MUSIC REVIEW : Local Debut of Terra Australis

Monday Evening Concerts went out with a serendipitous bang this season, courtesy of Terra Australis. The Australian/American ensemble made its local debut Monday at Bing Theater of the County Museum of Art as a late replacement for the Seymour Group.

Unlike many other new music groups, Terra Australis is not simply a collective from which emerge soloists and smaller ensembles. Monday, at least, the bulk of the music was played by the full unit--flutist Tara Helen O’Connor, clarinetist Bronwen Jones, pianist Lisa Moore, percussionist Peter Jarvis, violinist Rohan Smith, cellist Mark Stewart--conducted by Matthias Kriesberg.

The only miscalculation in the big, colorful program was placing the longest, most diffuse work last. Richard Meale’s 32-minute “Incredible Floridas”--the oldest piece, by the oldest composer, on the agenda--is an abstracted interpretation of poems by Rimbaud. French influences, notably from Boulez and Messiaen, can also be heard in the canny scoring and structure.

The five movements of Peter Brideoake’s “Shifting Reflections” reveal similar formal clarity and evocative instrumentation in an arch form that peaks in an exuberant scherzo. Strong, purposeful rhythms and a more connected lyrical sense impel this tight, vigorous music.

“On Shooting Stars,” by Vincent Plush, is a vibrant, emotionally hard-hitting setting of three songs by folk singer Victor Jara, who died in the 1973 coup in Chile. It begins as an almost stereotypical Latin pop instrumental, moving to a more stylized interpretation of the songs. In the final song, Jara’s taped voice is heard, surrounded by a haunted, tense accompaniment.

The performances were uniformly secure, well-balanced and cohesive in ensemble, resonant and authoritative individually. The only oddity lay in the heavy, hissing breathing that seemed to accompany Stewart’s otherwise burnished cello work.

Martin Wesley-Smith’s “Snark-Hunting” is a sort of deconstructed nursery rhyme medley both humorous and poignant. Supported by a parody of a synthesized pop track, Moore, O’Connor, Stewart and Jarvis gave it a blithe, bravura performance.

At seven minutes, Michael Smetanin’s “Undertones” was the shortest piece on the program. Effective silences interrupt its jazzy, post-minimalist course, stunningly played by Moore, Jones on bass clarinet, and Jarvis.