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NEW MUSIC REVIEW
Music on the Edge
March 8 & 9, 2001
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By Mark Alburger
When the Bang on a Can All-Stars played at Yerba Buena Gardens three Octobers ago, I had the sense of listening to the cutting — no, the raw, bleeding — edge of music. Now, two and a half years later, that dangerous quality was just as acutely felt in their bang-up performance on Thursday at the same venue.
The ensemble immediately lived up to its name in Phil Kline's Exquisite Corpses, which emphasized the basso-brutal side of this amplified sextet of clarinet, keyboards, guitar, percussion, cello, and bass. The two low-string players hammered away, while electric guitar and drum kit pounded out altered rock rhythms to the minimalist/ecstatic figurations of clarinet and grand piano.
As if this wasn't enough to grab listeners by the scruff of the ear, Bang on a Can Marathon cofounder Julia Wolfe offered the unbelievable Believing, a relentless, ripping tour de force for cellist Wendy Sutter, where energetic additions from the rest of the ensemble proved utterly exhausting. A midsection wonderfully relaxed the tension by requiring the vocal intonings of each player (all had voice mikes in addition to instrumental amplification capabilities). This pseudo-ritual suddenly and briefly returned to the opening energy, this time mounting a sonic staircase to an abrupt cliff climax.
Instrumental and vocal music not enough for you? Don Byron's Eugene I was multimedia, with the additional inspiration of Ernie Kovacs' Eugene. Byron's music, structured to the film, was as dizzy and quirky as the 1960s comic writer-actor's genius. A cartoon world of squeaks and pratfalls made this an entertaining divertissement.
The only miscalculation of the evening was the first two of Three Improvisations from clarinetist-composer Evan Ziporyn. It was not that the music was unworthy, it was simply out of place. These microtonally evocative studies would have been more appropriate at an academic or uptown concert. Yes, we all appreciate diversity. But these simply came off like a couple of suits at a pool party, minus any comic effect. The third study, however, was a wonderfully haunting homage to East African wind-playing. The reverb or digitally enhanced delays caused a sinuous overlapping of lines that commanded attention (though "commanded" is too strong a word, really, for this delightfully gentle music). A movement from Brian Eno's classic Music for Airports, in the becoming-classic arrangement by another Bang on a Can Marathon founder, Michael Gordon, held my interest in a related manner. Here the music does not bludgeon (as at times in the first half of the evening's program), but caresses and soothes. An early example of "ambient music" (the minimalists, Cage, and even Satie had previously attempted similar soundscapes), Eno's ultra-Muzak washed over me in sensuous calm. Each detail was captivating, and the whole was of a calm peace. This is not music for everyone, but for those that can take it in, it can be transcendent. I Buried Paul, also by Gordon, likewise is not music for everyone. But it is certainly for anyone who spent time in the 1960s playing Beatles' tracks backwards, looking for clues to the "Paul is dead" rumor. Never has a composer so completely captured "backwards" and "fast forward" tape music in a live electroacoustic setting. How often have many of us listened to such sounds and wondered if convincing music could be made of such material? Gordon's piece was as relentless and yet multivalent as Wolfe's (the two are married — imagine the noise if they ever have a falling out!). Both composers featured a basic default mode of everybody playing all the time. It is a powerful concept that produced a powerful sound and that, run through a constantly changing set of densities, intensities, and propensities, made for a thoroughly alarming and engaging listening experience.
Tan Dun's Concerto for Six was played for a riotous encore. This fine composer — whose Ghost Opera, for Kronos, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, for Hollywood, have brought worthy attention — has created a madcap, virtuoso escapade for all the players, including punky guitarist Mark Stewart, inside-the-soundboard pianist Lisa Moore, lithe percussionist Steven Schick, and caressing bassist Robert Black. (Mark Alburger is Editor-Publisher of 21st Century Music Monthly Journal, and an ASCAP composer published by New Music Publications and Recordings.) ©2001 Mark Alburger, all rights reserved |
