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CONTEMPORARY MUSIC REVIEW
The Programming AND March 30, 1999
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By Ronald Caltabiano
A beautifully curated program by Composers Inc. last Tuesday was
highlighted by several outstanding performances. The program opened and
closed with works for large, single-instrument ensembles. Between them, the
first half worked toward progressively smaller instrumentation, and the
second half moved toward larger sonorities.
Surprisingly, it was the work for solo piano that made the greatest
impression. Nicholas Thorne's 19-minute Piano Sonata (1980) was performed
with great bravura by Matthew Edwards. The single movement flows like a stream of consciousness. The opening single line evolves effortlessly into episodes of simple counterpoint, polychordal
passages, and repeated notes. Throughout, events are foreshadowed and
reflected upon. Indeed it is an isolated, low staccato note just three
minutes into the piece that prepares a thundering climax 15 minutes later.
Edwards is the work's master, playing from memory and with enormous energy and direction.
Another work, Blast for Harpsichord and Kitchen, by Deniz (cq) Ince,
received an arresting premiere performance. The composition is scored for
amplified harpsichord, played with precision and clarity of
gesture by Sandra Soderlund against a recorded percussion performance on pots, pans and other kitchen equipment.
The integration of the timbre of the harpsichord with the recorded sounds was remarkable. The harpsichord alternately emphasized the electronic sounds, commented on them, was accompanied by them, and even emerged from them playing fragments of Baroque ideas. These became an important structural element, appearing three times, each with a different effect. The first appearance was surprising, the second entrance lingered a bit longer and was somewhat humorous. By the third time I became a bit bored with the material, but this was actually the composer's intended effect! Here, each time the Baroque material started, it would quickly break down, leading ultimately to the end of this well-shaped composition.
Jason Haney, the composer of Mareas for cello and harpsichord (1996),
could have learned much from the Ince as far as timbre is concerned. Only
during the last 90 seconds of this 12-minute work did the two instruments
work to produce clear gestures. Throughout the rest of the piece, numbingly
repeated figures in the harpsichord conflicted with nicely spun cello lines and halfhearted attempts were made at blending cello pizzicati with isolated
harpsichord notes.
Cordial Refrain (1996) for cello and piano by Kevin Putz was more
successful. This elegant work lasts just eight minutes. Three ideas are
introduced at the outset: a relaxed tonal melody, staccato piano notes with
transparent harmonics in the cello, and a canonic figure. These fragments
are interwoven and become longer, until they are heard as fully formed
ideas just before the close. The constant juxtaposition of material,
combined with a few interesting harmonic twists, keeps the listener happily
involved throughout the work. Much of the credit for the work's success goes to cellist Lawrence Granger and pianist Priscilla Carter
Granger, who used subtle shadings of tone color to great effect.
The bookends of the program were Wallingford Riegger's Study in Sonority (1927) for ten violins (or multiples of ten) and Zack Browning's Breakpoint Screamer (1994) for five trumpets and tape. The Riegger is a well-known, much-admired, though infrequently performed work, marking the composer's first move away from a conservative style. But although the style was somewhat adventurous when the piece was written, the shape of the work is predictable, and the textures, even for 1927, are not remarkable.
The textures in the Browning work were also less than impressive.
Considering what sounds could be produced by five trumpets with electronics,
one wonders why the composer settled so often for two-part unisons or
parallel triadic harmonies. The electronics, while sometimes distracting in
their simplicity, added shape, growing from an unadorned three-tone
pattern to full-register chords. I wish the work had been either
ear-blastingly loud or surprisingly quiet, elegantly simple or oppressively
complex. Instead it left a lukewarm impression of facile trumpet
playing sometimes hinting at elements of 1970s popular jazz.
Although the compositions were not all of the same caliber, the range of
ensembles, the thoughtfulness of programming, and most especially the very
high level of performances made this an outstanding event. In this final
concert of its 15th anniversary season, Composers Inc. continues to prove
itself a vital part of the San Francisco music community.
(Ronald Caltabiano is a composer living in San Francisco and teaching at San Francisco State University.)
©1999 Ronald Caltabiano, all rights reserved
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