BMOP

sigerson and I went to BMOP's season finale at Sanders Theater, where they performed a three-piece program:

Evan Ziporyn - Hard Drive
Anthony de Ritis - Devolution: A Concerto for DJ and Orchestra
Steven Mackey - Dreamhouse

Ziporyn's Hard Drive, written for full orchestra with electric and bass guitar added, was a fun piece with lots of rhythmic verve, generally (as I recall) consisting of jittery, stilted figures that somehow seemed to be constantly rising. But it felt a little thin, without much contrast in harmony, counterpoint, or texture; the orchestra was almost always playing in rhythmic unison, which starts out impressively overwhelming, but is hard to keep interesting for 10+ minutes.

*

de Ritis's Devolution[1] was way cool, and featured DJ Spooky as soloist. A dialogue between de Ritis's pre-composed music and DJ Spooky's turntabling, de Ritis specifies that the DJ sample particular works of classical music...though the DJ isn't limited to those choices. The music begins as a back-and-forth between the orchestra and the DJ, eventually culminating in a spectacular DJ cadenza[2].

Among the most compelling sections of the piece: when Spooky and the orchestra played together; often, one would be on the sidelines while the other was in the spotlight, but the best parts were when they interacted and Spooky riffed off of them in real-time. As well, in the second half of the piece de Ritis himself samples Ravel's Bolero and the funeral march from Beethoven's 7th Symphony in a kind of written-out remix, and it was awesome to hear those pieces distorted and warped, layered on top of each other and fighting with Spooky's samples.

*

Lastly, Steven Mackey's Dreamhouse, featuring Rinde Eckert, Synergy Vocals, and the Catch Electric Guitar Quartet was the best piece on the concert -- the first two movements, anyhow. A setting of texts and poems (I think) about house construction[3], it felt like the most creative and inventive piece on the concert in its musical development and orchestration, making the unusual battery of soloists seem utterly crucial. In particular, the counterpoint between Eckert and Synergy was incredible, as they shared fragments of phrases and melodies, creating a texture both coming together and falling apart.

The first two movements were incredibly riveting; the third, however, went on for quite a bit too long, and towards the end I was looking at the performers' parts to try to gauge how much longer the piece would be. Nevertheless, Dreamhouse recovered with a beautiful, triumphant finale.

And any chance to hear Rinde Eckert perform has to be taken advantage of -- not least because of his amazing vocal range, which covers bass to soprano, and that Mackey uses to the limit.
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(1) Abridged, so some of what I say may not apply to the full version.

(2) Which, surprisingly, did not use George Crumb's Black Angels this time around -- I'm given to understand Spooky digs it a lot, and used it when we saw him perform Rebirth of a Nation, also in Sanders.

(3) That were reminiscent of House of Leaves in many respects.