12 August 2010
Cabmu's opening weekend exhilarates audiences
by Phyllis Rosenblum
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Two major concertos by Jennifer Higdon, three kaleidoscopic works by Mark-Anthony Turnage, a soul-searching symphony by Michael Hersch, and a lively romp by Ana Clyne exhilarated full-house audiences at the two opening concerts of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music. The nationally distinguished Festival Orchestra, led by Music Director Marin Alsop, presented polished performances of these demanding works. A family concert and a recital program rounded out the weekend. Higdon's 2009 "On a Wire," featured the elite sextet, eighth blackbird, in an imaginative and visually engaging performance. The work opened with the six players clustered around the open-lidded piano, leaning in and stroking its wires with bow-hairs. From this subdued beginning, the work blossomed into a lively concerto, featuring dazzling solos and precise unity by this high-spirited ensemble.
The following evening, percussionist Colin Currie blazed brilliantly through Higdon's high-energy 2005 "Percussion Concerto." The orchestra's own percussion section, headed this weekend by Rieko Koyama, excelled in a prominent role -- often merging with Currie or echoing his complex riffs.
Earlier, Mark-Anthony Turnage's 2004 "Scherzoid" proved an upbeat and fast-moving opener for Friday evening's program. Myriad treatments of its main themes -- many reflecting Turnage's love of jazz -- provided colorful variety while preserving the music's balanced integrity.
In his Brithish accent, Turnage described his 2007 Windy City tribute, "Chicago Remains," and his 1993 "Drowned Out." Both contrasted harsh dissonance with graceful lyricism. A silken, extended clarinet solo by Bharat Chandra recalled his lead role in the festival's 2008 performance of Turnage's clarinet concerto, "Riffs and Refrains."
In its world premiere, Michael Hersch's "Symphony No. 3" delved deeply into dark psychic territory with painfully raw dissonances and near-human instrumental cries. Fleeting moments of calm beauty surfaced momentarily amid the storms. Two of the work's seven movements glittered with flitting woodwind ripples, and the finale, with a weighty fugue-like expansion, provided a welcome level of repose.
Annna Clyne's "rewind" bounced and pulsated in a cheerful imaginative dance-inspired escapade that took as its theme the backward running of an old movie -- with mechanical halts and hitches.
Sunday night "In the Blue Room" featured both eighth blackbird and Kronos Quartet, zeroing in on the two groups' tremendous musical facility with inventive works. Eighth blackbird added visual interest to Thomas Adés' "Catch" and Stephen Hartke's "Meanwhile" by miming and moving on stage in coordination with the music.
Kronos wowed the audience with verve and precision in Bruce Dessner's "Aheym." Violist, Hank Dutt, soared in the plaintive melodies of Ram Narayan's "Raga Mihra Bhairavi: Ala." A stunning encore, David Harrington's arrangement of on old Greek song, "Smyrneiko Minore," originally sung by Marika Papagika, closed the evening.
Earlier in the week, audiences were treated to two free concerts culminating the Festival's Conductors and Composers Workshops. Here Alsop shared tips in the lively art of conducting, and listeners peeked in on upcoming talents.
A free Family Concert featured an orchestra tour and Nathaniel Stooky's "The Composer is Dead." A friend whose small grandson had enjoyed the show, commented, "I'm replacing my old LP of "Rusty in Orchestraville" with this!"
The festival spilled over into the street for the weekend's annual "Cabrillo Music, Art, and Wine Festival" of outdoor performances, arts, crafts, food and drink.
Alsop announced the dedication of this 2010 season to Ellen Primack and Tom Fredericks, the festival's executive and development director, for their "selfless and passionate" leadership over the past 20 years. The pair were presented with a proclamation from Mayor Mike Rotkin naming Aug. 8 as Ellen Primack and Tom Fredericks day.
Next weekend features work by John Adams, Philip Glass, and Kevin Puts, as well as Michael Shapiro, Sean Hickey, Elena Kats-Chernin, Pierre Jalbert, and George Walker.
