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FESTIVAL REVIEW
Frederic Rzewski Melody of China
November 1, 2006
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The New Americana By Edward Ortiz
When Frederic Rzewski sat down at the piano for a 45-minute exploration he termed "Nonsequitors," to launch the Festival of New American Music Wednesday afternoon at Sacramento State University, the air was thick with expectation.
Rzewski, after all, is a hard-to-pin-down figure who was at the center of the 1960s avant-garde movement and a cofounder of the improvisational, live electronic ensemble Musica Elettronica Viva in Rome. But he is best-known for his chamber vocal and piano works that are both bold and accessible, such as The People United and Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues.
His introductory piece proved to be a compelling combination of piano music, much of it atonal in nature, with spoken words that evoked a 21st century version of Beat poetry. It was a fitting beginning to the festival.
For the gala concert, which took place later that evening, the festival paired Rzewski with the San Francisco-based quartet Melody of China. Both are patently American in the way they focus disparate musical influences. Such juxtapositions are organic to this gem of a music festival, which runs through Nov. 12 and offers as wide a range of musicians and music ensembles as can be heard. The overarching theme of festival performances is that the music be new and American. Rzewski certainly fits the bill, although he's an expatriate who lives in Belgium. His work is thoroughly American in the way that the idioms of both jazz and blues find their way into his music. This was readily evident in the West Coast debut performance of his politically fervent and expansive Bring Them Home! on Wednesday evening. Orchestrated for two pianos and two percussionists, the piece has a trademark Rzewski audacity that's both emotionally arresting and musically didactic. The work is American in the way it takes a folk tune and makes it relevant: The work's genesis is a 17th century Irish antiwar song that was later filtered through the American Revolution antiwar movement as Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier. Can there be anything more American? This dark, contemplative piece is built around 13 variations and one coda, all of which offer the two percussionists who played that evening, Michael Lipsey and Benjamin Paysen, ample material on which to improvise. It's a demanding work that uses the talents of these two excellent players to great effect, even though the most ambitious melodic lines are anchored in the two pianos, one played by Eliane Lust and the other by the intensely focused composer himself. The work's flirting with atonality may have a lot to do with Rzewski's having been a composition student with Milton Babbitt and having studied the music of Richard Wagner with Oliver Strunk at Princeton University from 1958 to 1960.
Ironically, it was a decidedly less-Western-sounding ensemble — the San Francisco-based Melody of China — that stole the show. This was no easy accomplishment, given Rzewski's talents and his bold, arresting music. But unexpected programming is the hallmark of the festival, after all, as is the musical cross-pollination of cultures. So perhaps it was fitting that Melody of China should make the biggest, freshest splash there. Formed by four musicians from prestigious conservatories in China, this quartet captures the youthful, hopeful symmetry of American music, which has always been a percolation of other cultures. Yuanlin Chen's Two Prose Poems, scored for hammered dulcimer, a table harp, the violinlike erhu, and a curious mouth organ called a sheng, which sounds like a reedy oboe, was the standout work. Chen is a New York-based composer who has worked closely with composer Tan Dun on the scores for such films as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The piece begins with a repetitive Steve Reich-like motif played on the dulcimer and table harp, with syncopated melodic lines growing above them on the erhu and sheng. Gangqin Zhao on the table harp and Yangqin Zhao on the dulcimer played the vivid strumming and melodic motifs with verve and intelligence, while Hong Wang played the erhu as if it were a Fender Stratocaster resting upright on his lap, his fingers channeling Jimi Hendrix. Although the work flirts briefly with atonality, it is accessible to its final note — and quite Western-sounding. The ensemble also played three other works, including the fast and punchy Galloping Horses, which proved to be a tour de force. (The ensemble performs again on Nov. 11 with the Del Sol String Quartet.) Other performers slated to appear at the festival are Free Planet Radio, an Asheville, N.C., trio that plays a mix of jazz and both world and improvisational music that's often rooted in classical music. The Empyrean Ensemble, an ensemble in residence at UC Davis, will also appear, performing works by Erica Muhl, Dan Becker, Laurie San Martin, and Sam Nichols. Additional festival performers include the Talujon Percussion Quartet, the violinist-composer Todd Reynolds, and the Ensemble Chiaroscuro, a newly formed quartet of musicians from Texas and California that performs on an unusual array of instruments such as flute, bassoon, vibraphone, and double bass. (Edward Ortiz writes for the Sacramento Bee and has written for the Boston Globe, the Berkshire Eagle, and the Providence Journal.)
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Frederic Rzewski
