MUSIC AND DANCE REVIEWS : LEWIS BACK AT USC

The first weeks of the academic year may not be the best time to reassemble the USC Symphony, but with Daniel Lewis returning to the direction of the orchestra after a year’s sabbatical, all went well in Bovard Auditorium Friday night.

There must have been sufficient rehearsal time, for a typically comprehensive program included the world premiere of Ellis Kohs’ suite from his opera “Amerika,” the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 played by Thomas Otten and Debussy’s “La Mer.”

Kohs’ opera based on Franz Kafka’s novella of the same title was written in 1966-69 and still awaits a complete public staging. The suite that he made from the score for this occasion is drawn from interludes between scenes and the entire final scene of Act III, which is mimed to orchestral music without voices.

Since the excerpted music of the suite is performed continuously with no descriptive titles, the listener has no clue to the dramatic content except that which he can derive from the music.

The predominant style seems to be dodecaphonic, and the composer ingeniously milks the potentialities of his tone row. Except for an offstage marching band in the opening scenes the music is delicately textured with strong reliance on solos for wind instruments, backed harmonically by a light layer of strings. One could only guess at the composer’s exact expressive intentions, but it was not difficult to read wit, sly humor, pensiveness and other non-specific moods into the music. It stirred an interest to hear the complete work.

“La Mer” is a challenge to any orchestra, and Lewis did not underestimate his musicians’ capacities. With a bit more seasoning some of the more subtle nuances may come out with a clearer definition, but the firm shaping and dramatic impulse of the performance was impressive.

Otten, the pianist of the Tchaikovsky Concerto, is presently a doctoral candidate at USC, with earlier years of training both in this country and in Germany. When he throws his full weight into the keyboard he produces a prodigious amount of tone, often more noisy than agreeable to the ear. He can toss off octaves at high speed, and he has ideas as to phrasing and color, though he does not yet have all his accomplishments under complete control. The audience cheered him lustily after a bravura finale.