When Composers Play Musical Chairs
By Peter Kroll
Min Xiao-Fen: Blue Pipa — Harold Meltzer: Virginal — Vijay Iyer: Interventions — Tania Leon: Indigena — Andrew McKenna Lee: Arabescata — Kurt Rohde: White Boy; Man Invisible — Steven Mackey: Deal.Vijay Iyer, piano; Steven Mackey, electric guitar; Andrew McKenna Lee, guitar; Harold Meltzer, harpsichord; Kurt Rohde, viola; Jason Treuting, percussion; Min Xiao-Fen, pipa; Jeremy Robins, filmmaker; American Composers Orchestra, Dennis Russell Davis, conductor. NY, NY, Zankel Hall, March 26, 2007.
This ACO concert, subtitled “Composers Outfront,” was interesting in that all soloists were playing their own compositions. It is not really clear if this is the best way to perform a work, but at least it is “authentic.” Actually the pieces were invigorating, and it was especially good to have Dennis Russell Davis back on the ACO podium. Last here in 2002, he is a very musical and dynamic leader, and helped present the ensemble and the works in their best light. It was also fitting that he was here since this was the 30th Anniversary of the ACO and he is one of its founders. I hope he returns more often.
I note that the indication that this was such an important anniversary was hardly mentioned in the program notes. Such modesty is unnecessary from so important an ensemble.
First to the solo works. Min Xiao-Fen’s piece is a brief tour de force. Singing in Chinese and at points sounding like an old-time scat vocalist, she also played her pipa like a virtuosic jazz improviser. Inspired by Miles Davis, there are quotes from his “Kind of Blue” album, but more important is the composer’s mix of gentleness and power. Andrew McKenna Lee’s short work also was superbly performed and does achieve the composer’s rather playful if limited intent of connecting his two loves of rock and roll and classical music [i.e. crossing a “Scarlatti sonata with a Jimi Hendrix solo…”].
Meltzer’s composition is rich in instrumentation and thematic development. I was especially taken with the opening movement’s guitar and delicate intertwining of colors and dynamics using guitar and harpsichord. The harpsichord is used throughout the work as soloist and to instigate/comment on the often propulsive orchestral sections.
Leon’s work was introduced by a video of her speaking about her life in Cuba, with photos from her youth, and its impact on her work. Indigena is a short composition with intense and varied rhythms and brilliant instrumental playing, especially for trumpet.
Iyer’s piece was preceded by a warm and inviting video about him composing. The same warmth is found in this composition, his first for orchestra. Iyer played the piano and had his laptop near-by. He writes that the work “alternates between through-composed sections…and brief sections involving ensemble improvisations…” Iyer further states that he did not attempt to create the usual concerto model; instead he aimed for an “Ellington model, in which the pianist-composer provides occasional commentary from the music’s margins.” The mix is handled creatively and has a delicacy about it, combined with quietly dissonant sections usually played by the orchestra proper. The orchestration is sophisticated and the colors are intriguing.
Mackey wrote Deal in 1995, and this was the chamber orchestra version of the piece. At close to 30 minutes it was the longest on the program. According to the composer, it has a “serious but changeable tone” and combines a basically improvised guitar part with tape playback also handled by the soloist, an orchestral component “composed and notated with great attention to detail and nuance” along with sounds from the “real” world (e.g., a barking dog). I note too that the electric guitar and drummer tend to dominate the work in terms of dynamics and color. To this listener, the piece has a very rock/jazz sense to it, but with a much wider variety of colors and harmonies than found in usual pop music. There were moments which held my interest, especially the contribution by percussionist Treuting, but overall the composition does not seem very compelling.
The most impressive work on the program was Rohde’s, whose title “represents the two types of energy operating in the pieces…contrasts [of himself] not opposites…” The first movement is [‘White Boy’] “the extrovert, the shell that appears on the surface [while] the second movement [‘Man Invisible’] is interior, more private.” These descriptions do not do justice to the emotional commitment with which the work was played, especially by the soloist-composer and its emotional impact on at least this listener. Virtuosic elements abound, including a rich but mournful sound from the viola. There were moments in the work which would make Tchaikovsky happy. But this is clearly a contemporary piece in its overall harmonic variety, pointillistic use of color and intricate structural development. This is a work which seems easier to write than it really is, and I hope that it is recorded soon. I also will remember Rohde’s rather gangly appearance and the contrast one hears when he plays with so much fullness. <
I note that the Iyer is a world premiere while the Rohde and Mackey works were New York premieres.