newEar Contemporary Chamber Ensemble's Saturday night concert, China Rising, was curated by local composers Chen Yi and Zhou Long. They clearly went to great lengths to present a program of very avant-garde composers who blend Chinese and Western contemporary classical styles, and ultimately it paid off for the audience.

The first piece, Luo Jing Jing's A Thousand Miles Away..., was an excellent opener, with an upwards-sweeping clarinet line that grabbed the audience's attention right away. The bass clarinet and marimba were treated as equals alternating between subdued and intense phrases; each with their own distinct character, yet the instruments had complimentary timbres and was a good pairing. On more involved passages in the marimba, one could hear an out of place snap of a stick (that can be a hazard of live performance) but it did happen enough times to become a bit of a distraction.

Chen Yi's Song in Winter was the first piece on the concert to feature guest artist Yu-Chen Wang on the zheng, which is an ancient Chinese stringed instrument related to the zither. Combining zheng, flute, piano and percussion, the piece was intense, active and dissonant: a mood and style in which Chen Yi excels. The best parts in my opinion were the sections of flute and zheng alone together. Perhaps it was the set-up or the room, but I felt the volume of the piano was overwhelming.

Plagued with intonation issues and lacking energy and confidence, Listening to the Dance for clarinet, cello and marimba was overall too busy and not on par with the rest of the compositions featured on this program. While it included some good instrumental techniques, the work needed more development and maturity. The youngest composer featured on the concert, Li Shaosheng certainly has potential. My fellow concert-goers had heard music of Li's before and informed me this was not the best representation of his work.

On Flying Shadows for voice and zheng, Composer Liu Sola was animated and theatrical in her performance of the voice part, with breathy and rumbling "laughs," clicking and smacking her tongue and lips, and broad warbling accompanied by lively hand gestures. Blending her voice with the zheng and the folksy nature of this piece was fun to listen to.

Qin Wen-chen's The Sun Shadow IV was a showcase for the solo zheng. It was a delight to watch Yu-Chen Wang play, using her whole body to draw out the emotion of each of the piece's five sections. She picked, strummed, slapped, and bended the zheng strings with sensitivity and musicality. The different effects and techniques were captivating, especially the raw drone produced when bowing the strings. My only wish for this work was that it could have been longer!

Ye Xiaogang's Piano Trio (Op. 59) was a mixed bag: melodically it was interesting, yet lacked depth harmonically. The players were strong in most parts, such as the mysterioso section which featured a haunting piano line and harmonics in the violin and cello, but missed the mark on cutting off climactic chords later in the piece. The concert was well into its second hour by this point, and perhaps the performers were beginning to feel fatigued.

The playing on Zhou Long's Ding for clarinet, percussion and double bass was some of the best of the evening. The pitch range of each instrument was fully explored and included several effective techniques, resulting in very challenging and physically demanding parts.  The whole work was played with a high level of energy, good dynamic control and it was well-balanced throughout.

The audience was definitely feeling restless by the time the final piece began at 10 p.m. Zhou Hang's Tipsy Dancing Devarajas had a startling and successfully shocking introduction of very loud bass drum and cymbal, but each time this was repeated it became more and more irksome. In addition to intonation issues, the ensemble had difficulty maintaining tempo through time signature changes, and the melodies of the "dance" part were not together and overwhelmed by the percussion.

Aside from a few subpar pieces and some typical live-performance issues, the majority of China Rising was interesting, engaging and most enjoyable. Overall it was one of the better newEar concerts I have attended in the last couple of years, and a treat to have such a unique guest artist as Yu-Chen Wang and nearly all the composers in attendance.

Cheers to Chen Yi, Zhou Long, and newEar for a great collaboration!

REVIEW:
newEar Contemporary Chamber Ensemble
China Rising
with Yu-Chen Wang, zheng
Saturday March 13, 2010
All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church
4501 Walnut, Kansas City, MO
www.newear.org

Top photo: Yu-Chen Wang

By Kristin Shafel Omiccioli

Editorial Assignments Executive Editor; Traditional and New Classical Contributor

Kristin Shafel Omiccioli, a native of Madison, WI, holds composition degrees (M.M., B.M.) from the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance. Kristin's compositions have been performed at national and regional new music festivals and conferences throughout the United States. During her time at UMKC, Kristin also focused on double bass performance and arts administration. She was a student leader and performer in many of the Conservatory's student organizations and ensembles, including Musica Nova, Composers' Guild, the Conservatory Student Association, the orchestras, and Wind Symphony. Her composition instructors were James Mobberley, Paul Rudy, Zhou Long, and Chen Yi, and her bass instructor was Sue Stubbs. Formerly a guitarist, Kristin performed with big bands and her own jazz combo in Madison, WI, having studied jazz guitar and theory with Roger Brotherhood in Madison and jazz voice and theory with Hal Melia in Kansas City at UMKC.

Kristin enjoys being active in the performing arts community. She has volunteered with the Chamber Music Society of Kansas City and Charlotte Street Foundation, and has played in the bass section of the Northland Symphony Orchestra, among other bass gigs around the metro. Kristin currently serves as principal bass for the Kansas City Civic Orchestra and Heritage Philharmonic, and is a section bassist for Kinnor Philharmonic. She joined the writing staff of KCMetropolis.org in February 2010 and has been KCM’s executive editor since July 2011. Read her blog at mylittleheartmelodies.com.