07 October 2011
In eighth blackbird, music and theater collide
by Anne Timberlake
original link
1. Stretching time.
2. Looking for trouble.
4. Craziness.
10. Not to sleep.
These are some of the "Top Ten Reasons to Compose" given by Mayke Nas, a young Dutch composer whose "DiGiT #2" (2002-3) was among the works offered Wednesday evening by eighth blackbird, the University of Richmond's savvy, nervy ensemble-in-residence.
Nas' piece was a thigh-slapper — literally. Two players seated at the piano slapped the instrument, their own legs, and one another's hands in an increasingly intricate game of pattycake. It was theater disguised as music, music evolving from theater, and it set the tone for the evening. DiGiT was also the earliest piece on a program of "wet ink": music composed in the 21st century by living, breathing, trouble-making composers.
Eighth blackbird was in fine form. The contemporary music ensemble is young, though increasingly experienced; edgy, though increasingly mainstream. The synthesis, a group of players with the energy of students and the skill of professionals, is engaging.
Highlights included Fabian Svensson's "Two Sides" (2007), a tightly orchestrated, semi-staged battle between the high and low instruments, and Caleb Burhans' "Lullaby for Madeline" (2008), a marimba solo that began with a sound like a finger running along the rim of a wineglass before undulating outward in waves of increasing tunefulness.
Amy Kirsten's "Pirouette on a Moon Sliver" (2011) was, slightly misleadingly, scored "for solo flute." In an arresting, world-premiere performance, flutist Tim Munro not only played but spoke, sang, spat, growled, howled and gibbered to evoke a murderous incarnation of the commedia dell'arte character of Harlequin.
Music as drama: eighth blackbird does it often, and, for all but a few nanoseconds, does it like dynamite. Timo Andres' "Crashing Through Fences" (2009) was a love scene between piccolo and glockenspiel. Dan Visconti's "Fractured Jams" (2006) reconstructed, among other things, an open mic night, a jug band jam, and a bad recording session. Bruno Mantovani's "Chamber Concerto No. 2" (2011) was an action scene: a fluttering, diving, driving piece of music that wrung its players dry.
Top reasons you need to go see eighth blackbird's next Richmond event March 14 at the Modlin Center: 1. Boundary-stretching. 2. Craziness. 3. Promises to be excellent. 4. Not (most definitely not) to sleep.
