Norbert Palej: Passacaglia (Sidereal Wheels) (1999) ~~ Alfred Schnittke: Concerto for Piano & String Orch. (1979) ~~ John Heiss: Four Short Pieces for Chamber Orch. (1961) ~~ Robert DiDomenica: Gone Are the Rivers and the Eagles ~~ Arther Berger: Polyphony (1956). NEC performers. Jordan Hall, New England Conservatory of Music. Jan. 14th. 

Disavowing any connection to music of the past was once all the rage in certain compositional circles. This reviewer never had sympathy for this way of thinking, believing such composers were heavily into denial, determined to cloak their work with the cachet of originality at any price. Friday's Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP) concert presented four selections that, by contrast, tangibly acknowledge their roots and find intriguing ways to come to terms with them.

Four Short Pieces for Chamber Orchestra (1961) shows a young John Heiss smitten with Webern's Op. 10 orchestra pieces and Schoenberg's Op. 19 piano miniatures. But the work's graceful, understated warmth and lack of expressionist angst allow its tiny movements to rise beyond these models. The music here is colorful, uncluttered, and clever, exhibiting a delightful sense of line and mood—a very appealing listen indeed.

A hearty love for Charles Ives's music provides the basis for Robert DiDomenica's work, which consists of two variation sets dovetailed together, one based on passages from The New River, the other on snippets from Like a Sick Eagle. The music's rugged urgency more strongly suggests kinship to that of Carl Ruggles or John Becker, however. DiDomenica does an especially nice job of covering sectional seams here, though the composition's overall dramatic pacing leaves this listener a bit puzzled on first hearing. The work's forceful advocacy for environmental concerns is effectively mirrored by the sturdy integrity of its melodic rhetoric.

Arthur Berger's Polyphony (1956) clearly shows this composer in a transitional phase. The piece's rhythms and gestures belong to his earlier neo-classic period, but the pitch language used is dissonant in the manner of Berg or Schoenberg, foreshadowing Berger's later serial style. Surprisingly, these seeming opposites mesh most convincingly; this listener has never heard anything quite like it. The piece is first-rate, exhibiting staunch vigor, significant variety of texture, tightness of material, and imaginative scoring. 

Two BMOP student contest winners, one a composer, the other a performer, were also featured. Like the Berger piece, Norbert Palij's Passacaglia mixes Stravinskian rhythms with an unlikely harmonic idiom, this time thick clusters. One can easily chalk up the piece's viscid scoring and odd unfolding of verticals to youthful exuberance and instead enjoy its craggy, brusque energy and audacious, in-your-face risk-taking. Pianist Jung Hee Shin proved a top-flight soloist in Alfred Schnittke's concerto. This eccentric composition contains everything from walloping clusters to delicate triadic figures; through it all, Shin's tone quality was exemplary, never ugly or forced even in the densest, most forceful passages. Her playing also showed a fine sense of line and spot-on technique.

The orchestra, splendidly conducted by Gil Rose, performed excellently from start to finish; special commendation goes to Jeffrey Work for his fine solo trumpet playing. And congratulations also go to Rose for programming a concert of provocative pieces willing to look history squarely in the eye.