ORPHEUS DELIGHTS WITH MIXED MEDIA

Local composers are featured in the season opening concert.

By Benjamin Boone, Special to MCF - February 23, 2010

Simply put, this concert ranks in the top-ten “compilation” new music concerts I have ever attended – and as composer myself, I have heard plenty. I think the reason is that even if the particular style wasn’t my cup of tea, each work on the program made its intention clear and engaged me with its musicality, clarity and honesty of the artistic expression.

Orpheus, Fresno’s leading chamber music ensemble, presented its opening concert of the 2010 season Friday at Wahlberg Recital Hall on the campus of California State University, Fresno featuring music by local composers.

Titled “Mixed Media,” the concert featured video projections, a five-member dance team, electronically generated sounds and manipulations of live acoustic sounds. Each work in some way altered normal perceptions of time or space through sonic and visual manipulations. The program was unique in myriad other ways: all of the music and visuals were created by living composers; all of the music was written in the 21st century; almost all of the music was written by American composers; three of the composers attended the concert; and the slate of virtuosic performers came from as far away as Amsterdam.

As a disclaimer, I know some of the featured composers. So I decided to bring along my 8 year-old son Atticus, who is not hesitant to offer his honest opinion, to keep me honest. When we returned home my wife asked him how he liked the concert.

“It was good, mom,” he said.

“What did you like best?”

“The first of the first section of dance pieces,” he said, referring to Christopher Ariza’s “Equinoctial Worms”.

“What rating do you give the concert?” I asked.

He smiled and gave it a full thumbs up.

The concert began with Artistic Director Jack Fortner’s piece “Rough Cut” – an excerpt from a chamber opera in progress commissioned by the El Cimarron Ensemble. Titled “NOTHING and more,” this work, which Fortner refers to as a “sound sculpture,” opened with seemingly random computer sounds, followed by a section of dissonant attacks. The end was much like the beginning. How this will translate into an opera I cannot imagine, especially since it will feature three languages invented by Fortner. But it is my experience that Fortner consistently delivers dramatic and compelling compositions. So it will be interesting to find out how he incorporates the material heard at this concert in the full production slated for later this year.

In this truncated version, however, it was the accompanying video (rendered by Paula Durette) that provided a viable context for the soundscape. The projection began with a single point of light – a distant star - that slowly grew until it overtook the screen with blinding whiteness. It then retracted suddenly to nothing and then exploded (the big bang) until the ensuing cloud slowly dissipated.

Ken Froelich has been building a solid composition career since his arrival in Fresno in 2005. Among his notable honors, his solo marimba with percussion ensemble piece “Accidental Migration” won First Prize in the Percussive Arts Society’s Composition Competition. He now serves as Composer-in-Residence of the Heretic Opera of Portland, Oregon. Much of his work is infused with a great deal of rhythmic drive, but “Unwinding Time,” a compelling work for processed solo oboe and computer, displayed an equally adept ability to write long melodic gestures. The work explores the composer’s self-professed fascination with time, depicting the slow unraveling of that continuum. As the ticking of a clock slows from 60 beats per minute to 15 beats per minute over the course of the piece, the melodic material stretches and then contracts. A saxophonist himself, Froelich is adept at writing for the oboe and explores the differences between the instrument’s registers masterfully.

Krista Riggs, who received her doctorate in oboe performance from Indiana University, virtuostically rendered Froelich’s ornamented and intricate melody – creating a compelling drama and a seemingly natural interaction with the computer sounds. Rigg’s playing and Froelich’s writing were best summarized by a woman sitting behind me who whispered to her companion “it is just so beautiful, isn’t it? So beautiful.”

The first half of the concert culminated with 27 works from Vox Novus’ 60 x 60 Project which you can read more about here. Robert Voisey founded Vox Novus in 2000 to promote the music of contemporary American composers. Since 2003 he has been producing the 60 x 60 Project, wherein 60 works by 60 composers, each 60 seconds in duration, are presented one after the other. The project has grown exponentially and now regularly includes multiple mixes representing various geographic regions. At times the mix is presented with 60 choreographed dances and/or video projections. Vox Novus chooses these works from thousands of submissions from around the globe each year. The New York Times says of the project, “The idea … is quite mad. But it’s this kind of madness that makes cultural world go round…”

For this performance, J. Orta choreographed five dancers, who visually enhanced projected video art by dancing in front of the projection so that their bodies served as a movable screen. They also cast shadows upon the actual screen behind them and danced below the projections. The music was from a variety of styles but for the most part was an exploration of “sound” as music. Much was computer generated or computer altered.

The video art included abstract images as well as animated shorts – all were compelling. My favorite was an animation where the two characters developed holes in their bodies like Swiss cheese and were then pursued by a pack of mice. You can access video from several past performances by searching “Vox Novus 60 x 60” on youtube. After such an enthusiastic reception in Fresno – including from my 8 year old son (this was his favorite part of the program), I hope Orpheus will consider programming the full 60 compositions of a 60 x 60 mix in the near future.

The entire second half of the concert was devoted to the music of University of the Pacific composer Robert Coburn, who describes his music as “an exploration of the Buddhist concept that emptiness contains everything.” One often hears composers discuss their work and/or philosophy in detail, only to struggle to find a relationship between their espoused intention and the sonic result. Coburn is the rare exception. All four of his works were sublime meditations on activity within stillness and virtuosity within subtly. Each piece was accompanied by small segments of still images shot by Coburn here in the Valley or in Japan. Each image was altered in some way. Most were in the shape of a narrow rectangle – giving the sensation of peering through a distant window from deep within darkness. Vertical and horizontal rectangles intersected and blurred. It was as if the wall behind the stage disappeared, providing a glimpse into a still and peaceful world.

The virtuosity of three musicians contributed to the effectiveness of Coburn’ work. Violist Nina Mantchorova from Santa Cruz, who performs with the Fresno Philharmonic, exquisitely rendered “Fragile Horizon.” Her tone was impeccable, resonant, rich and mesmerizing. John Morrice, Assistant Concertmaster of the Fresno Philharmonic, similarly mesmerized in “In Stillness.” All too often the electronic manipulation of a performer’s sound distracts from the natural sound of the instrument, but Coburn’s manipulations enhanced it. Similarly, the extended techniques seemed musical rather than forced.

In contrast to the formal wear of all other performers, alto saxophonist Michael Straus, who resides in Amsterdam and specializes in performing multi-media music, strode onstage in khakis, with a headband and without shoes. He took a seat in front of a series of electronic devices and a computer monitor. After an aggressive opening gesture, Straus performed Coburn’s “emptiness [reflection]” with astonishing control. The work calls on Straus to play numerous multiphonics (more than one note at a time) and microtones (pitches in between pitches on the piano) at an extremely low dynamic, which is almost impossible on the saxophone. To add to the pressure, Straus’s saxophone was run through a delay effect much of the time so that any mistake would be both amplified and repeated a number of times. But Straus rose to the occasion and executed each of these musical feats with exceptional control and musicality. He also controlled the video and sound manipulations with a foot pedal attached to his Apple computer – providing a reason for his lack of footwear!

A whole-hearted “BRAVO!” to Orpheus for presenting such a cutting-edge yet accessible concert. Or, as my son would say “it gets a thumbs up!”

Benjamin Boone, DMA, is professor of theory and composition at California State University, Fresno. You can visit him at benjaminboone.com.