Parlando illuminates the darkness with Haas’ “in vain”

Why is this work a masterpiece? That thought must have been on some minds as Ian Niederhoffer led Parlando in Georg Friedrich Haas’ in vain at Merkin Hall on Sunday afternoon.

To the composer’s fans in the audience, it was self-evident. For others, even if they were not quite convinced of its lofty status, they undoubtedly realized that they had experienced something monumental, if inexplicable. 

Ian Niederhoffer