Counter)induction - Fast Forward: Composers at the Edge

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March 20, 2008

With Minimal Movement, a Musical Trek Through Time

By ALLAN KOZINN

The inventive new-music ensemble Counter)induction called its Tuesday-night program at Merkin Concert Hall “Fast Forward: Composers at the Edge.” But although the “on the edge” part was indisputable, the players might as accurately have called their program “Rewind.”

The opening and closing works, both by Mauricio Kagel, were relics of the late 1960s avant-garde and haven’t worn terribly well. A Gyorgy Kurtag work paid tribute to Schumann, and a piece by Douglas Boyce was built around the 15th-century song “L’Homme Armé,” refracted through modern dissonance.

Anthony Coleman’s “Flat Narrative” (2008) seemed not to be rooted in any time at all. A meditation on an element of literary technique, “Flat Narrative” turns the ensemble — piano, violin, viola, cello and bass clarinet — into a small symposium. At first the bass clarinet holds forth in conversational rhythms and motifs. The other instruments provide a counterpoint of responses, comments and arguments, sometimes all at once, but often in succession, with one instrument’s lines mirroring and expanding on its predecessors.

The unfolding of the dialogue in the work’s first five minutes was promising, but Mr. Coleman eventually lost the thread, and the discussion descended into a stream of oddly clunky figures. The ensemble seemed to lose interest as well: what had been a fairly tight performance at first splintered into fuzzy, imprecise attacks and passionless playing.

Mr. Boyce’s Quintet “L’Homme Armé” (2003), with its sharp-edged harmonies and zesty rhythms, fared considerably better, as did the succession of alternately shimmering and meditative fantasies that make up Mr. Kurtag’s “Hommage à R. Sch.” (1990). In these the playing, rooted by Blair McMillen’s pianism, was focused and lively.

Mr. Kagel’s “Atem” (1970) has a theatrical impulse. Benjamin Fingland, the clarinetist, sat beneath a standing lamp at center stage, producing a nightmarish range of sounds on instruments of different sizes and configurations. A second musician sat at a table (also with a lamp) and cleaned a flute, but never played.

For “Der Schall” (1968), a more expansive Kagel score, Counter)-induction surrendered the stage to a quintet conducted by Mr. Coleman. Each player has a large arsenal of instruments and noisemakers, and during the 45-minute work timbres and textures shift constantly. The result is earnest, eerie and sometimes zany, but that’s all there is. Any sense of musical movement is illusory, and summoning the illusion isn’t easy.

[Chuck Nessa]

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you don't say.

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[7/4]

. . . . . . . . . . .

you don't say.

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he didn't say.

[Chuck Nessa]

You dare to deny my statement?

[7/4]

You dare to deny my statement?

I ain't sayin'.

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edc sounds restless, irritable and yes, discontent today.

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[clifford_thornton]

want to know more about this Kozinn asshole & his style-less ego games?

Looky Here!!

Well, his writing obviously didn't save that first marriage!

I find Kagel entertaining - used to play LPs of Exotica and Der Schall to death - though can't say the music isn't "of its time."