone.
Whether queen, goddess, or rockstar, Beiser certainly commands the stage.
She came out in a metallic gown and black stilettos, looking like a Botticelli Venus wrapped in a marathon runner’s Mylar blanket.
When she sat, her elevated knees looked like silver tents. Her body anchored to the ground by three sharp points: endpin, heel, heel.
Walking with a cello, let alone playing, in heels is difficult. I know because I’ve tried. Beiser’s fashion choice, far from practical, was a power move.
Gordon’s Travel Guide, meanwhile, has little to do with Nicaragua. The six-movement Carnegie commission tells mainly of his father’s emigration from Poland to Cuba.
The libretto, consisting of family stories, is about the contradictions of memory
It’s written for The Crossing —a 24-person choir conducted by Donald Nally — and a single cello. If you think of the cello and human voice as equals, two dozen against one feels imbalanced.
I expected Beiser to take on the role of soloist, rather than accompanist, but it wasn’t until “Goldie,” the fourth movement, that she was given a beautiful Hebraic melody, played with voluptuous vibrato.
In other movements, Beiser sounded out of tune in her lower register. The harmonic equivalent of the tablecloth being pulled out from under you. (Whether she or the choir was at fault doesn’t matter — she was outnumbered.)
Each movement, introduced with a cello pizz., was accompanied by video projections. At one point, Beiser played standing up (impressive in heels!); At another, the spotlight fell directly on her.
Beiser’s performance raised some questions for me. Is what a musician looks like as important as their sound?
Maybe. But stage presence is not the same thing as attractiveness. It’s closer to aura.
I admire Beiser most when I think of her in the tradition of Charlotte Moorman, whose experimental performances earned her the moniker, the “topless cellist.” Indeed, there are many similarities between the two.
My issue with Beiser, I think, has to do more with branding. Can a goddess know she’s a goddess? Saying it aloud undercuts it somehow.