“The 51% Majority” was the title of the Empyrean Ensemble’s program of compositions by female composers last Friday at Old First Church in San Francisco. Of the featured music, 52.4 percent (three and two-thirds of the seven pieces) was unexceptional — no surprise considering that contemporary classical music hasn’t been time-filtered enough. But the rest made the concert more than worthwhile.
Tops for me was the first performance of Ann Callaway’s The Memory Palace (2006) for clarinet, cello, and piano. According to Callaway (b. 1949), a Disney TV program on the life of Beethoven “revealed to listeners his great passion and nobility of spirit,” and inspired her, at 13, to become a composer. Among her achievements, which include a DMA from Columbia, a Guggenheim, and several residencies, the most amazing is her mailing the score of Amethyst out of the blue to the St. Louis Symphony and miraculously having it accepted for performance. (For more on what a rare event a “cold mail” such as this is, see this link.)
Callaway writes that once, while visiting battlements above Würtzburg, Germany, she heard church bells in town strike the hour. “I had never heard such deep, throbbing, booming bells. The evening was beautiful, the air soft, and I felt steeped in the centuries-old atmosphere of the castle.” The Memory Palace started off as “a musical artifact … a very long chorale tune, or perhaps a pavane, more suited to something I might have written in the 1600s.” Her 13-minute trio does indeed have antique qualities — among which is a sturdy tune with satisfying cadences — but more than that, it is suffused with 21st-century sensibilities. Bell sounds are mimicked by the pianist reaching over and stubbing strings inside while striking the keys; the cello soars from time to time in high registers; and both the piano, with Messiaen-like triads, and the clarinet, with interesting contrapuntal melodies, have much to contribute.
It was a shame, then, that the performance’s balance was off. The piano lid should have been lowered part way to reduce the dominance of the instrument. Conversely, from where I was sitting Peter Josheff’s clarinet was barely audible much of the time, yet it had some of the best music. The Memory Palace is a great piece that deserves more hearings under better conditions.
Jeff Dunn is a freelance critic with a B.A. in music and a Ph.D. in geologic education. A composer of piano and vocal music, he is a member of the National Association of Composers, USA, a former president of Composers, Inc., and has served on the Board of New Music Bay Area.