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Marketing of tragedy is a tricky situation; newEar managed to negotiate those often unsavory waters with grace, strong programming, and subtly in the opening concert of its 19th season. Instead of requiems, tenebraes, or maudlin sentimentalities, newEar’s robust and appreciative audience on Saturday night heard four distinct works dealing with time, heartbreaking memory and ultimately, beauty.

Anne-Marie Brown added layers of lush romanticism to Ingram Marshall’s September Canons for violin and electronics. As one of the two specific “September 11th pieces” on the program (there is a vast repertory of pieces in this category), the electronics captured Brown’s playing and processed the sound so that she was, in essence, playing duets, trios, and any number of additive combinations with herself. Her G-string melodies were reminiscent of Bach’s famous Air and other passages immediately recalled his Chaconne. Some of the electronics glitched creating a few moments of un-coordination, but computer wrangler Hunter Long was able to course-correct without causing the system to crash: a noble feat indeed.

A tribute to a loved one lost during the Chinese Cultural Revolution, Lei Liang’s Memories of Xiaoxiang for alto saxophone, electronics, and dancer, combined saxophone extended techniques, like multiphonics and mouthpiece-only playing, with an electronic soundtrack of traditional Chinese instruments, folksong, and piano innards.  Though I appreciated Susan Rieger’s dancing and choreography, I don’t feel it complemented Jan Faidley’s playing or the piece in general. It was certainly suitable, with the awkward hand positions and monotonous moments of falsely engineered social change, but Faidley’s musical expression coupled with the electronics conveyed the emotive aspects of the works without the need of the visual. Liang’s electronic manipulations and processing could have been stronger and more veiled as the source sounds were too easily recognizable.

James Mobberley’s Voices in Memoriam for piano was spaciously voiced and well played by the skilled Robert Pherigo.  The other 9/11 piece on the concert, this one was a tribute to the 343 firefighters who lost their lives that day.  Focusing primarily in the higher registers of the piano, Pherigo’s tintinnabulations were meditative and serene. Though unpredictable rhythmically, motives recurred, adding cohesion to the brief piece.  When lower tessituras were added, they were organic expressions of a solid harmonic construct upon which the higher notes danced, rather than a booming bass.

Gérard Grisey’s Vortex Temporum was the set piece of the concert.  A mammoth work of over 30 minutes for piano, flute, clarinet, violin, viola, and cello, it was challenging in notation, performance, and for the ears. But what a wonderful challenge it was (though I bet the musicians after having to play so many microtones may feel otherwise).  The first movement was a flurry of arpeggios (supposedly extracted from Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloe). These ideas returned in the third movement, only compressed or elongated. Though portions were not as tight as they should have been, the overall effect was there; a very commendable effort.

Pherigo’s cadenza that separated the first and second movements was expertly played and full of manic rage: an Orenstein/Ives/Antheil hybrid with micro-tuned piano strings. It was a physical workout with arm crashes and forceful accents displaying the stunningly beautiful possibilities of brutalism.

The second movement was the most successful portion of the work, in composition and performance. Conductor Steve Davis held the ensemble back in the slow funeral march that crept uneasily upward in range and dynamics. It was nine minutes of agonizing fastidiousness as the parts ever so gradually morphed into new sonic territories.  Unfortunately after that fantastic central movement Vortex Temporum suffered from “Lord-of-the-Rings-Ending Syndrome,” in that the piece could have, and probably should have, ended at least five times before the actual conclusion. At least all the endings were of the same sonic world as the material before it. 

REVIEW:
newEar
Vortex Memoriam
Saturday, September 10, 2011
All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church
4501 Walnut, Kansas City, MO
For tickets call 816-235-6222 or visit www.newear.org

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