SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

"1938": American Modern Ensemble, Robert Paterson (conductor), Tenri Cultural Institute, New York, 3.2.2008 (BH)

Tower: In Memory (2002)
Wuorinen: An Orbicle of Jasp (1999)
Chihara: Elegy (1974)
Bolcom: Celestial Dinner Music (1996)
Corigliano: Chiaroscuro (1997)
Harbison: Words from Paterson (1989)


What a simple yet fascinating idea: play some not-too-familiar works by six living composers, all born in 1938.  That this conceit worked so well is a tribute to Robert and Victoria Paterson, artistic and managing directors, respectively, of the fast-rising American Modern Ensemble, and to the committed, passionate playing of its musicians.

Joan Tower must have loved the object of In Memory very much, since it is almost too intense.  Written for the Tokyo String Quartet, those expecting the tearfulness of Barber's Adagio for Strings will surely be disappointed by the anguish and anger that erupt over and over, like a would that refuses to heal.  Robin Zeh and Ms. Paterson on violins, with Junah Chung, viola, and Robert Burkhart, cello, gave it a stinging reading.  Somewhat more enigmatic is Charles Wuorinen's An Orbicle of Jasp, whose title appears to come (with no notes, I did some homework) from a couplet in Vladimir Nabokov's novel, Pale Fire:

How to locate in blackness, with a gasp,
Terra the Fair, an orbicle of jasp

It is a feverish test of stamina, albeit a cool one, and cellist Eric Jacobsen and pianist Stephen Gosling were incisive, etching the composer's study with style and authority.  Paul Chihara's Elegy, like Tower's memorial, is sad but at the same time not so, and opens with a vigorous extended sequence for solo violin that had the feel of a square dance.  To close the first half, Sato Moughalian and Jacqueline Kerrod (on flute and harp) completely altered the mood with delicious playing in William Bolcom's sweet, lazily engaging Celestial Dinner Music.  Unabashedly tonal, it is as calm as an extended meal on a warm summer night.

John Corigliano's Chiaroscuro requires two pianos tuned a quarter-tone apart, creating an opportunity for humor that pianists Blair McMillen and Mr. Gosling couldn't resist: as McMillen sat down, he blithely offered the standard "A" tuning chord, provoking a laugh from the audience, but Gosling countered with the same chord on his piano, a quarter-tone higher, coupled with a gesture that said, "You're flat"—perhaps minor clowning, but contemporary music could use more of it.  The piece itself is in three sections, with the composer relishing the "hallucinatory quality the mistuning evoked."  The beginning sounds something like slightly tangy Bach, followed by a more mournful, slow-moving portion, and ending with a jumpy, nervous "Strobe" with corresponding energy, with an interesting section in which the two pianists briefly play together at the same instrument.  Given their sensitivity and acuity in this collaboration, McMillen and Gosling should consider recording this piece.

The program concluded with John Harbison's Words from Paterson, with unusually evocative text by William Carlos Williams about the process of aging and change, which Harbison has set for baritone and chamber ensemble.  Ardently sung by Robert Gardner and conducted by Mr. Paterson (no relation to the title), the American Modern Ensemble players (with Sarah Schram on oboe) gave it a grateful reading complementing Harbison's subtle settings.

Bruce Hodges

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