Cactus Pear 3:
A centrist and lyrical American program
July 18, 2008With the third concert of its 2008 bash, the Cactus Pear Music Festival broke one of the most sacrosanct commandments of the American classical music industry: Thou shalt not fill a concert with music by serious American composers, most of whom are still living, if thou expecteth to fill the hall.
But the Travis Park United Methodist Church sanctuary was more than respectably occupied by several hundred on Thursday -- typically a slow night at the box office -- for chamber music by Aaron Jay Kernis, Lukas Foss, Terry Riley, Dominick Argento and George Gershwin. Granted, that's a centrist and, if you'll pardon the term, accessible grouping, but hardly an uninteresting one.
Kernis and Riley proved remarkably compatible stablemates in this program. Riley was represented by three pieces from "Cantos Desiertos" of 1996 for flute and guitar. Though Riley is usually credited as the inventor of the musical style known as minimalism, "Cantos Desiertos" comes close to the lyrical attitude, feeling and pop orientation associated with Kernis. All three pieces have a Spanish modernist feel -- though a hint of Brazil comes through in part of the first one, "Cancion Desierto" -- and all three develop a fairly direct musical hooks into intricately spun melodies that, for all their meanders, seem natural. "Lanto" is spare and contemplative," and "Tango Ladeado" exhibits a gentle wit.
Curiously, the final movement ("Dance Party on the Disco Motorboat") of Kernis's "100 Greatest Dance Hits" for guitar and string quartet opens with a certain resemblance to Riley's string quartet writing from his minimalist period. Despite the proclaimed pop influences and tongue-in-cheek titles of the four movements, the music is often serious, and the craft always so. The first movement, "Introduction to the Dance Party," calls on the players to rap and slap their instruments and violently pluck them. (Violinist Stephanie Sant'Ambrogio brought along a spare, presumably dispensable, instrument for the purpose.) The second movement, "Salsa Pasada," is remarkable for episodes of heart-on-sleeve lyricism that interrupt the Latin dance rhythms. The third movement, "MOR Easy Listening Slow Dance Ballad," recalls Debussy in music of shimmering beauty.
Kernis's "Two Awakenings and Double Lullaby" for soprano, violin, guitar and piano attain great depth of feeling. Dedicated to his young twins, the pieces are settings of poems about the wonder of birth and childhood -- the two awakenings -- followed by reinterpretations of the lullaby from Engelbert Humberdinck's "Hansel und Gretel" and a traditional African-American spiritual. "Salutation" (Thomas Traherne) opens with a wonderful long ascending line and continues with a structure that perfectly suggests the emergence of an individual consciousness. "The Light Gatherer" (Carol Ann Duffy) beautifully integrates the vocal line into a spritzy, prickly instrumental texture.
Soprano Anja Strauss's very bright, highly placed voice and tight vibrato gave her singing a platinum-blonde quality that seemed a little cold for the Kernis, but I also found the vocal line's very high tessitura tiring to listen to after a while. Strauss was nicely matched to three of Argento's Six Elizabethan Songs, especially the effervescent "Spring" and "Winter."
Guitarist David Tanenbaum was consistently musical and convincing in the Kernis and Riley works. Flutist Allison Garza played splendidly in Riley.
Cellist Joseph Johnson's superb dynamic shadings made a fine case for Foss's Capriccio for cello and piano, a breezy work that has one foot in Bach and one in American folk traditions.
Violinist Axel Strauss brought warm, substantial, lively tone and ample technique to Jascha Heifetz's arrangements of songs from Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess." Heifetz made sure to put his own double-stop wizardry on generous display in these pieces, and Strauss was fully equal to the challenges.
Pianist Jeffrey Sykes, a Cactus Pear stalwart from the start 12 seasons ago, was stylish as always in his multiple roles.
Mike
Greenberg
