Music and Dance Reviews : Green Umbrella Honors Messiaen and Carter

Olivier Messiaen and Elliott Carter, two of the avant-garde’s most prominent composers, will become octogenarians this weekend. The New Music Group of the Los Angeles Philharmonic celebrated the occasions Monday night at the Japan America Theatre, as part of a Green Umbrella program of birthday offerings.

Oliver Knussen, 36, the Glasgow-born composer who began conducting professionally at 15, alertly led the ensemble in weighty music. Virtuosic intricacies were impressively mastered, but easier passages were occasionally given less attention.

Though the most prodigious of the undertakings, “A Mirror on Which to Dwell” (1976) proved to be one of Carter’s more sparse, pleasantly understated compositions. A setting for soprano and small chamber ensemble of six brooding poems by Elizabeth Bishop, it is an expertly developed collage of picturesque images, rapid, dissonant melodic passages, manic repeated notes and tremolos.

Lisa Saffer glided adeptly over the wide-ranging, difficult vocal part. Although bringing out the drama of the texts proved more of a chore for her than it should have been, Saffer’s strong voice carried the music with consistent clarity.

The prominent oboe/English horn part showcased the impressive talents of Barbara Winters, especially during the “Sandpiper” song. Knussen contributed a steady, sometimes stiff, pulse.

The U.S. premiere of Messiaen’s “Petites Esquisses d’Oiseaux” (1985), revealed a collection of virtuosic, ornithic melodies contrasted with slower chordal sections. Pianist Zita Carno displayed technical authority, although the pianistic chirps and tweets were delivered with more reverence than eccentricity.

Other birthday tributes for the evening included a lively, dramatic performance of the familiar “Chain I” (1983) for chamber orchestra by Witold Lutoslawski, who turned 75 this year.

Knussen’s “Coursing,” heard in its West Coast premiere, was originally written for Carter’s 70th birthday. A frenetic jumble of neo-Romantic melodic fragments for chamber orchestra, it started off with a unison melody that bounced and tilted erratically enough to throw off some of the players.

Stravinsky’s serial Septet, composed here in 1953, seemed out-of-place on this program, but Knussen explained from the stage that he scheduled it as an effort to bring local endeavors to light. Leaving his baton backstage, he conducted with laudable verve, although awkwardness often marred the performance