SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

Either/Or:  Richard Carrick (piano), David Shively (percussion), Anthony Burr (clarinets), Jennifer Choi (violin), Jane Rigler (flutes), Alex Waterman (cello), The Kitchen, New York City, 14.9.2007 (BH)

Robert Ashley: In Memoriam…ESTABAN GOMEZ (quartet) (1963)
Morton Feldman: Projection 1 (1950)
Cornelius Cardew: Treatise, pp. 1-3 (1963-67)
Christian Wolff: Exercises 1, 7, 8, 14, 10, 2 (1973-75)
Earle Brown: “December 1952” from Folio (1952)


With the skill and dedication of three archaeologists, Either/Or founders Richard Carrick and David Shively, with the help of cellist Alex Waterman, presented an unusually interesting look at some artifacts from the avant garde of the 1950s and 1960s (with one vault into the 1970s).  Held in The Kitchen’s high-ceilinged upstairs gallery, the concert had a “turning back the clock” effect, enhanced by some pillow seating on the floor.  On the walls, an exhibit co-curated by Waterman called Between Thought and Sound: Graphic Notation in Contemporary Music showed the sometimes-startling variety of composers’ visual notation, from a tightly-ordered pattern of tiny blocks, to a huge sheet of brown paper daubed with wisps of paint.

In Memoriam…ESTABAN GOMEZ (quartet), Robert Ashley’s minimalist study, was written for “one or more instruments and sound-producing media.”  It begins in unison, and then the participants begin straying ever-so-slightly away from the pitch, creating fascinating overtones in the process.  Now and then the piece exchanges its tight focus for a cloud of fuzz and other tiny sounds, before eventually dying out into silence.

Waterman made an intelligent case for one of Morton Feldman’s shorter works, Projection 1, with typical delicate tones competing for attention with pauses.  With acute attention to phrasing and dynamics, Waterman breathed uncanny life into a work that seemed over too soon.

Excerpts from Cornelius Cardew’s Treatise not only showed David Shively’s expertise on all manner of percussion instruments, but his sense of humor.  His cimbalom, expertly played, became even more interesting when gently attacked by a vibrating hand-massager, crawling across the strings.  The six Christian Wolff exercises, although executed with beautiful control, might have been too much of a good thing.  If the instructions offer freedom for the performers, perhaps less caution and more recklessness might have opened up more doors.  Still, one has to admire the group’s uncompromising vision, not to mention some highly focused playing from the ensemble.

The hour-long program closed with Earle Brown’s “December 1952” from Folio, done with pristine conviction by Mr. Waterman.  For those interested, the score is a series of horizontal and vertical lines, considered by some as a landmark in musical notation.  The rest of his outstanding colleagues—Anthony Burr on clarinets, violinist Jennifer Choi and Jane Rigler on flutes—only confirmed that the reach and grasp of this innovative group are virtually unlimited.

Bruce Hodges 
 

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