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Playing to an audience of mostly young intrepid art-seekers in the cavernous Unity Temple on the Plaza, Kansas City Electronic Music and Arts Alliance (KcEMA) presented its fourth concert of the season, "Electronic Spaces." With eight singular, strong pieces and two capable soloists, the concert was an embarrassment of riches for sonic adventurers.

Per Bloland’s FeXIV [Iron Fourteen] for saxophone and electronics with video by Scott Draves was a combination of distorted Hildegard von Bingen hallucinations and noise-aesthetic. Eric Honour, saxophone soloist for the evening, wailed and walloped his way through the demanding piece, ticking off the extended techniques with technical wizardry. Draves’ video was full of luminous shifting fractal patterns—a disjunct but appropriate companion to the fevered mania of the music. It was heady, heavy metal.

Using material recorded from an electronic guitar, Manuella Blackburn’s Vista Points was a play between cause and effect. Brief gestures led into sustained chords that dropped in pitch. Her original sound source was clear with her spectromorphology subtly altering, but referential. The second half of the piece worked more effectively in the space because the layers were richer.

Richard Johnson’s Introit for trumpet, electronics, and video, attempted to bridge the gap of sacred music and in the influence of secular tunes, primarily L’homme armé into religious settings. Though a fine piece, ably performed by trumpet soloist Samuel Wells, the video was more compelling with its use of charcoal animations and stained-glass colors. After playing the unadulterated L’homme armé melody, the piece ends far too soon without synthesis of or commentary on this “new” idea.

Concluding the first half of the concert, Philip Reader’s Hemispheres continued the trajectory of decreasing tensions. As placid as Bloland’s was aggressive, it was serene and atmospheric with oceanic ebbs and flows of gently undulating palettes.

Receiving its world premiere, Samuel Wells’ (dys)functions was pointillist jazzy fun in the vein of Paul Lansky. Similar to James Mobberley’s Icarus Wept (with whom Wells studies), it was catchy, optimistic, and well structured. It also gave Wells a chance to showcase his considerable jazz trumpet techniques. My concert-going buddy, a newbie to live electronic music, remarked this was his favorite of the evening.

My favorite was Dennis H. Miller’s Echoing Spaces. With an accompanying video of muted browns and grays, like Wyeth or Turner painting-turned-nightmare, Miller’s sounds were equally unsettling but utterly captivating. In true marriage of both visual and sound, the two fed of and informed on the other in a seamless ballet of sonics and hues. Each sound and event had purpose and direction. Highest praise should also go to board operator John Chittum for masterfully diffusing the work throughout the space. I was predisposed to dislike the piece, however, because of the overly pretentious program note (a frequent plague of composers specializing in electronic media).

Appreciation of Andrew Babcock’s Anagoge suffered because it followed the Miller. Both fine pieces, the two share similar sonic environments. The creative edge would go to Babcock in that he only used two sound sources—a crinkled magazine and beard trimmer—to Miller’s vast library. Aesthetically though, Miller’s won out. I would have saved the Babcock for another concert and would have substituted Per Bloland’s ethereal Thingvellir for trumpet and amplified piano resonance as a dramatic contrast to his FeXIV.

Eric Honour returned to close the program with Ed Martin’s Apparitions. A true programmatic piece, ghost saxophones chase and haunt the live saxophonist. Honour again navigated the challenging piece with aplomb; his altimissimo playing was especially impressive. 

REVIEW:
Kansas City Electronic Music and Arts Alliance (KcEMA)
Electronic Spaces
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Unity Temple on the Plaza
707 W. 47^th St., Kansas City, MO
For more information visit www.kcema.net.

Top Photo: Video Still of Dennis H. Miller's Echoing Spaces

By Lee Hartman

Editor-in-Chief; Traditional and New Classical Contributor

Lee Hartman holds degrees from the University of Missouri-Kansas City (D.M.A., M.M.) and the University of Delaware (B.M.). At the University of Delaware, he received a Dean's Scholar position enabling him to pursue an individually designed academic program combining music education and composition. At the University of Missouri-Kansas City he served for three years as the Assistant Director to Musica Nova, the conservatory's new music ensemble, while teaching a variety of composition classes.

In 2007 he was invited to both the Iceland Academy of the Arts in Reykjavík, Iceland and the Sichuan Conservatory in Chengdu, China to give lectures and master classes in composition. In the summer of 2009, Hartman served as an orchestra manager for the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble and Aspen Opera Theater Center for various performances. He serves on the National Executive Committee of the Society of Composers, Inc. as Submissions Coordinator. His primary composition instructors include James Mobberley, Chen Yi, Zhou Long, Paul Rudy, John Beall, and Jennifer Margaret Barker. He currently teaches music theory at the University of Central Missouri and general music classes at Park University having previously taught at UD (2007–08) and UMKC (2006–07).

His compositions can be found at http://www.leehartmanmusic.com