PRIMITIVE FORCE
Monday Evening Concerts at the Colburn School, Los Angeles, December 3, 2007
Music of Radulescu, Stravinsky, and Xenakis

After living in the LA area for 2 years now, it is nice to finally be finding a new music scene, and this group (www.mondayeveningconcerts.org) has been presenting concerts in LA since 1939! I only stumbled upon their schedule in the window of Canterbury Records in Pasadena, noticing a presentation of work by Horatio Radulescu, the central luminence in what is called the "Spectral School" or "spectralism". Another blogger (zhao, see differentwaters.blogspot.com and thesameriver.blogspot.com) has written quite a bit on spectralism and linked numerous MP3 examples, and I found the Sub Rosa disc "Intimate Rituals", devoted to Radulescu, and featuring the violinist of this night's performance, about 6 months ago. I am still a novice to this group of composers, but the program notes give some clues: "Though his concern with sound spectra (the overtone components that partly determine timbre) presaged certain aspects of spectralism, his thinking was more ranging and mystical than that of such contemporaries as grisey. And though he shares Stockhausen's view of sound as spiritual substance and sound-making as ritual, most of his works are instrumental and essentially abstract." (Monday Evening Concerts Notes, ©Paul Griffiths)

Anyhow, the program was held in the beautiful Zipper Hall at Colburn Music School in downtown LA, across from the Disney Center. The room was a large recital hall with gorgeous acoustics helped by a towering peaked ceiling with woodslat acoustic baffles arching above and 5 large discs above the stage to diffract sound. It was great to see so many people out to hear avant-garde music, I'd say 150 people were there. Of course Stravinsky and Xenakis bring the crowds, but Radulescu? The show was brilliantly curated to present 2 pieces of Radulescu's to a wider audience and to underline the contrasts and similarities between these composers. The presence of Vincent Royer, a young violist from France who has specialized in performing works by Radulescu (as well as Giacinto Scelsi and Luc Ferrari among others, made this event particularly noteworthy. His performances of Agnus Dei (in duet with local violist Kazi Pitelka) and Das Andere (solo) were uniquely spellbinding; complex patterns of arpeggios and rough bow chording made both of these pieces anything but minimal. I expected long tone, Feldmanesque tonefields, but the Radulescu works were closer to Transylvanian gypsy improvisation or the extreme sound studies of James Tenney (KOAN for solo violin), beautifully interpreted by Royer and Pitelka. The solo piece Das Andere was particularly moving, and Royer danced gently with his instrument as he sometimes ground extreme chordal textures from his bow and viola, akin perhaps to a filmmaker scratching celluloid or a painter's use of the palette knife to lift one layer of pigment off and reveal another. Royer played another short koda piece to close the first half. And between the Radulescu pieces was the wonderful Stravinsky work "In Memorium Dylan Thomas", a setting of that most famous poem ("Do not go gentle..."), a piece first presented in 1954 at Monday Evening Concerts and one which Radulescu was partly inspired by (Program Notes). An ensemble of 4 trombones, string quartet, and voice did a wonderful job with this piece, a beautifully balanced pull between the melancholy sunset of life passing and the "rage against the dying".

The second half of the evening was given to 2 works by Iannis Xenakis, who I'd always thought was Greek but is declared Romanian born in the notes. (So many interesting artists have emerged from otherwise unknown Romania: Tristan Tzara, Constantin Brancusi, Eugene Ionesco.) the first piece was percussion solo "Rebonds" from 1989, a whirlwind performance by Steven Schick on woodblocks and 5 assorted drums, excellently played and with great personality. An example of how great percussion music can be, saying so much with such limited tools. "Eonta", for 3 trombones, 2 trumpets and piano from 1963 was a radical work akin to seeing the Globe Unity Orchestra perform. Pianist Eric Huebner's hands were flying across the keys in the manner of Cecil Taylor and the horns moved around the stage from 1 position to another, sometimes blaring into the sustained open grand piano and sometimes just wandering. A wild piece approaching free jazz in its implications. A great night out for music.

I've been avoiding going to Disney's Redcat series, but may have to break down and see something there soon. Official avant-garde culture can be stifling. There is also a series starting up in a church in Pasadena involving tape (recorded) works for presentation in 12-channel "diffusion" sound. I hope to report on that soon.