MUSIC REVIEW : 3 Premieres in Umbrella Series

The diversity of California was the made-to-order theme of the latest Green Umbrella program Monday night at Japan America Theatre. David Alan Miller conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group in premieres by three very different composers, all with at least a remote connection to the Golden State.

The West Coast premiere of David Lang’s “Are You Experienced?” (1987) for narrator, amplified tuba and chamber orchestra with synthesizer and electric guitar proved the most ambitious undertaking. Titled after the first album of rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix, these six movements--four with texts--confuse and disorient both intentionally and unintentionally.

The listener anticipates references to Hendrix’s music, but none occur--save a short humorous episode where the amplified tuba is used to manipulate feedback from an amplifier. The text proceeds with a deadpan monologue about being on the verge of unconsciousness after a blow to the head.

Lang read his texts mixing the monotone narrative styles of William Burroughs and Laurie Anderson, but humor and shock value faded quickly, as did interest. Meanwhile, an otherwise inventive style of composition with single-note repetitions and carefully structured rhythms relentlessly pulsated and at times loudly banged.

With the exception of a wild electronic solo in the “Dance” movement, Jay Rozen’s tuba-playing went largely unnoticed. Conductor Miller’s apt attention to the score yielded an accurate, polished reading.

Another West Coast premiere, Steven Stucky’s modest “Sappho Fragments” (1982)--a setting of five short text fragments attributed to Sappho for soprano and small chamber ensemble--proceeded with conservative, carefully wrought instrumental materials. Here, Stucky used additive processes common to the Minimalist school in a way consistent with his own mainstream, atonal style.

Soprano Jennifer Trost convincingly conveyed the demanding vocal part, singing in both the original Greek and an English translation. Again, Miller led his forces admirably.

The U.S. premiere of Finlander Kaija Saariaho’s “Lichtbogen”(1985-86) for flute, electronics and chamber ensemble, demonstrated an intelligent use of microtonal passages and sonorities in a Ligeti-inspired sonic portrayal of an arctic landscape.