Music Reviews : Recent McGurty Works at Santa Monica

In his prefatory remarks to a concert of music by Mark McGurty on Friday, the venerable lexicographer Nicolas Slonimsky stated flatly that no music dictionary, not even his own, could adequately describe McGurty’s music. He’s probably right. But the six works by the 34-year-old Los Angeles composer heard at the Santa Monica Museum of Art did leave some strong impressions.

The premiere of McGurty’s attractive Fantasy for flute and piano revealed a melodic technique used, more or less, in most of his music. The flute line consists of small sets of notes, not necessarily close in range, rapidly and randomly repeated and then added to and melded with another set. The first set is left behind and the process continues. This technique has a way of centering a musical line, and in the case of the Fantasy gave the flute part, skillfully played by Susan Pezzone, a modal, rhapsodic, almost improvisatory quality.

In his arresting “Anatole Cycle,” a setting of 205 fragments by Mallarme on the death of the son of the poet, McGurty deliberately limited his means for dramatic effect. The baritone sings long, sustained, emotive lines over a narrow range, the speaker delivers understated, though pained, monologue, and the piano provides jagged, kaleidoscopic commentary, framing and creating the emotional context. A sigh of relief from someone in the audience was heard at its conclusion. Baritone Edward Levy, pianist Vicki Ray and speaker Anne Marie Ketchum gave it a convincing reading.

Both of the complex, gnarled piano sonatas (1985 and 1989) build frenetic momentum through quickening of activity, thickening of texture and thundering dynamics. Bryan Pezzone was the virtuosic, aggressive soloist in both.

Also heard, the thorny “Anniversary Album” for solo violin, faithfully dispatched by Cynthia McGurty, and Four Songs, a gently swaying, spacey setting of Paul Eluard poems, ably performed by soprano Deborah Mayhan and pianist Vicki Ray.