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Program IV Saturday, June 19, Early Afternoon 'Young American Composers .' Christopher Lim: Reflections ~~ Adam Greene: Pas De Deux À Travers Le Jardin De Sculpture ~~ Teresa Martin: Character Sketches ~~ Beata Moon: In Transit ~~ Paul Yeon Lee: Sanjo #1 ~~ Yuzuru Sadashige : Ex-S- Tet . Ryu Goto, violin; Mr. Lim, piano; Ana Milosavljevic, violin; Urara Mogi, violin; Renee Briggs-Cometa, piano; Amy Zoloto, clarinet; Jee Sun Lee, violin; Yoon Ju Ma, cello; Hana Kim, clarinet; Yoojin Oh, piano; Olivier Fluchaire, violin; Barry Crawford, flute; Ms. Moon, piano; Haleh Abghari, voice Of all the programs presented, this one should have served as the “short ride on a fast machine” into the future. After all, it was made up of “young American composers.” And yet we found it puzzling that the works chosen were mainly, on the one hand, of the vintage academic variety and, on the other, a sort of revisit to artlessness. Only when we reached the final piece were there hints of the age ahead and its promises (if you're optimistic) of completely new sound patterns and sonic ideas suggesting an entirely revised organization of tones unlike anything in our musical past. This was Matthew Burtner's Animus/Anima, a computer-based work with voice by Haleh Abghari . No program notes were provided, so we had to do a little digging to get at the composers' intentions and his tools. Fortunately, we discovered that he had indeed left some quite illuminating notes that just did not make the program book in time. Mr. Burtner also has an excellent web site in which one can read about his invention, the metasaxophone, and see that he is already a full-blown composer with a sense of mission. It appears that Ms. Abghari's voice underwent some interactive processing. But her “physical vocal cavity is extended by coupling her voice to a bass drum which acts as a resonator in performance.” She used her ability to constantly reshape her voice convincingly and evocatively. Burtner was at a computer, which may indicate that the electronics are never the same from performance to performance. Whatever the case, the work we hear is subtle in contour and has virtually no climax, yet its misty, murky textures created an atmosphere of expectation. Its remote character conjures up the universe and the suggestion that some will see this work as the logical sequel to Gustav Holst's The Planets who stopped at Neptune (with its women's chorus corresponding to Ms. Abghari ) because Pluto and the outer asteroids hadn't been discovered. Holst, though considered a modernist in his day, was always very close to the traditions of music as stirring, gripping, sensual sounds, which Animus/Anima is far from, at least until we change the nature of our ears and open them wide.
There were two other selections that we found intriguing: Mr. Sadashige's eX-s-tet and Ms. Moon's In Transit . The latter shows the composer to be a musician of unusual talent, if one can accept her desire to create herself in the eclectic mold. The titles suggests her journey along those paths, and she credits Barber, Bernstein and Ives with having provided the inspiration for it. There is plenty of art in this solo piano work, but she zips though it with such ease one feels her music is without pretension and is sincere. There are also plenty of elements of an individual style throughout, so one should not label her a copycat in the least. Mr. Sadashige, on the other hand, is most definitely an artist in the purer sense of the word, and his chromatic work, like the title he uses to play out his ideas, explores the ins, outs, twists, turns of the musical ensemble he calls for - the sextet, here made up of two violins, viola, clarinet, cello and piano. We found Mr. Lim's and Mr. Greene's pieces far too institutionalized, though there are glimmers of strength that might be further explored. The former was composed as a gift for a friend recovering from a severe auto accident. It has a few nice moments meant obviously to help the victim smile and heal faster, but its overall chromaticism seems too severe for the occasion. Mr. Greene's work (translated as “Dance for two through the sculpture garden”) was meant as a performing piece, and it is therefore hard to judge away from the designated occasion. Were those lengthy rests between the sections meant to be so long for a reason? We cannot tell. Ms. Martin's sketches for clarinet and piano, describing a friend musically, has an almost refreshing naivete to it. Made up of four movements, Outspoken, Passionate, Blue, Playful, her titles may seem inapt when we read her notes. “Outspoken,” e.g., comes across as simply chatty and shrill, while “Blue” (supposedly her subject's favorite color) is more like the color of “the blues.” The very brief work by Mr. Lee is also without program annotations. We were told it was an improvised work, which sometimes hints at a synonym for performing self-indulgence. On the other hand, Barry Crawford's view of the piece never materialized into anything substantial at all which simply made it a quick dip into doodling. Program V Saturday, June 19, Late Afternoon. 'Piano Plus.' |
