MUSIC REVIEW : E.A.R. Unit Brings Fluxus Event to County Museum

Although the California E.A.R Unit has seen several changes in personnel over its nine years of existence, the original intentions remain fairly intact. At one time boasting as many as 10 members, the now seven-member group of CalArts alumni maintains a distinguished reputation by programming familiar new-music masterworks alongside pieces by lesser-known composers, as well as dabbling in absurdist theater.

Wednesday night in Leo S. Bing Theater, the group opened a new season as resident ensemble at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Fleeting but convincing parts of the evening demonstrated why it continues to be an important, vital part of the local new-music scene.

One of two recent works presented, Rand Steiger’s “In Memoriam: Paul Fromm” for cello, vibraphone and piano, presents a series of carefully wrought, compelling events, each starkly moving--from tonal simplicity to cacophonous complexity. Cellist Erika Duke, pianist Gaylord Mowrey and percussionist Amy Knoles all contributed sensitive and insightful attention to the apt performance.

In the other recent work, Hope Lee’s playfully eccentric “I, Laika” for flute, cello and piano, seemingly unsynchronized rapid passages and extended techniques blend into a quirky study on Oriental cosmology. The title, referring to a dog that died in an aerospace experiment, adds an anemic message on animal rights, though it is consistent with the melancholy, oddly engaging character of the music.

A student work by atonalist Charles Wuorinen, “Bearbeitungen uber das Glogauer Liederbuch” (1962), opened the program, displaying a routine orchestration of Renaissance pieces using flute, clarinet, violin and cello (originally double bass). The ensemble’s warm-up performance contained both infectious rhythmic elements and unintentional rough edges.

A performance referred to only as “Fluxus Manifestation” made up the entire second part of the program. To those unacquainted with artistic activity during the 1960s, the Fluxus movement was a loosely organized international collective of visual artists, composers, filmmakers, poets and others who typically combined disciplines to create theatrical events that were deliberately repetitive or tedious as well as satirical and zany.

The resulting activity fueled other important movements such as Minimalism and performance art, not to mention some of the more radical works of such major artists of the time as John Cage, Karlheinz Stockhausen and Andy Warhol.

Yet the E.A.R. Unit’s hourlong tribute, an opera of roughly 25 separate uncredited throwaway gags and short films, fell short of intended cleverness and originality, often executed only half-heartedly. These included sawing a violin in half, chomping carrots, nailing down the keys of a piano and, from one female performer, milling through the audience while removing layers of undergarments. She placed one of her many laced panties over this critic’s head; that act turned out to be a personal highlight of the event.