Dinosaur Annex Concert

[kenjari]

This performance was one of the bigger events of the Dinosaur Annex Young Composers Festival. The concert featured the work of five composers, all under the age of 30. It was, however, a somewhat disappointing concert. All of the works sounded pretty similar, and all were written in a the animated atonal style of the New York avant-garde of the 1950s and 1960s (Earle Brown came to mind). sen_no_ongaku, who was also in attendance, remarked that it was kind of sad in a way that young composers were writing music that sounded almost precisely like what was being written 50 years ago. There were some nice moments, but this particular style of music isn't really my thing.

Three Scenes - Chris Gendall
This work reminded me the most of Earle Brown. It had a swirly, bustling sound. Unfortunately, there was very little contrast between the movements. I liked the third and final movement the best. It had more groove and a series of sharp attacks placed at often unexpected moments.

Door - Kate Soper
This work was for soprano (the composer herself performed) and chamber ensemble. There were some really neat vocal effects and some moments of great beauty, particularly the gorgeous spare opening of the fifth section. However, I found it largely too crowded in texture. The piece seemed very remote to me, and I just couldn't connect with it despite the interesting things going on in it.

The Sun Is Fire - Kevin Patton
This piece had some great moments and some very annoying moments. The electronic component made for some really interesting sounds and the first movement concluded with a neat piano solo.

The Echo Over the Voice - John E. Bower
This piece was for viola and chamber ensemble and had some terrific writing for the viola. It had a gorgeous opening, but then moved into the same atonal style as the rest of the concert. The second half did have some interesting sounds and textures, though. I did think that the piece went on a bit too long.

Sugar High - Mark Berger
I liked this piece best. It featured a community wind ensemble made up of high school students. The music had much more drive and rhythmic interest than any of the previous works and had a nice contrast between the modernistic writing for the solo chamber group and the bigger wind ensemble sound.

Comments

[hai-kah-uhk.livejournal.com]

Innovation - it's gotta be trendy or else no one will do it. :)