Boston Modern Orchestra Project showcased four diverse new compositions Saturday night at Jordan Hall. Under the direction of Gil Rose, the downsized BMOP orchestra demonstrated exact execution in each of the pieces, translating enthusiasm for each of the works’ unique energies to the audience.
The Conscious Sleepwalker Loops (2007), by Alejandro Rutty, opened the program with a flurry of activity. Inspired by looping recording techniques, the piece offset several rhythmic patterns to yield varied interactions of melodic line. Pulsating under-rhythms created a frantic noise bed to a building heroic melody in the strings. An abrupt cut-off led into a sparkling, playful dialogue between the piano and xylophone, enhanced by harmonic lyricism in the strings. This floating sense of dreaminess melted in and out of panicked disorientation several times throughout the piece. As the piece climbed a slow ascent to the finish, the mechanical winds and percussion urged the intrepid return of the opening string melody. A triumphant trumpet yielded to sad tremolo, a ripping piano cadenza and some delicate, comical final chords. A chuckle in the audience, and enthusiastic applause for Rutty followed.
The Firebird Quintet was featured in Derek Hurst’s Clades: Concerto for Amplified Quintet and Orchestra (2007). The piece opened with severe, resonant pizzicato in the amplified Quintet’s violin, viola, and cello over sporadic wind dissonance. As if the Quintet were exploring their individual acoustic properties in solitary sounds, there was a sense of attack and swell that continued as the Quintet’s bass clarinet and flute made their entrances. The random, textural interactions between the Quintet and Orchestra persisted without much change in color over the duration of the piece. A sudden, lyrical, solo violin line momentarily met a craving for sweetness. The amplified effect of the Quintet was minimal, providing a slightly more intimate sense of sound quality of the instruments, but hardly a difference in volume. An uncertain, fogginess in atmosphere, punctuated by sharp pizzicato and toots dominated the sonic landscape. At one point, a braying bass clarinet herded the winds into a bleating chorus. To the most cynical listener, the piece could be seen as a parody of contemporary music.
Composer and vocal soloist Ken Ueno offered the audience a rare treat of vocal technique and compositional innovation. On a Sufficient Condition for the Existence of Most Specific Hypothesis (2008) is Ueno’s third work for BMOP, and what he calls one of his most personal works, reconciling his own identity as classical composer and experimental improvisator. The piece opened with a recording of Ueno singing as a child, over which Ueno began to hum in unison with solo viola. Out of this was born an exploration of Ueno’s many vocal textures, including throat singing, overtone singing, multiphonics and extreme high register, matched to gorgeous orchestral color that grounded the unique vocal techniques in an atmospheric wash. At the risk of sounding simplistic, one could liken Ueno’s many vocal sounds to a sound spectrum including swarming locusts, a sports car switching gears, fluctuating radio static, the extreme bass of monk chants, wind gusting through a small space, and the soft scream of fluorescent lights. At times, it felt as though live sound existed in his body’s chamber but he was stifling it from release. The tones he produced filled Jordan Hall with unfamiliar vibrations and resonances so that his voice attained an other-worldliness that disassociated the sound from its human element, all the while contrasting it with the sweet sonorities of the orchestra. Met by the audience’s enthusiasm, the performance was a rare treat indeed.
The final premiere of the evening was Lisa Bielawa’s Double Violin Concerto (2008), featuring soloists Colin Jacobsen and Carla Kihlstedt. The composition of the piece was driven by Bielawa’s fond musical friendships with the soloists and conductor Gil Rose: their chemistry was palpable. The soloists engaged in a virtual dance, expressing with their bodies and rocking footwork the tension and release of the warm, ethereal harmonies. The melodies of the three-movement work conveyed a modern impressionism, with beautiful dissonances, color, and sensuous swell and release. In the middle movement, soloist Kihlstadt switched her violin for another waiting on the table beside her, and over the arpeggiation of the uncommonly tuned open strings, she began to simultaneously sing a passage from Goethe’s Faust, beginning “You know, the stage…Let’s each do what he wants to do;” in a rich, straight, clear tone. Amid the dizzying harmonic color of the strings, the winds followed her advice and interjected unconventionally. The trombonist created several random pops as he hit his mouthpiece with his palm. In transition to the last movement, Kihlstadt switched back to her first violin, and engaged in intimate dialogue with Jacobsen over the fluttering melodic texture of the orchestra. Somewhat akin to an eerie love ballad, the ensemble combined to create a passionate, expressive sound that was truly captivating. Having observed the last movement in rehearsal on Friday, I found myself filled with affection for familiar passages and eager to become more familiar with the pleasing, gorgeous melodies of this work that blended complete innovation with a level of comfort and beauty. In this reporter’s opinion, Bielawa’s Double Violin Concerto is the kind of music one could listen to again and again to revel in its sonic pleasures; the highlight of a thoroughly refreshing and inspiring evening of contemporary music.