San Francisco Classical Voice

CONTEMPORARY MUSIC REVIEW

Making the Most of the Highly Imaginative

December 3, 2002

By Jules Langert

The Empyrean Ensemble's Tuesday evening concert at Berkeley's First Congregational Church came on strongly with a brilliant display of highly imaginative new music, in the capable hands of performers who knew how to make the most of it. Five pieces by Bay Area composers had their first performances, the most ambitious and unusual of which ended the program, Kurt Rohde's Double Trouble, a chamber concerto for two solo violas, accompanied by a quintet of flute/piccolo, clarinet, violin, cello, and piano. In three movements lasting about fifteen minutes, Double Trouble treated the soloists as a single complex entity, wrapping them in a tight sonic embrace from which came a tumble of contending, colliding, echoing, and reinforcing voices.

The accompanying ensemble interacted in a multitude of ways. Sometimes the violin and cello joined the soloists, momentarily creating a four-voiced string texture. Occasionally a brief, shrill piccolo obbligato or a fast, low clarinet tremolo emerged from the background. At one point a piano ostinato asserted itself with an intrusively repeating high note. Another whimsical touch occurred when a series of single, accented staccato chords was intensified as the players first tapped their instruments and then forcefully stamped their feet, adding a bit of percussion to the ensemble. This was an exciting, dynamic piece that kept audience and performers on the edge of their chairs. The two demanding solo parts were played by the composer and Ellen Ruth Rose. David Milnes deftly led the group through its paces.

Amy Williams' Sextet (2001), this year's winner of the Wayne Peterson Prize in Music Composition, sponsored by San Francisco State University, opened the program. Just as Double Trouble was built around a problematic texture (two violas behaving like unruly Siamese Twins), this sextet, scored for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano, and percussion was based on a textural dichotomy — a hyperactive, anarchic opening section out of which smoothly emerged a passage of quiet, sustained sonorities. Williams managed the connection beautifully, without any awkwardness or disjunction, continuing this pattern throughout the piece. At the end of a calm, static interlude, a few sudden notes on the chimes or a jangling piano cadenza would set off the next frenzied episode. Daring in its premise and refreshing in its textural immediacy, this piece made a good impression, although there was ultimately something schematic in its singlemindedness.

Empyrean Ensemble

Zeppelin (2001) for flute/alto flute and cello, by Laurie San Martin, co-director of the Empyrean Ensemble, also had a textural issue to resolve. The flute, limpid and lyrical, found itself in close proximity to the cello that was tense and uncomfortable playing in a high register. Bringing the cello down and into a more comfortable relationship with the flute was one of the goals of the first movement, and the composer handled it imaginatively. The lyrical second movement, pitched lower, had the cello accompanying the alto flute. When registral tension resumed in the finale, San Martin found a satisfying way to conclude this brief, but stimulating composition. Cellist Leighton Fong and flutist Tod Brody were the well-matched duo.

Gabriela Frank's Sueños de Chambi is a suite of seven movements for flute and piano inspired by photographs of Peruvian society and ethnic life by Martin Chambi (1891-1973). The modern, but folk music-influenced style of the suite is like a Peruvian relative of Bartók's Rumanian Dances, a cross between Latin and Andean idioms. The composer and the flutist Tod Brody gave a captivating performance of this piece. Andrew Frank's propulsive Quartet for flute and string trio was a single fast/slow/fast movement. Strongly crafted and assured in its manner, the quartet was clean and clear in design and thoroughly fluent, though at the price of some spontaneity. It was the only piece of the evening with a classical approach to structure. Most of the other compositions evolved from a constellation of coloristic or dramatic opening flourishes. From there to the end, their paths developed waywardly, with unforeseen detours and indeterminate end points.