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RECITAL REVIEW
Jeanrenaud On Her Own, But Collaborating
October 10, 2000
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By Ken Durling
Joan Jeanrenaud's departure from the Kronos Quartet last year made news in the contemporary music world. Kronos has had a phenomenally successful career, both on the concert stage and in the recording studio, playing everything from Jimi Hendrix to Bill Evans, George Crumb to Terry Riley . Jeanrenaud's presence as the Kronos' cellist for 20 years, has been a part of its unique signature.
Thursday's concert at the Yerba Buena Center's Forum was extraordinary in a number of ways. It was very much a collaborative effort, involving video, improvisatory relationships with composers, taped accompaniments, borrowed traditions, and even a stage prop -- an internally lit pile of stones -- a "cairn," also the title of one of the compositions on the program. The program's four compositions were played almost without pause, separated only by lighting cues, and the entire musical portion of the evening lasted only 45 minutes. Jeanrenaud herself is a striking stage presence, and the total effect was unified, engaging, and musically beautiful.
Sea Change, the first piece on the program, was a collaboration with composer Allaudin Mathieu and videographer Darren Joy. In some ways it was the most adventurous and successful piece of the evening. Placed on stage in advance was Jeanrenaud's white, electric cello, looking like a seamstress's mannequin on its rolling stand. The back of the stage was a large white projection screen. When the lights went down, we were presented with surf sounds and visual images produced by a video camera aimed at waves swirling ashore. Viewed at close range, from directly above, these images were slightly overexposed, producing a very white background for the changing patterns.
Jeanrenaud, clothed in a white pantsuit, entered and assumed a standing playing position behind the electric cello. She thus became part of the projection surface, blending into the visual background in a remarkable way. Besides the ocean sounds, the taped accompaniment consisted of an "orchestra" of prerecorded cellos. This, we were told during the panel discussion afterward, was created in collaboration with the composer, by way of repeated improvisational "drafts." Initially sonorous and reminiscent of viol consort music, the score passed through a number of changing textures, some pointillist, some minimalist. Against these, the solo electric cello sustained a contemplative, elegiac cantabile. Even though the electric instrument is limited in timbre (especially in contrast to the recorded "real" cellos), Jeanrenaud's playing was fluid, expressive, and seamless. Accounting for probably 15 to 20 minutes of the program, the piece never lost its charm. Jeanrenaud then switched to her regular acoustic cello to play two short pieces written, as she later explained, by composers who play the electric guitar: End of the Beginning (2000) by Duncan Youngerman, and Cairn (1994) by Steve Mackey. Youngerman's composition exploited the cello's great harmonic spectrum. Jeanrenaud displayed remarkable control over the harmonics of the open strings. In both Youngerman's and Mackey's work, Jeanrenaud utilized a digitized loop. This is a device that, by control of a foot switch, can capture up to 20 seconds of music played by the live performer and repeat it over and over. Given the amplified sound quality at the performance, the choice of phrases to loop was imaginative and compelling. Mackey's work was more rhythmic and punchy, whereas the Youngerman's explored extended sounds and patterns created by looped harmonic glissandi. The last work was a transcription/improvisation on a composition entitled Escalay (1967/2000) by the famed Nubian musician Hamza El Din. As was later explained, Jeanrenaud reproduced the music El Din sang and played on the oud (a North African lute) by looping a rhythmic pattern of bounced bow and arpeggiated chord sounds. Over a tape of this, she played in real time the part sung by El Din over the oud part. El Din explained that the inspiration came from the songs of the drivers of oxen that turn the water wheels along the Nile's banks. The songs are influenced by the hypnotic turning of the wheel, which is reflected then in the composition's rhythmic patterns, bringing the concert full "circle" with the water motif. The transposition of the oud part to the cello loop was more effective than the transcription of the vocal part to the live cello. The cello did not adequately reproduce the characteristic sounds of another language, moreover one in the highly idiomatic Arab vocal tradition. It is evident that Jeanrenaud understands very well what her strengths and proclivities are. Her commitment to making art that is polished, innovative, and beautiful made for a very satisfying performance. (Ken Durling is a composer, performer, and teacher active in the San Francisco Bay Area.) ©2000 Ken Durling, all rights reserved |
