MUSIC REVIEWS : LO-CAL COMPOSERS OPENS NEW SEASON

A bright overture, a serious centerpiece, a flashy closing and solid weight in between--what more can one ask of good programming? And when every item on an agenda is being heard for the first time, a program thus described can be very satisfying, indeed.

The union of seven composers and 25 instrumentalists that calls itself Lo-Cal Composers gave such a program, beginning its second season, Sunday night in Gindi Auditorium at the University of Judaism.

Compared to the group’s first outing, a promising performance in Santa Monica 13 months ago, this one displayed similar skills and accomplishment on the part of the seven young writers, more polished conducting--usually the province of Lucas Richman--and tight preparation from the performers.

The important premiere in an evening of first performances seemed to be that given Carl Pritzkat’s “Wanting to Die,” a seven-minute, one-climax scena for soprano and 15 instruments on texts of Anne Sexton.

Though Pritzkat at times betrays a certain naivete in regard to singers’ ranges, when he writes an ascending vocal line, it really ascends, taking the listener along. The gifted and commanding soloist here was soprano Nina Jane Warren; the understanding conductor, Lucas Richman.

As composer, too, Richman showed craft and accomplishment above the norm. No startling originality informs his Concertino for bass clarinet, strings and percussion, but its engrossing sound profile attests talent of a high order. The splendid soloist was Ron Wakefield.

Richman similarly brought out strong qualities in a more dramatic work for similar forces, Carlos Rodriguez’s 18-minute “Night Songs.”

The remainder of the program was devoted to examples of recent, and promising, chamber music.

John Heggie’s ethnocentric and handsome Piano Trio, called “Glengariff,” would reveal its Irish ancestry without the subtitle; with the composer at the piano, Hun Min Sohnn on violin and Matt Cooker on cello, it seemed to make all its touching and dancey points. Charles Benesh’s “Orogeny” for cello solo, as played by Cooker, seemed an articulate and stimulating soliloquy.

Two works which lean toward a minimalist aesthetic completed the program: Richard Plummer-Raphael’s bouncy and provocative “Dance Music” for nine instruments became the bright overture; and Ricky’s “In the Pool,” another piece for nonet, seemed to articulate the mixed feelings some young composers have toward dodecaphony, pentatonicism and other difficult choices.

In the tradition begun last season, this Lo-Cal Composers concert was introduced by an elder statesman in the world these composers now enter. Sunday, it was that youthful nonagenarian, Nicolas Slonimsky, who, as always, provided unexpected insights. For example: that, in the year 2055, Lucas Richman will be as old as Slonimsky is today.