By Martha Erwin, Special Correspondent
Richmond Times-Dispatch original link

Making 'unique sound worlds' inviting

Strange but not estranging. That's eighth blackbird, the University of Richmond's resident chamber music ensemble -- classically trained musicians who mostly eschew a traditional repertoire and garb, performing Roberto Sierra in cargo pants rather than Schubert in silk and sequins.

The group's program "strange imaginary animals -- part II" introduced some "unique sound worlds" (the descriptor of the group's pianist, Lisa Kaplan) to a small and youngish audience at the University of Richmond's Modlin Center on Wednesday night.

The ensemble works hard to make those strange worlds inviting, contributing helpful program notes and hosting post-concert question-and-answer sessions.

But writing and talking are secondary to the collaborative music-making in elucidating these hard-edged, uncompromising works that concentrate on contrasts of rhythm and timbre rather than tuneful melodies and harmonic variations.

Instrumental solos are brief, and virtuosity is displayed more by the instrumentalists' compatibility and flexibility.

On this program, for example, the flutist slaps his keys like a percussion instrument, whirls a musical tube purchased from a toy catalog and maneuvers his way across the stage without a second to spare to assist the pianist.

Beginning with Franco Donatoni's "Arpège," by the only nonliving composer on the program, moods shifted quickly, from bright to agitated to serene.

This was a good choice for an opening piece. It introduced the sextet's tight unison playing, then its easy transition to shifting tempos and volumes in duos for the flute (the group's newest member, Tim Munro) and clarinet (Michael Maccaferri) and violin and cello (Matt Albert and Nicholas Photinos), with steady percussion by Kaplan on piano and Matthew Duvall, mostly on xylophone.

Wallace Stevens' poem "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird" inspired not only the ensemble's name (see the eighth stanza) but also musical settings by composers such as Lukas Foss.

The program's "old standard," composed in 1978, featured soprano Lucy Shelton, resplendent in black and gold and in voice, Munro's flute, and Kaplan and Duvall on (and in) the piano.

The poem's abstract enigmas ("A man and a woman and a blackbird/Are one") and concrete images ("The blackbird whirled in the autumn winds") were breathed into life by Shelton and Munro while Kaplan and Munro used a variety of objects to draw out the sound effects of a piano's strings.

Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez's "Luciérnagas" may have sociopolitical overtones but, as the composer notes, it is also "strictly musical," and it is an entrancing world indeed.

The composer is not afraid of silence, nor of frequent loud climaxes, and easily evokes the visual display of fireflies. Solos by Duvall on marimba and a hard-pedaled piano by Kaplan were brief but compelling.

Shelton rejoined the group for a soulful rendition of Sierra's folk-inspired "Cancionero Sefardi." She was attentively accompanied, not overshadowed, by the sextet minus Duvall.

The final piece, David Gordon's "Friction Systems," was a bit gimmicky for my taste although the "bang on the can as loud as you can" parts were great fun, as it was to watch Duvall striking, sliding, twirling and otherwise manipulating more objects than most symphony percussionists will use in a lifetime.

Perhaps listener fatigue is inevitable in such concerts where so much is new. It's to eighth blackbird's credit that we don't mind a bit of stretching and straining to keep our musical imaginations limber.

Copyright © 2007 Richmond Times-Dispatch