Music Reviews : New Age Greets the Winter Solstice at Royce Hall

The stage lights at Royce Hall never quite achieved full wattage at Saturday night’s concert of New Age music by Nightnoise, Liz Story and Philip Aaberg. As it turned out, the dim, cloistered atmosphere that resulted--long on whites, blacks and grays, and short on primary colors--proved oddly appropriate for a program whose theme was the winter solstice.

Wisely, the evening was scheduled to include various combinations of performers, as well as solo turns for each. An opening four-handed piano piece by Story and Aaberg started well but soon revealed the need for more precise rehearsal. A duet between flutist Brian Dunning and guitarist Micheal O Domhnail (of Nightnoise) on a Van Morrison tune was far better--a fine-blended mixture of Irish tradition and contemporary improvisation.

The Nightnoise set that followed simmered with the moody Gaelic sounds that characterize most of the group’s pieces. Low-keyed and evocative, the music’s cool, floating qualities were well-attuned to the focus on the turning of the winter season.

Story has become a more articulate player than she was several seasons ago. An attractive original piece based on a Spanish Christmas carol was highlighted by a dynamic, almost Bill Evans-like improvised section.

Both Story and Aaberg, however, had moments in which their music drifted on aimlessly Impressionistic currents of sound. It was all very pretty, but lacked substance, point and center. Aaberg hit his stride when he moved into several boisterous boogie-woogie pieces. Even here, however, the music possessed more vigor and energy than it did swing or emotional impact.

The program’s final set brought all the performers together for two Irish-sounding pieces. As with much of the evening’s music, sound triumphed over substance, and the solstice was characterized by its cool detachment rather than its potential for warm rebirth.