Second Instrumental Unit

by David Cleary

Tuesday, January 18, 2005, 8:00 PM
Keller Room, New England Conservatory of Music, Boston , MA

The Composers' Series: A Tribute to Milton Babbitt
Wednesday, January 19, 2005, 8:00 PM
Jordan Hall, New England Conservatory of Music, Boston , MA

Estimable serialist Milton Babbitt was feted on Wednesday's Composers' Series concert at the New England Conservatory.   In addition to a somewhat amateurish film containing an interview with Babbitt and a rehearsal of his Solo Requiem (the scheduled performance of which was canceled because of singer illness), four of the composer's selections were presented.   Two dated from the early stages of this tonemeister's career, while the others were of comparatively recent vintage.

For violin/piano duo, Little Goes a Long Way (2001) possesses characteristics some may consider typical of Babbitt's output: pointillism, gritty dissonance, mercurial textures and dynamics, structures suggesting a perpetual set of variations.   While true enough, this isn't a value judgment; criticizing Babbitt for writing music of this sort is akin to grumbling about Johann Strauss for writing waltzes.   Fact is, no one pens music in such a vein with more craft, assurance, and effectiveness-and Little is a sterling example of this.   When given by sensitive, talented performers, it's engaging from end to end.   By contrast, Accompanied Recitative (1994) for soprano saxophone and piano, is a good introduction for those who find this composer daunting.   Its brevity, marvelously lucid gestures, and easy-going feel can charm the most squeamish of listeners.   Here is a bagatelle with beauty and depth.

The Composition for Four Instruments (1947-48), scored for flute, clarinet, violin, and cello, is brainy but wonderful.   This sort of music works best when, like the perfect chunk of coral, every polyp sits in its proper place-which happens here and then some.   And there's sufficient textural and timbral variety that the piece becomes an aural delight, not a solved Rubik's cube.   Like its contemporary Du , the Composition for Viola and Piano (1951) looks back to Babbitt's influences.   This terrific-and too rarely heard-piece seethes with Schoenbergian angst, its brawny gestures cast in a sizable fast-tempo construct flanked by more contemplative introductory and concluding sections.

All but one of the performances went well.   Composition for Four , a fragile opus that can easily derail, did so partway through.   Conductor Malcolm Peyton's decision to restart was wise, as all progressed more smoothly the second time around.   Saxophonist Eliot Gattegno gave Accompanied Recitative with pinpoint correctness and suave confidence, making this challenging music seem like child's play.   David Fulmer took the prize for most versatile and most able to function well under pressure; not only did he issue forth a stunningly intense and convincing rendition of Little's violin part, he also presented the Composition for Viola on three day's emergency notice, giving the work in top-drawer fashion.   Tim Bozarth , Rodney Lister, and Eric Wubbels furnished yeoman piano support.

The January 18th event proved to be both a preview of the Babbitt concert and a forum for items by other composers.   Jason Eckardt's Tangled Loops for soprano sax and piano howls with intense energy while smartly channeling its raw gestures within a cleanly etched binary construct.   For flute solo, Air by Toru Takemitsu discovers many inventive takes on both a limpid neo-French manner of speech and narrative curve processes.   Most Babbitt-like of all was Pozzi Escot's alto sax/violin/piano trio Mirabilis II ; its quicksilver textures and spiky lines, however, contain several interwoven tonal snatches that cleverly impart contrast to the compositional fabric.   By far the oddest piece heard, Kraaieeieren shows Eric Wubbels finding far-flung ways to delineate static pitches ( ostinati , repeated notes, microtonal oscillations).   Its form proved obscure, but its likable surface at least made trying to puzzle one out enjoyable enough, owing primarily to felicitous use of alto flute, bass clarinet, and alto sax colors.  

Members of the Second Instrumental Unit (Fulmer, Gattegno , Bozarth , and Wubbels joined by Amy Advocate on bass clarinet and Jessica Rosinski on flutes) were utterly superb, putting the music across with accuracy and flair.