Music Reviews : African-American From Viklarbo

Continuing its “Evolutions in Music” series, Loyola Marymount University Wednesday night presented the Viklarbo Chamber Ensemble in an exploration of music by African-American composers. The program, mostly contemporary works, was intriguing and pleasing.

As composer Olly Wilson pointed out before the concert, the influence of the Afro-American culture on the music of the composers presented Wednesday surfaces in various degrees, sometimes obviously or vaguely, or sometimes not at all. In the latter category one might put Wilson’s own “Echoes” for clarinet and electronic tape (1974-75).

In this work, the composer deliberately synthesizes clarinet-type sustained sounds onto the tape, which the live clarinetist’s music weaves in and out of, disappearing like an airplane in clouds. Clarinetist Jeff Elmassian convincingly cavorted with the tape.

Nigerian-born composer Noel da Costa’s “Five Verses With Vamps” for cello and piano (1968) melds brief, craggy repeated passages with widely spaced, sparsely scored serialism--dapper, Webernesque, engaging music. Guest cellist Matt Cooker and pianist Wendy Prober performed it with delicate precision.

The Duo for Clarinet and Cello (1988) by David Baker effectively combines lyrical jazz with Hindemithian counterpoint, smoothly and constantly transitioning from independent lines to melody and accompaniment, from canon to unison. Elmassian and Cooker were the capable protagonists.

To conclude, William Grant Still’s romping, bluesy, impressionistic Suite for Violin and Piano (1943) received an aggressive performance by violinist Maria Newman and Prober.