After Wednesday's CMJ melee, I made my way out to Brooklyn for the latest edition of Ear Heart Music's monthly series at Roulette, featuring the American Modern Ensemble—an all-star collective of contemporary classical musicians led by composer/conductor Robert Paterson. Paterson is also an accomplished percussionist, and he sat in on marimba for Marc Mellits' Tight Sweater, along with pianist Stephen Gosling and cellist Arash Amini. The music's minimalist feel belies its intricate structure, with its rapid shifts of timbre and rhythm, building to a propuslive finale ("Mechanically Separated Chicken Parts").
Paterson took to the podium to conduct an enhanced ensemble (Amelia Lukas, flute; Benjamin Fingland, clarinet; Robin Zeh, violin; Matt Ward, percussion) in Jason Haney's Six Memos for the New Millennium: a somewhat weighty title for a work that sounded mostly of standard-issue modernist astringency and chaos. Far more impactful was Christopher Chandler's the resonance after . . ., a haunting, transporting work full of glissandos and phasing, with occasional dissonances floating in and out almost imperceptibly. At the end, Lukas played a quiet, repeating phrase that sounded like a distant bird greeting the morning sun.
During the break, Paterson made an impassioned apology (as in: defense) of using live music with dance, saying that much is lost when dance companies use canned music pumped through amplifiers in performance. Putting his money where is mouth is, AME was joined onstage in the second half by the Mazzini Dance Collective, led by choreographer and former Paul Taylor principal dancer Annmaria Mazzini. Their first collaboration, Paterson's melodic The Thin Ice of Your Fragile Mind, had the look of a folk dance set in a prairie with darkening skies. Pierre Jalbert's Visual Abstract had a more contemporary feel, with the dancers hurtling themsleves around Roulette's hardwood floors, their gestures echoing some of Taylor's iconic movements.
Between the dances was Lembit Beecher's Frantic Gnarly Still: a three movement work for violin and percussion comprising eastern bells, chimes, and drums, evoking gamelan-like microtones and rhythms. The music, which seemed simple and straightforward on the surface, was actually incredibly difficult; apparently, it took the ensemble several additional rehearsals to master Beecher's music, which he says was inspired by memories of growing up in California, where urban sprawl continually threatens the state's natural beauty. Credit percussionist Matt Ward for striking the perfect balance between energy and precision.
Ear Heart Music's next performance will be yet another dance-based performance on November 18, with the Ear Heart Music Ensemble joined by Brooklyn-based dance troupe skybetter & associates. Tickets and info available on the Roulette website; more pics on the photo page.