MUSIC REVIEW : New Works From CSUN Faculty

Long before the era of hype, the display of virtuosity was a legitimate and common launching pad for a composer’s inspiration. It is a truism that, were it not for the eagerness of performers to show off, much great music would never have been written.

The tradition continues. Yet another exhibition of display pieces took place at California State University, Northridge, on Friday night, when the 200-seat Music Department Recital Hall was filled to overflowing for a concert of five compositions--three of them in world premiere performances--by members of the CSUN faculty.

The most intriguing proved to be Daniel Kessner’s “Intersonata” for guitar, a complex, multilevel piece in a mosaic form. The new piece, emotionally wide-ranging and adamantly atonal--how refreshing that style sounds on the guitar!--received a pointed, clarified performance from Ronald Borczon.

Equally exotic, Aurelio de la Vega’s “Memorial de la Ausencia” for solo cello (1985) packs into a comparable 12 minutes a carnival of effects, influences, cadenzas and memories--a collage of musical moments in an eclectic idiom. David Shamban was the young virtuoso delivering the messages.

A cantata for soprano and electronics, Beverly Grigsby’s “Vision of Saint Joan” uses the interior dialogue of the French saint to create a compelling monodrama. Vocally, Grigsby has stuffed into these 17 1/2 minutes more High C’s than Brunnhilde sings in all of “Gotterdammerung.” Deborah Kavasch easily handled the duties of protagonist, and the electronics cleverly approximated orchestral timbres.

Frank Campo’s “dal basso al cielo” for clarinet and double bass, creates an oddball relationship: a meeting of two clowns who bring out the seriousness in each other. The dialogue Campo has produced for himself and Dennis Trembly seems jaunty; yet it has an edge of sadness.

The evening began with a bracing display of virtuosity by Dolly Kessner, introducing her husband’s (Daniel’s) Five Preludes for piano, a neo-Debussyan set of contrasting moods and integrated style.