Heard on the Street
On Saturday 3/20, after a Matinee of the 2nd installment of
The Brother/Sister Plays at Steppenwolf I went to Wicker Park’s
Blue Line Lounge & Grill to burn some time before that night’s
MAVerick concert at the Flat Iron Arts Building.
BTW, The Brother/Sister Plays are worth seeing, but
I recommend doing them in chronological order, i.e.,
The Red and Brown Water first.
At Flat Iron Arts Building gallery 222, occupied by Kevin
Lahvic, who was a wonderful host, Jason R programmed
six pieces for the evening.
WZJB in drone by Jason Raynovich
This piece for Two-channel playback was a throwback to the squeaks
and synth-sounds you might’ve heard accompanying a video on
WTTW’s Image Union 20 years ago. Cute. And a good opener.
Scherzo by Anastasya Pavlyuk
Andrea DiOrio, clarinet and Jason R cello played this work
commissioned for the Ukrainian Museum and MAVerick by a
native Ukrainian. Although Jason declared it “not very MAVerick-y”,
I thought it quite acceptable in this context. It had the ring of
some of the pieces Seth Boustead played at his recent Sound
of Silent Film.
Capricci #4 and #5 by Salvatore Scarrino
Jennifer Lecke, soloed on violin for two of the six Capricci by
Sal Scarrino. The dexterity by Jen amazed me. There were
high-register harmonics punctuated by jabs with the bow
down low and rapid glissandi. Jennifer is back with MAVerick
from a hiatus and that’s a good thing.
Kaval Imaginario by Pablo Chin
Pablo being in attendance, how could Andrea DiOrio playing
solo clarinet not give it her all? She did, after laying out three
(or was it four?) stands for the music. The story behind this
piece was a Bulgarian tale about a shepherd out-playing the
devil, so trills and rapid scales were in order.
Juggernaut by Paul Oehlers
Jason R moved two big speakers on stage for this one. It
was a “steamroller” (or juggernaut) of a piece for solo cello
and electronics. I give this the “Best-of-Show” award because:
1) Jason wrecked his bow; 2) there was so much rosin on his
fingerboard, I thought I was in Nashville; 3) it was so much
like a classic concerto, with electronics as the “orchestra”
and the cello answering back; 4) an overall good soundtrack
with organ-bass-guitar-like synthesis.
Music for Three by John Cage
The players above on violin, clarinet and cello conclude with
a totally dry and uneventful rendition by Cage. Andrea showed
me the score with nominal timings and all. She had a Blackberry
with a stopwatch app running on her music stand.
Street Noise by the Great City of Chicago
Just Kidding. Gallery 222 faces Milwaukee Ave just about 100 feet
from the 6-way intersection with Damen and North Ave. Jason’s
WZJB piece was seriously impacted by a rumbling #56 bus.
A few other buses were noticeable, but not too distracting. And
a couple of horn honks were timed so they might actually
have been written into the composition. After the concert
Jason asked for some audience feedback on the “ambiance”.
I think it comes with the territory and can live with it in order
to enjoy new-music-in-galleries.
–
Bruce
