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By Timothy Mangan
The Orange County Register
Classical CDs: Mesmerizing moderns
Several new recordings of contemporary classical works reveal composers
in listener-friendly mode.
NEW RECORDINGS: Among recent CDs is the work of Frederic Rzewski.
The difficulties of contemporary classical music are greatly exaggerated.
Sure, there are plenty of pieces that are hard to wrap your ears around.
But for every cerebral thicket by Pierre Boulez there's something simple
and rhythmic by Philip Glass; for every mathematical puzzle by Milton
Babbitt there's something humane and immediate by John Adams; for every
incomprehensible etude by Elliott Carter there's something dramatically
gripping by Witold Lutoslawski. Anything goes, really, in the contemporary
classical scene, and it just so happens that many composers these days
aren't afraid of beauty, of making sense, or of actually reaching listeners.
This far from brilliant thought occurred (or re-occurred) as I listened
to a piece called "Les Moutons de Panurge" by the American-born,
Brussels-residing composer Frederic Rzewski while I lumbered down the
freeway recently. It's a little difficult to enjoy Boulez in your car,
but Rzewski's piece is different - it trips along merrily in F major
and minor, it mesmerizes and stimulates. One can listen to it closely,
or inanely, like wind chimes in the back yard, and enjoy it either way.
The idea behind "Les Moutons" is easy. As he was walking down
a street in Paris one day in 1969, Rzewski found himself whistling a
tune, 65 notes long, that would become the fulcrum of the piece. He taped
himself whistling the tune, then transcribed it. The title comes from
a story by Rabelais, in which a ram is thrown into the sea, upon which
his entire flock follows him. In Rzewski's piece the tale works itself
out as an organizational gambit, the tune at first leading the way (played
unison by the musicians), then different versions (faster and slower)
following and joining it. The result is a rhythmic and melodic hubbub,
like a "Row, row, row, your boat" gone loopy. Originally a
work for recorders, the adventurous young chamber ensemble, eighth blackbird,
plays it here on xylophone, flute, clarinet, piano and cello and it makes
a happy 11 minutes indeed.
Also on the disc (called "Fred," from Cedille Records) are
the Pocket Symphony, an attractive work in post-Romantic harmonies written
especially for this ensemble in 2000, and "Coming Together," a
strange and intense piece knit from the repeated recitation of a letter
written by a prisoner in Attica (positively Stoic in outlook, though
Rzewski builds it to a desperate shout) and a thrumming instrumental
underpinning - extremely effective in its own way.
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