Last night, the Contemporary Directions Ensemble presented a concert of works by established living composers, their second of the semester. The five works on the program varied greatly in instrumentation, but they were tied together by the overarching theme of the power of words. The members of the ensemble are hand-picked from the School of Music and range from upperclassmen to grad students. Their high level of playing was obvious, and gave me the freedom as a listener to develop opinions of the pieces themselves that they presented.
Opening the evening was Missy Mazzoli’s “Set that on Fire” for piano, violin, clarinet and bass clarinet, flute and piccolo, and trumpet. While the composer’s program note promised a piece that builds a “seemingly sturdy musical structure that quickly explodes, disintegrates, and blazes into something unexpected,” I felt that at most the piece achieved a crackling, dancing campfire, rather than the powerful explosion that I was expecting. The fluid, interlocking parts created an interesting chord progression and strangely solid texture, but this quickly plateaued. Overall the piece lacked a certain “tightness,” and seemed to continue for the sake of continuing.
I thought that Rzewski’s “Coming Together” was a much stronger addition to the first half of the program. I had actually heard the piece performed two years ago, and it was an enjoyable experience for me to hear it again, as my taste in music has gotten dramatically more open-minded since my first listen. The large ensemble work has a peculiar instrumentation, most easily categorized as a sinfonietta with the additions of synthesizer, an extra percussionist, and narrator. Overhead projections on the back wall of the stage before and after the piece told the story surrounding this deeply political work, which is a setting of a letter by Sam Melville, who was one of 43 inmates who died as a result of the 1971 Attica prison riots. The rhythmic tightness lacking in the Mazzoli was drastically made up for in this piece, which was driven by incessantly repeating rhythmic patterns that kept building the intensity as the narrator read and reread Melville’s cryptic letter. The ensuing silence that resulted at the conclusion of the piece from the overhead projection’s continuation of the story was an apt way of providing the victims of the riot with the respectful silence that the New York government seems to have failed to pay them and their families.
The second half opened with Lembit Beecher’s beautifully colorful and evocative “The Art of Remembering,” with flowing textures that interacted profoundly with the percussionist’s tubular bells near the end of the piece. Caroline Shaw’s “Taxidermy” for percussion quartet followed immediately after, with no applause in between the pieces. The quirkiness of the piece was embodied in the unusual instrumentation, which consisted of marimba, vibraphone, and 8 pitched porcelain flower pots (the performers jokingly told me later about how annoying they must have been as they struck all of the pots in Home Depot in order to make their instrument selections). Still, the simple harmonies and delicate timbres gave the piece a sparklingly beautiful quality.
David Lang’s “Increase” for large ensemble provided a similar “going out with a bang” effect as the Rzewski. Driving ostinato patterns that never seemed to exactly land on the beat carried on throughout the entire piece, propelling it forward as it gradually, as promised, increased in volume and complexity.
After the concert, I asked for the opinions of some of my fellow music majors who attended despite their unfamiliarity with contemporary music. Their reception of the concert was quite positive. Seeing their excitement over music that they’ve only begun to expose themselves to made me equally excited for the future of new music. It is remarkable to go to a University that gives students the opportunity to hear today’s music at such a high level. I’ll be eagerly awaiting CDE’s next stellar performances in the upcoming semester.
