Alias impresses with under-performed gems, announces bold new commission
by Russell Johnston
An appreciative crowd at last Thursday's wide-ranging concert by the Alias Chamber Ensemble made clear what a strong connection Alias has formed with its community, and the announcement of a major new project confirmed the group's continuing artistic success.
After intermission, artistic director and violinist Zeneba Bowers excitedly gave the audience details about the ambitious new venture. Alias has commissioned a quartet for clarinet, violin, cello and piano from rising star composer Gabriela Lena Frank, and the ensemble is set to record a full album of Frank's music for leading classical label Naxos, with the composer herself appearing as pianist.
A nice deal for anyone, and a truly impressive one for a young nonprofit ensemble with all-volunteer membership and no institutional affiliation. With the same zeal and inventiveness that informs their music-making, Alias lined up funding and support from the long-established Schubert Club of St. Paul, Minn., as well as from Vanderbilt and the Metro Nashville Arts Commission.
Frank is a California native who can claim Peruvian, Chinese, Lithuanian and Jewish roots, and whose music often explores the Andean side of her heritage. Her previous commissions and premieres have come from Kronos Quartet, Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Ensemble and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and last year brought her both a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Latin Grammy.
Bowers and her husband, Alias executive director and cellist Matt Walker, met Frank in early 2007 when the Nashville Symphony performed her Manchay Tiempo. They quickly developed an affinity for the composer, and Alias has already performed two of her works. As Bowers describes the friendly, down-to-earth qualities of Frank's personality and of her music, Walker grins and interjects, "It's also some of the toughest stuff I've ever played!" Frank and Alias share a commitment to education and outreach, and they plan to bring Frank and her music into area schools and particularly into Nashville's Latino community as part of the commission.
Thursday's concert delved into engaging and underperformed repertoire, as is Alias' custom. Bowers, Walker and violist Daniel Reinker set aside their usual axes in favor of Baroque instruments for a pair of works that continued the group's two-year exploration of female composers past and present.
Soprano Terri Richter joined the group — along with violinist Karen Clarke and harpsichordist Murray Somerville, both of Music City Baroque — for Cari Musici, by the Italian nun Bianca Maria Meda. This 1690 motet assimilates expressive resources of early opera into a sacred context. Richter's singing was gorgeous, her mid-Baroque ornamentation graceful and natural. Let's hope we hear more from her.
Belinda Reynolds' 2006 string quartet Envision also called for Baroque instruments. There should be a better term than "post-minimalist" for this music, which absorbs the repetitive interlocking patterns and harmonic simplicity of Steve Reich or Philip Glass into a varied design, rich in contrast. The group achieved a wonderfully blended sound in its interpretation.
Visiting composer/soprano Deborah Kavasch teamed with English horn player Roger Wiesmeyer for her 2003 duet The Fox and the Grapes. Modernist techniques needn't always yield remote or baffling music — the duo's conversational interplay, complete with growling and honking from voice and instrument, made for a lively and charming version of the well-worn fable.
Even with late 19th century repertoire, Alias tends to less traveled roads — in this case Anton Arensky's String Quartet No. 2, which forgoes a second violin for the rich color of two cellos. The muted opening set a relaxed tone, and the group's sound was wonderfully cohesive throughout.
Fans of Peter Schickele's late, lamented NPR program know the composer's omnivorous musical appetite. Alias performed his 1983 string quartet American Dreams, which grafts popular styles from swing to fiddle hoedown onto the chamber music tradition. The hybrid felt unforced and convincing, largely because the players seemed at home through the wide range of idioms. Walker perfectly captured the spontaneous character of the first movement's bluesy plucked cello solo — so much so that some listeners probably suspected he was improvising.
Comments (0)