An Eclectic Retrospective

by JoyEllen Snellgrove

'NEW MUSIC NOW!' Tom Beyer: RE (2004)* ~~ Patrick Hardish: Sonorities VII (2004)* ~~ Leonard Lehrman: Five Duets (1981-2003)* ~~ Theodore Chanler: Five Songs (1925-1942) ~~ John Eaton: Fantasy Romance (1989) ~~ William Anderson: Sometimes (1999)* ~~ Otto Luening: Gargoyles (1960) ~~ Arthur Kreiger: Rainsticks (1999). Various performers. Presented by Composers Concordance. NYU Frederick Loewe Theater, NY, NY. May 27th. (*denotes world premiere)

On May 27th, Composers Concordance concluded its second decade with a diverse collection of works at the NYU Frederick Loewe Theater. A profusion of contrasting aesthetic goals made the concert more mixed and less focused than some CompCord offerings of the past. But even though the evening failed to coalesce into a unified whole, there was much to engage the audience's interest, and the mix of voices was a fitting reflection of our musical time.

Musical differences were easiest to perceive in works with similar instrumentation. Two works for live instrument with electronics, although next to each other on the program, were separated from each other by almost four decades in compositional time. Not surprisingly, they used the electronic element in opposing ways. Otto Luening's 1960 Gargoyles, a classic of the genre, sets a violin against a tape of simple analog synthesizer sounds. Violinist Lynn Bechtold's sensitive playing evoked the impression of fragility in the face of an overwhelming mechanized environment. In Rainsticks (1999), by Arthur Kreiger, the synthesized/sampled part cooperates with and extends the soloist's dynamic and timbral range. It is a dramatic and lively piece and a virtuoso display for vibraphone player Peter Jarvis.

Mr. Jarvis played another work, also composed in 1999 but artistically far removed from Rainsticks. Sometimes, by William Anderson, is a quiet exploration of shifting patterns. The composer eschews dramatic gesture and wide shifts in tessitura. Mr. Anderson demonstrates a possibly unwarranted faith in the audience to follow his motifs as they move through complex harmonic development without much dynamic emphasis or contrast. The impressively versatile Mr. Jarvis played Sometimes with appropriate restraint and subtlety, just as he played Rainsticks with flamboyant energy.

Two song cycles, Leonard Lehrman's Five Duets for soprano, tenor and piano, and Theodore Chanler's Five Songs for tenor and piano, are related in their artistic approach, although widely separated by time period. Both cycles use texts ranging from the English Renaissance to the 20th Century, and each song is a straightforward and accessible art song treatment of its text. One marked difference, however, is in the composers' approach to the singers as actors. Mr. Chanler's songs use the singer to personify the narrator or protagonist. Mr. Lehrman's vocal parts are more abstract, expressing the mood of the text without interpreting the words too directly. Two of Mr. Lehrman's duets were entirely a cappella, and, despite one false start, tenor Paul Sperry and soprano Helene Williams approached the exposed sustained lines gracefully and smoothly. Overall, they sang the Lehrman duets accurately and with a nice tone, but somehow cautiously. Mr. Sperry showed more animation when singing the Chanler songs, a regular part of his repertoire.

The remaining works on the program had little in common with each other or with the works already described. John Eaton's Fantasy Romance features harmonics and a stream-of-consciousness compositional approach, played expressively by pianist Paul Hoffmann and cellist Jeffrey Shah.

Composer/percussionist Tom Beyer's audio/visual creation RE presents a number of words beginning with the letters "re", and insistently pairs each word with a visual shape or motion that usually seems unrelated (why should regeneration be a triangle?). Mr. Beyer's decision to focus his piece around words is mysterious, as there appears to be no intended textual meaning.

Finally, Patrick Hardish's Sonorities VII was the one of the evening's highlights. An appealing clarinet solo painted with a melancholy harmonic palette, the work is part of Mr. Hardish's "Sonorities" series of solo instrumental pieces using extended techniques. The composer borrows most of the tricks from jazz, but he uses them in a decidedly classical idiom. Clarinetist Esther Lamneck brought fluidity to the busy opening and closing sections, and played the bluesy middle section with style.

Overall, the concert's uneasy marriage of aesthetic goals was in many ways a virtue. The variety of musical voices available to the audience of today is exciting, if sometimes confusing, and a responsible presenter should be inclusive and take risks. I look forward to the third decade of CompCord, and hope that its concerts continue to challenge us with eclecticism.