Music Reviews : New Music Group at Japan America Theatre

The demanding program that guest conductor Oliver Knussen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group planned for Monday evening at the Japan America Theatre became more challenging Friday, when soprano soloist Lisa Saffer came down with the flu. Lost to the concert were the West Coast premieres of song cycles by Knussen and Bright Sheng.

Jeanine Thames, however, saved the West Coast premiere of Alexander Goehr’s “Behold the Sun,” a large, central, strophic aria from the opera of the same title. The young soprano has sung the part in performance with the Brooklyn Philharmonic, and flew in from New York over the weekend.

Textually and dramatically, the aria is a sustained flight of prophetic fervor and religious rapture. Musically it soars as well, in a cruelly high, almost anti-vocal tessitura. The technical demands increase with the graphic hellfire of the text, but the overwhelming impression is of an unvaryingly shrill call to repentance.

Thames seemed to cope honorably, light and penetrating in sound, accurate and articulate in delineation. One could wish for more distinction between the visions of heaven and hell, but the composer didn’t give her much to work with there.

Knussen and the New Music Group backed her solidly, with a colorful, impressionistic and virtuosic accompaniment. Perry Dreiman provided the vibraphone obbligato, shadowing Thames’ ordeal with cool flair.

There is a similar element of frenzy and equal virtuosity in Henze’s “Le Miracle de la rose,” but considerably more variety. Clarinetist Michelle Zukovsky blew through the arduous programmatic concerto with unflappable authority and apparently endless reserves of sweet, clear sound. Knussen led a fluent, crisp, interactive accompaniment.

The concert also boasted the first performance of “agrements” by David Soley, a 27-year-old composer trained at Cal State Northridge. A dense, busy set of ear-challenging variations, “agrements” maintained the evening’s standards in seriousness and most matters of craft, without memorable impact.

Knussen and company gave it the benefit of an expressive, seemingly well-defined performance. Zita Carno and Gloria Cheng offered industrious punctuation from antiphonal pianos flanking the ensemble.

Replacing the missing song cycles were two piano works by Knussen, both valuing timbrel nuance, harmonic adroitness and delicacy. Cheng played “Sonya’s Lullaby” with easy grace, and Carno proved equally deft in the recent Variations.