October - 21st Century Music

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"Nibelung Zeppelin" borrowed a leitmotif from Wagner, inironic homage to the system of ideals with which NaziGermany attempted to imbue every aspect of theirtechnological achievements. The music engenderedmechanism of the constructive kind as silhouettes of workmenlooped to the task of building the airship to chittering clackwhich started on high percussion and pooled out through therest of the ensemble. The drone of the craft's engines served aspedal point to the eerie sung chords and slowly shiftingharmony which accompanied "A very impressive thing tosee," a short scene dedicated to images of the launching andsailing of the dirigible. Finally, the words to the title "Icouldn't understand it" became the mantra which closed thepiece, set to an insistently halting rhythm which called to mindthe stagger of the captain who spoke those words as hecrawled from the wreckage. Aerial shots lovingly pannedthrough the charred blot of jetsam as the device of triple canonreturned over a stretched announcer's voice. As documentary,it relied on subtext and inference to make its points, requiringan audience already aware of all the facts of the situation totruly appreciate it. As opera, the literal definition of the wordas works was necessary to justify its use. No one got the girl orwas cast into the pit at the end, but the smaller story of aclumsy disaster sufficed as story line to support the setting ofwords into form as music. But as video it was a remarkableachievement, and well justified the intentions of its creator toincorporate new freedoms into the medium of screen arts.At the post-concert talk, the co-creators revealed to themoderating Michael Tilson Thomas and assembled audiencethat their method of developing the work involved setting atime-coded framework for each scene, and then workingseparately on the ideas, later meshing them together. Theydenied setting music to images or vice versa. To a seasonedfilm and dance composer, this manner of collaboration seemsunnecessarily insular, as well as clumsy beyond belief. On theother hand, with results like these, maybe it's worth a shot.Maybe.Theatrical MusicMICHAEL MCDONAGHFresh Voices. Anne Doherty's Dan (Destiny), John Partridge'sThe Soldiers Who Tried to Kill Death, Mark Alburger'sSidewalks of New York: Henry Miller in Brooklyn (libretto byMel Clay), Valarie Morris's Amsterdam and Paris with a Sideof Eggs, and Mary Watkin's Queen Clara: Fields of Glory,Rivers of Blood (libretto by Lawrence Belville). June 17, GoatHall, San Francisco, CA. Repeated June 18.This summer was a busy one opera-wise in San Francisco --with three full-scale productions at the War Memorial, aHartmann rarity at City College, and five music theatre pieces,given in whole or in part, by five local composers, by GoatHall Productions at Goat Hall on San Francisco's Portrero Hill.22"Charming" isn't a word one would normally use to describeeither contemporary life or music, but all of the works herehad charm on their side. Anne Doherty's Dan (Destiny), withwords by the composer, for nine singers, was in the Americanpopulist style of Virgil Thomson's political fantasy TheMother of Us All (1947), with especially strong contributionsfrom Douglas Mandell, Diana Landau, and John Adams.John Partridge's The Soldiers Who Wanted to Kill Death(words by the composer), for three singing actors, billed as "aWorld War II fable of fatal proportions," got strongperformances from Aurelio Viscara, Adams, and Mandell.Valarie Morris's Amsterdam and Paris with a Side of Eggs(words by the composer) was much lighter in tone. It was alsoenchanting and funny, and had three expert singers (MiriamLewis, Tisha C. Page, and Harriet March Page) as well as astring bass (Mandell) and an accordion (Sharon Walters) --Paris isn't Paris without one.Mary Watkins's Queen Clara: Fields of Glory, Rivers of Blood(words by Lance Belville) emerged as a rather stentorian effortfor four principals including Ruthann Lovetang in a blindingwhite Civil War nurse's outfit as the title character ClaraBarton. This ambitious piece also had a chorus of sevenconducted by John Partridge, with Stephen Cosgrove onelectric piano.Fresh Voices also included 11 numbers from Mark Alburger'stwo-act opera The Sidewalks of New York: Henry Miller inBrooklyn (words by Mel Clay). And though he wrylydescribes himself as "an eclectic American composer ofpostminimal, postpopular, and postcomedic sensibilities," hisborrowings or steals were never obvious but integrated intosomething truly fresh. Alburger's piece was also a lot moreentertaining and touching than Philip Kaufman's 1990 filmHenry and June, whose only real virtues were Fred Ward andUma Thurman as the title characters. Those roles wereenacted here by the composer -- manic and witty -- andJennifer Ashworth -- complete with marcelled hair, and with astunning, well-controlled voice. She had stage presence toburn and was completely believable as the writer's troubledand ambitious wife. Landau also gave a vivid impersonationof Jeanne. The subtle and accurate pianist was KeisukeNakogoshi. A good evening all around.San Francisco SwooshMARK ALBURGERSan Francisco Tape Music Center presents microFestival(musique Acousmatique [Rendered on Tape]). July 29, 557Howard Street, San Francisco, CA.In the spirit of Nike (the Greek goddess of victory, as well asthe shoe company), the swoosh is still an operating principlein the world of electro-acoustic music, at least as presented bythe reincarnation of the San Francisco Tape Music Center in athree-hour marathon concert on July 29 at 557 Howard Street.
The microFestival (musique Acousmatique [Rendered onTape]) offered arcs and swooshes of natural-and-altered found(musique concrète) and pure-electronic sounds that rangedfrom delicate trickles to ear-deafening explosions. Theintimacy of the venue (controversially dubbed "The ClitStop") offered a dark, surround-sound womb of quadraphonicspeakers to a packed and enthusiastic crowd.Scotland's Robert Dow evoked a Season of Mist in rainywaves and coastal drones of Bachish cello, industrial locomotives,and pile drivers -- all adding up to a surprisinglylovely and varied world. Jean-Claude Risset's Invisible Irenebrought haunting Varèsian French voices to life in gorgeous,reverberative, almost minimalist counterpoint.Four English composers -- Matthew Adkins, Adrian Moore,Jonty Harrison, and Jo Thomas -- were represented in worksrhythmically surreal (Melt), microtonally/medievally pianistic(SuperStrings), childishly playful (Unsound Objects), anduncannily beautiful (Dark Noise).Two other Bay-Area auslanders, from Texas (Elainie Lillios)and Japan (Hideko Kawamoto) respectively, conjured upominous mysticism in Arturo and ornithological missives andmissiles in Night Ascends from the Ear like a Butterfly.The Bay Area was represented by Maggie Payne's windyspacialLigetian Apparent Horizon, David Slusser's quick-andpowerfulKubrick, and the sonorous bowls and bounces ofJoseph Anderson's Kyai Pranaja. It was an evening ofchallenging and engaging listening.Oedipus Tex in Wild West MarinMARK ALBURGERP.D.Q. Bach's Oedipus Tex. Dance Palace, Point Reyes Station, CA.Sometimes a name says it all. When P.D.Q. Bach (a.k.a. PeterSchickele) decided to write an opera/oratorio called OedipusTex, much followed quite naturally from the naming. WestMarin Music Festival's performance of this great parody tookup every comic turn with great aplomb on August 18 at thePoint Reyes Station Dance Palace.Oedipus Tex. So of course everyone was wearing togas andcowboy hats. So of course there was country-western singingand fractured classical cadences. But this zany and excellentwork, published by Theodore Presser in 1989, also includes afaux minimalist overture, askew syncopations, a cheerleadingsquad holding up placards of T-R-A-G-E-D-Y (even directorDavid Ostwald got into the act, rushing onstage to correct theinitial spelling of Y-D-E-G-A-R-T), ridiculous recitativesdelivered at a podium (nicely done by Andrew Morgan,although according to the score these selections should only besung in the oratorio, rather than opera, version), andintimations of '50's rock (in the aria "Howdy There... myfriends just call me Ed [Oed?]"). A cock-eyed mustachioedRaymond Martinez was dynamite in the title role, belting outhis lounge-lizard-meets-bel-canto refrains with a Texas-stylegusto. His hilarious horse was a centaur-like combo of equineshanks and toupeed human head (alas the actor was notcredited in the program). Even the props were bang-on,including campfire and mikestands all constructed in Greekcolumns.Laura Stanfield Prichard was incandescent as Billie Jo Casta,in a stunning departure from her traditional concert persona.She seductively took the stage and torched out "My Heart"along with her son/husband ("I couldn't blame you if you saidyou hated me, Billie Joe, seeing as how I shot your husbandand all..." "[T]he way I figure it, if you hadn'ta killed him, heprobably would've died of something else eventuallyanyway....").Elizabeth Amisano turned in a wonderfully thick-accentedportrayal of Madame Bo Peep ("you're my kind of guy")replete with gypsy and mariachi overtones. The final Choralecombines a stuttering version of J.S. Bach's "Jesu Joy of Man'sDesiring" with the tune of "I've Been Working on theRailroad."And the moral of the story? "Don't love your mother, pardner,save it for your horse." What an impolitic romp! About theonly thing Schickele fails to lampoon is one titular setting:Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex. Perhaps just as well. Maybe nexttime. The orchestra, complete with an obbligato horn part thatgrows from virtually solo mouthpiece to complete instrument,was conducted grandly throughout by Carol Negro.23
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October - 21st Century Music

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