Thursday, November 11, 2010

TRIBECA MONSTERS (5/31/2011)

Once again, downtown music, with its lack of boundaries, edges or expectations, was the order of the evening at Galapagos Art Space in DUMBO.  As part of the Tribeca New Music Festival, the Tribeca Monsters concert offered up a program that was brilliantly executed in all respects that count.  Attempts at short interviews with composers and performers fell a little flat.  Galapagos Art Space is an interesting mix of concert hall and night club with seating areas on "islands" situated above water.  Unfortunately, this evening the chlorination of the water exuded the odor of an indoor swimming pool.






Although all four performers on the concert were absolutely fabulous, the heart of the program belonged to violinist Mary Rowell, one of the founding members of the unconventional string quartet Ethel.  Her solo performance of Filter by Daniel Bernard Roumain seemed to encapsulate but not define (for she is undefinable) her aesthetic vision.  In this work the virtuoso practices of Paganini and Heifitz, as well as the guitarists Jimi Hendrix and Prince, merge and intertwine in a way that elevates the art of   these wizards in addition to paying tribute to them. In the program notes composer Roumain explains that the extended techniques he calls "filtering" consist of moving the bow along a horizontal line between the bridge and the fingerboard.  The result is the creation of  "a series of overtones, timbres, and tones that approximates the high/low-pass filters used in electronic music."   What the term meant for me was that the extended techniques employed by Hendrix and Prince could "infiltrate" the world of the classical violin playing that creates a new, hybrid sound palette.

Celeste by Stewart Copeland (former drummer and a founder of The Police) was composed for violinist Daniel Hope. Mary Rowell commented that while Hope's premiere performance with the rock percussionist was fine, she felt that the work needed more "attitude" and that perhaps Mr. Hope was a little too genteel. The movement from gritty Appalachian fiddle playing style  to "down and dirty" blues rock was certainly filled with "attitude" and the result was nothing short of stunning.

In some respects, the Sonata for Violin and Piano by Mark Mellits that was sandwiched between Celeste and Filter was an island of conventionality, albeit brilliant conventionality. Different sections of the work pay homage to the late Baroque sonata,  Samuel Barber, and John Adams-style minimalism in ways that allowed Ms. Rowell and pianist Geoffrey Burleson to bring forth extraordinary performances in more traditional idioms. 


But is was not just a Mary Rowell and friends evening.  Cellist Wendy Law began the evening with a stunning performance of Ta Ta Ta by Jacob TV (Ter Veldhuis), a work that places cello part up against a manipulative sampling of the French poet Guillaume Apollinaire singing a military tune to a little boy.  The fascinatingly absurd relationship between the cello part and the manipulated sample (which was full of time stretching moments) culminates at the close when Apollinaire states: "The night falls and the hours ring."


Geoffrey Burleson's performance of da vinci preludes by Ed Harsh reflects the point the evolution of minimalism where aspects of Romanticism such as poignancy and human feeling break through the wall of mechanistic perfection and "pure sound,"an exciting time in its journey as a style. To me, the influence of John Adams is quite clear in the brilliant, often toccata-like, passages.


Every performance on the program showed a passion and total commitment to the music that made the journey of the sounds to ears of listeners complete and fulfilling. We experienced music of substance revealed through performances of substance.







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