One word best sums up Friday's collaborative performance of Chanticleer and the Shanghai Quartet at Berkeley's First Congregational Church: work. Everything from the choice of works in the program to the enthusiastic work put in by the performers onstage simply "worked" well.
Due to the nature of the pieces performed and precious little explanation from the stage, however, the audience had to put in a bit of work to take in the music. But the task was not too difficult; the sincerity with which both ensembles offered music to a full house of equally enthusiastic listeners was not unlike the gratifying messages one normally expects from a church's pulpit.
The program began with a song cycle for mixed choir and string quartet, titled From the Path of Beauty by acclaimed composer Chen Yi, who was in attendance. The premiere of Chen's work had occurred the night before and, if her body language indicated anything as she took her seat moments before the house lights dimmed, Chen was pleased and eager to hear her work realized for only the second time.
The program notes explain the cycle as a journey "through the history of beauty in Chinese arts, from the ancient totems to the figurines, from poetry to calligraphy, from dance to music — from the thoughts to spirit." Its seven songs ("The Bronze Taotie," "The Ancient Totems," "The Rhymed Poems," "The Clay Figurines," "The Secluded Melody," "The Dancing Ink," and "The Village Band") were each imbued with characteristics suggested by their titles, though the extent to which each piece is programmatic was not obvious.
Chen's writing is engaging, and straddles a line between a 20th-century soundscape — with jagged dissonances, volatile textures, and contemporary performance techniques for string instruments and voice — and a more olden and, perhaps to some listeners, foreign musical world.
Performing alone in the first song and along with the string quartet in four others, Chanticleer was entrusted with elements of traditional Chinese folk music and performed its parts — made up of nonsense syllables and, at times, vocal effects — with conviction and precision. The Shanghai Quartet blended exceptionally well with the choir and, in turn, played with gusto when brought to the fore.
Kwami Coleman is a Ph.D. student in musicology at Stanford, with a concentration in jazz history. He was formerly an artist's liaison with Jazz at Lincoln Center.