Sequenza21/The Contemporary Classical Music Weekly

Philadelphia Sounds: Orchestra 2001 Does Dun and Crumb

When you write a piece in memory of John Cage, how can you resist basing it on the notes C-A-G-E? Tan Dun did not resist, and Orchestra 2001 performed the Philadelphia premiere of the 1995 Concerto for Pizzicato Piano and Ten Instruments.

The piano is plucked throughout in fingering technique borrowed from the pipa, as well as with a plate and bottle. Four variations develop each note separately, before mixing them. Strings are percussively plucked and strummed, winds are sonorously spare � for a distinctly Oriental atmosphere. The result is exercise in the range of sounds that can be coaxed from traditional instruments. The texture goes from spare to dense and back again.

There always has to be a gimmick. The last time I heard a Tan Dun piece, the gimmick was bowls of water and instrument mouthpieces making like bird calls. Circle with Four Trios, Conductor and Audience (1992), yes, has a vocalise for audience participation, on top of being based on the Taoist concept of silence. We hear the sounds of nature stirring out of silence: water dripping, a bird call, a gust of wind, a branch cracking, spoken poetry ("The wind never stops"), not to forget the silence. And, then the voice of the people begins with twittering, grows to gossip, and finally to shouting. The audience participated enthusiastically, on cue. But my favorite part was the delicate coda for harp, guitars and humming.

There's nothing better than a good old American folk song, and George Crumb has created the fourth in his American Songbook Series, with The Winds of Destiny (2004); the soloist in this American premiere was Barbara Ann Martin, soprano.

The songs are presented straight, but the setting is that of nighttime, the river, mountains and valleys of America, evoked by a stage full of percussion in various exotic forms. The setting is most effective for When Johnny Comes Marching Home, with the additional quote from Mahler's funeral march. In other songs, the percussion seems at odds with the simple melodies, excessive, and in places overwhelming. Shenandoah is one of my favorite songs, and I have heard both simple and extravagant choral settings for it, but this version sadly truncated the text and obliterated the melody. The instrumental interlude is a mostly quiet set of percussive effects. (Reposted from Penn Sounds 9-22-05.)

posted by Deborah Kravetz 9/23/2005