Review of Concert

I have not seen a review of this most unusual concert which I had been looking
forward to for quite some time so here's my take on it. A Columbus Day Orchestra
Concert "Discovering New Worlds" by the AFMM Orchestra took place at the School for
Ethical Culture in Manhattan on October 11, 1999. My prior exposure to an
orchestra playing microtonally was limited only to hearing Ives Universe Symphony
conducted by Johnny Reinhard and soon afterwards Johnny�s 60 player improvisatory
feat on Homer�s Odyssey at St. Paul�s Chapel on the Columbia University Campus.

The 26 piece orchestra that pulled off the event were top notch players many of
whom I recognized from my attendance at numerous microtonal chamber music events
and other new music concerts. Conductor Paolo Bellomia assumed the podium and the
evening opened with Alyssa Ryvers Hologram. A disarming folk tune was presented on
solo piccolo that was soon joined by flutes. Before long every instrument was
engaged in a canonic treatment of the tune at micro-transposed intervals. Once the
whole texture was in place the effect was fairly grotesque. At that point I could
not perceive any sense of phrasing or contrast until the tune returned at the end
and yet, because I knew that musicians of this caliber were virtually incapable of
playing out-of -tune in the normal sense I felt that in their willingness to
submerge personal ego to the composers message I got to hear something new, strange
and different.

Luc Marcel I had heard before on a prior AFMM concert and I anticipated a work
of great energy and complexity. Mod�le 312, the second premiere of the evening was
exactly that. His writing was muscular and breathless, driven by angular
asymmetries of percussion. Phrases seemed to tumble into each other relentlessly.
At first his music seemed rather Varese-like but unlike Varese an exhausting,
frantic energy pervaded relieved though by some touches of humor when the
percussionist playing a birdwhistle joined the piccolo in an intricate duet. Luc
Marcel was there to take his bow from a sizable audience who appreciated him and
the musicians� extraordinary skill and energy.

Mordecai Sandberg�s 1944 work, Psalm 51 #2 for Soprano and Orchestra concluded
the first half. According to the program notes the performance utilized two
full-sized keyboard synthesizers required to play all the microtones in the work.
The synths were designed by Patrick Grant and played by Joshua Pierce. On first
hearing the work had a distinctly Baroque texture but very dense. The soprano
soloist Dorien Verheijden who came from Arnhem, Netherlands to do this work had a
most beautiful voice but she was rather overpowered by the orchestra. Sandberg�s
creative output was extraordinary and deeply based in his profound knowledge of
Kabbalah. I came upon a quote by Sandberg from a lecture that he gave in 1930 in
which he says "The music of the world�s peoples is rife with a confusion of tuning
systems, but in reality there is only one humanity and one music�" His lifelong
striving to encompass all tuning systems peaks my curiosity about Sandberg and so I
welcome hearing every Sandberg performance just to approach an understanding of
this composer.

After the intermission Jon Catler appeared as soloist in a premiere
performance of his newest work Evolution for electric Guitar and Orchestra. The
program notes pointed out that the work was in 13-limit Just Intonation and that we
could anticipate hearing the overtone series up to the 16th overtone. .Catler
writes "this Harmonic Symphony evolves the orchestra into a purely-tuned organism,
capable of enveloping the energy of rock guitar." Unlike the works on the first
half which were either rather frenetic or extremely dense in texture, Catler kept
exquisite control of a gradually unfolding of sonorities. In his inviting us to
experience intervals and harmonics that might otherwise pass us by quickly I really
did feel as a listener that a compelling sound-world was carefully revealed. The
work was not without rhythmic interest with an intricate tune that appeared
providing an element of contrast and formal shape.

Johnny Reinhard�s Middle-earth, a symphony fantasy inspired by The Lord of the
Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien may be his major accomplishment to date. He loves to work
with programmatic scenarios and his concise notes on the four movements � Hobbits,
Khazad, Mordor and Eldarin provided much to listen for since he prides himself on
juxtaposing several different tuning approaches in any one composition. On one
hearing it was evident that the work was conceived in detail by the composer, at
once playful and intricate, rich in ideas, moods and contrasts. Of all the works
on the program I am most eager to hear a recording of it repeatedly and hopefully,
someday another live performance. Reinhard challenges the sophisticated musician
and thereby the listener who seeks a new experience. His thoroughly knowledgeable
approach is grounded in practical wisdom thus I trust in the integrity of his ideas
and commend the orchestra that can carry them out.

The program concluded with Ives Unanswered Question, a work first heard in
1908. Normally it is done with the solo part played on the trumpet but in this
performance Derek Floyd played it on English horm. Great care was taken to adhere
to Ives theoretical conclusion that in a Pythagorean tuning C# is a distinctly
higher pitch than Db. Likewise he asserts that B# is an eighthtone higher than C.
It was a very beautiful rendering of this often heard work, one which shed new
light on aspects of Ives that are only first being understood, Ives the
microtonalist.

Howard Rovics
rovics@ct2.nai.net
http://w3.nai.net/~rovics

Hello Howard,

I hope you don't mind my contacting you off-list like this, but I wanted to
say hello and welcome you to the list. I am a good friend of your daughter
Bonnie -- perhaps the microtonal world has only two degrees of separation?
Hope we get to meet sometime. And my the way, several reviews of the
Columbus Day concert were posted just before yours -- check the onelist
archives if you're interested.

-Paul Erlich