By John Aiello
The Journal News original article here

Out on a limb

"Violence,'' "Dramamine,'' "Zaka'': Caramoor International Music Festival's Friday evening set list read a lot like a grunge album. And the players, twenty- and thirtysomethings in black, with open collars and form-fitting fashions, had a hint of renegade about them.

But the sound that filled the Venetian Theater in Katonah was, more often than not, chamber music of the highest order. The sextet known as eighth blackbird turned out to be true believers in the past, present and future of the art form.

Unfortunately, only about 100 curious listeners came out to hear what the 21st century has to offer.

The opening work, a world premiere, was well worth the price of admission.

Composer Jennifer Higdon coined a new word to describe her piece: "Zaka: to almost simultaneously zap, sock, race, turn, drop, sprint.''

The ensemble did all of the above, and with outstanding coordination and sensitivity that spoke of hard-earned technical mastery and traditional ensemble-playing values.

Pianist Lisa Kaplan knew her instrument inside and out, keying a punctuated bass line, strumming the strings with guitar picks, or pounding them directly with her fists, affecting harps, maracas and distant explosions. Bowing with a crochet needle, violinist Matt Albert added a skittering sound to the mix.

Yet the end product was far from noise, but instead a kind of manic, musical industry, held together by an urgent Morse-code rhythm and interlocking bravura flourishes of percussion, flute and cello.

"Zaka'' also showed emotional depths that the title did not convey; shadowy expanses touched with impressive lyricism and strands of melody that ultimately set this piece in perfect balance.

Gordon Fitzell's "Violence,'' however, might more appropriately have been called "Horror Movie Soundtrack.''

Despite the threat of its title, and an ardent performance by eighth blackbird, this work's surface tension frequently went slack. Its most conspicuous effects — the creaking-door violin, the squeals rubbed from wetted glass rims, the things-that-go-bump-in-the-night percussion — all of it had the ring of melodrama and cliché. Perhaps this was Fitzell's intention, but only during an argumentative dialogue between flute and bass clarinet did "Violence'' begin to speak a language all its own.

"Dramamine,'' the brilliant closing work, by David M. Gordon, revealed the evening's common thread. Whereas previous generations of the avant-garde made harmony or rhythm their final frontiers, these three contemporary explorers have all staked claims to tone itself.

Gordon's score called for a piano "prepared'' with screws between the strings, tuned flowerpots, whirled lengths of plastic tubing, toy piano, flute, violin, cello and bass clarinet. Add to this unwieldy list of raw materials quarter-tones, the notes between notes.

Eighth blackbird made sense of it all, closing the concert with a radiant cascade of sound that was as dizzying as it was breathtaking.

While there's no arguing that Caramoor has played an important role in keeping the music of past masters alive, this outstanding performance, this visionary group, this gutsy step off the beaten track — all three came as welcome signs of hope for the future.

Copyright 2004The Journal News