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Phillip T Young Recital Hall
April 6, 2010
In one of their Conversations (later published), Robert Craft asked Igor Stravinsky which work by a composer of the younger generation had impressed him most.
Stravinsky's reply was unhesitating: "Le Marteau sans maître by Pierre Boulez."
Although he later said that he had been too extravagant with his praise (his discovery of Boulez's hardly complimentary written opinions of post-Rite Stravinsky may have had a bearing), we can count Stravinsky as an "early adopter" of what today is a truth (almost) universally acknowledged: that Le Marteau is one of the most significant works of the Twentieth Century.
Be that as it may, performances of Le Marteau, even today, more than half a century after its premiere, are not exactly thick on the ground. Arguably this is at least as much because of the difficulty of the music for the performers as for the listeners.
All the more reason, then, to celebrate Tuesday night's performance, which closed Aventa's 2009-10 season in spectacular style.
The music's sparse, exotic instrumentation (alto voice plus alto flute, viola, guitar, vibraphone, xylorimba and percussion, although seldom all employed simultaneously) and its typically precise and exacting rhythms leave nowhere for the performers to hide; yet, so persuasive, so confident was the performance that one felt at all times that one was hearing precisely what the composer intended, not an approximation.
Noa Frenkel was a stunning soloist, coping almost nonchalantly with Boulez's obstinately unsingable vocal lines, yet still somehow investing the music with expression, with meaning, however ambiguous - appropriately, as René Char's poetry ("I dream the head on the point of my knife is Peru") is scarcely less than obtuse.
In both the purely instrumental movements (five of the nine) and the vocal settings, Bill Linwood and his hand-picked ensemble brilliantly conveyed what Hans Helmut Stuckenschmidt described as the "aura of inspired unpredictability" of the work's "chirping, knocking, porcelain-like sounds".
There is no doubt that, even fifty-five years after its premiere, Le Marteau sans Maître is still something of a tough nut to crack, for both performers and listeners. Frenkel, Linwood and Aventa were nutcrackers par excellence.
The evening opened with percussionist Olaf Tzchoppe performing his own Kolongala.
As anyone who ever attended a rock concert in the 1960s or 70s can attest, the fifteen-minute "drum solo" was something one either sat manfully through or, alternatively, used as an opportunity to visit the bar or washroom. Only the masochistic actually listened.
Tzschoppe is too young to remember all this (lucky man) and yet Kolongala is a perfect counter to the notion that listening to a solo percussionist has to be anything but enthralling.
Whether in the kicking-up-a-storm opening or the more delicate music which followed, Tzschoppe was dazzling; moreover, the piece held my attention throughout. Indeed, just as I was thinking that perhaps the piece should end quite soon - it did.
Dániel Péter Biró's Mishpatim - Laws Part III - Masked Shadows is scored for contralto, (occasionally vocalising) percussionist, flute, violin, cello, piano and electronics. It received its first performance on Tuesday night.
The music, we are informed, is a result of the composer's "research into methods of producing organized sound by means of Hebrew number symbolism (gematria)" wherein each letter of the Hebrew alphabet has a certain numerical value - and no, this is nothing to do with the Da Vinci Code.
The music is sparse, slow moving and clearly very difficult. And although there were undoubtedly attractive and fascinating moments - and some marvellously subtle electronic effects - and it was evidently superbly performed, I must admit that, for me, the piece outstayed its welcome. Perhaps a second hearing would reveal what I missed the first time.
As I write these words, the ensemble and soloists are in Eastern Canada with these pieces and others, demonstrating that there is more to Victoria than afternoon teas and flower counts.
Another wonderful evening with Aventa.
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