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By Kyle O'Brien
The Oregonian On
the move with modern music
Young modern ensemble Eighth Blackbird is made up of six
musicians, but they prefer to be viewed as a single entity, working together
as ambassadors of new music in seamless and precise fashion. They showed
why Sunday afternoon to a robust audience at Reed College's Kaul Auditorium.
Eighth Blackbird formed in 1996 at the prestigious Oberlin Conservatory
and since then has gone on to win top awards at numerous festivals and
competitions. It was easy to hear and see why Sunday, as the group, making
its Portland debut, played a varied selection of modern compositions,
most from the past decade.
The group is not only tremendously practiced
and talented but knows how to put on a visual show as well. The musicians
work much of the time
without music stands, and if they are used, they often become props,
moving across the stage for comic effect.
On Michael Torke's 1985 piece "The
Yellow Pages," flutist Molly
Alicia Barth and clarinetist Michael Maccaferri walked in a slow choreographed
motion, crossing paths with violinist Matt Albert in a playful staging
that accompanied the jaunty music. Walking around pianist Lisa Kaplan
and cellist Nicholas Photinos also created different sonic textures,
bouncing the steady officelike tones off the back walls as the repeated
musical themes built and changed keys rapidly.
Chen Yi's "Qi" married
Asian motifs with Western instruments and was at times floating and free,
accented by sharp accents from winds,
percussion and piano. Percussionist Matthew L. Duvall was physical in
his playing, jumping from mini-cymbal crashes to cracks of the wood block
and numerous hits on the resonant gongs. The strings showed tremendous
control as the piece became dense and urgent, wringing out steady high
harmonics like an angry hive of bees.
A midconcert program change gave
the audience "Powerless," by
Dennis DeSantis, of the Minimum Security Composers collective, a group
used frequently in Eighth Blackbird performances. The open-ended chords
and pointed accents of the piece became repetitive, with only marimba
adding a woody depth. It was not the concert's most interesting selection
but was well-played and lively at the end.
The tonal contrasts and complements
of Fred Lerdahl's "Time After
Time" showed off the group's expert timing, the second movement
and its pendulumlike rhythm blended the strings and many voices of percussion
in a kaleidoscope of sound.
Joan Tower's often performed "Petroushskates" moved
fast and built quickly, propelling to the finish. The joy of the group
took in
its playing was evident on the faces of the performers. A welcome encore
of "Damaged Goods" left the audience delighted, and knowing
that the future of new music is in fine hands.
© 2003
The Oregonian |
