San Francisco Classical Voice

January 25, 1999

Contemporary music flowed forth that was attractive and beautifully crafted last Monday at The Forum in Yerba Buena Center; EARPLAY produced its second concert of the season.

Five pieces graced the program, each one by a composer mostly unknown to local audiences, if better known to local Music Departments as former students. All of them came with glowing credentials, being performed and published across the U.S. Two of the works were expressly composed for EARPLAY and had their world premieres. However, though each piece displayed a level of professionalism dazzling to the audience, not all of them were equally successful. The problem lay with programming. Many of these works are too much like one another. Packed together on one evening these individual gems turned wearying and repetitive; the weak moments turned obvious and distracting. In sum it was too much of a limited style, and the concert suffered.

The start was auspicious. The first work, "Danza Nocturna" by Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon was the oldest of the five; though written in 1987 it has been though several versions, what the composer in the program calls "cosmetic surgery." He comes from Guadalajara, Mexico, and in the States was a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania under George Crumb. It was the only work of the evening one could describe as nationalistic, a Mexican dance in several sections with accessible, persuasive rhythms.

"Danza Notturna" was rich in atmosphere, particularly at the ending, rather loosely organized to resemble "improvised renditions of folk music". Written for piano, cello and percussion and effectively performed by Michael Orland, piano, Robin Bonnell, cello and Daniel Kennedy on the xylophone, it was an compelling work. It also had the benefit of being first on the program, and of having been tried out several times and polished in former concerts. The polish was good to hear.

The second work, by Jennifer Higdon (teaching now at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia), was a tour-de-force for solo flute, magnificently played by Mathew Krejci. The title "Rapid Fire" suggested a perpetual motion tongue, flying about the registers with intense sequences of repeated notes. The composer wrote that she wanted to express "the violence of the cities...rage, pain...desperate running." What came across was a very showy, virtuoso display of effects, too long in the endless repetitions of patterns. If I hadn't read about the pain, I wouldn't have known it was there.

EARPLAY then performed a work dedicated to it by David Rakowski, now teaching at Brandeis University. It is called "La Roba", "stuff" in Italian, and is divided into three sections of varying tempi. It begins very rapidly, lingers in a slow, eloquent middle part, then scurries away in a very busy final movement. It was filled with interesting details, loud bursts, rapid unison lines placed among sustained chords. The "Pierrot Lunaire" ensemble--flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano--ably and with great success fulfilled the composer's intentions for line and color and motion. Unfortunately, the ending didn't work and it seemed wrong; it suddenly broke off. All that energy can't just stop without preparation; the effect was disquieting.

The rest of the evening produced the other premiere, a work by the clearly talented Martha Callison Horst entitled "Chiaroscuro" for clarinet, violin, cello and piano, and an ecstatic work by Ann Marie Callaway called "Devachan". Both of these works were less involved in technique and given more to intuitive sounds that seduced the ear. "Chiaroscuro" was more tonal in effect with rich, plummy chords; the music eventually grew more chromatic, more edgy. Sharp rhythms dissolved into wandering random attacks. The last section was particularly good, the ending great.

"Devachan", defined in the program notes as "the so-called mental world" of heightened consciousness, brought paint and vibrant color to the program. It trilled with shuddering quivers of sensitivity, the tremolos vibrated with emotion creating an overall effect of resonating passion. Cadenzas at the end for various instruments celebrated each player's skill; the ensemble of six (flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano and percussion played by the excellent David Carlisle) displayed magnificent aptitude for this sort of emotional wash, a splendid ending to the concert.

Yet, the programing of these basically similar works on the same evening seemed a mistake. A certain "academic" vapor descended upon the hall, a world of beautifully articulated language that often didn't amount to much. In many pieces the length seemed excessive. Sections of some works seemed more extended than one could assimilate, ideas were prolonged more for show than expression. Compositional techniques were used over and over, like those running figures, those crushing outbursts followed by sustained chords. Better programming, better juxtaposition of pieces might have avoided the sameness of style that becomes a problem for an eager audience. Repetition ends up in boredom and exhaustion for the tired ear.

Of course, one understands that for economic reasons pieces written basically for the same ensemble are grouped as a unit; the excellent performers are put through their paces and the listener enjoys their efforts - for a while. Next time, maybe a singer?

(Marvin Tartak, a pianist noted for contemporary music, teaches a course in Opera at City College of San Francisco. He has written program notes for the San Francisco Symphony and Opera, has also has edited two volumes of Rossini for the Fondazione Rossini, and is soon to embark on a third.)

©1998 Marvin Tartak, all rights reserved