MUSIC REVIEW : Computer Friendly Concert : Peter Terry successfully presents six of his works in a stylistically diverse show at the Fullerton Museum Center.

Unless a living composer is a superstar or at least has some renown, entire programs of his or her music often can present problems. Sometimes, the music might not be consistently good enough for an entire concert. Other times, the event could be no more than an act of vanity, none of the music particularly worth sitting through.

But in a Sunday afternoon concert at the Fullerton Museum Center, local composer Peter Terry successfully presented six of his works--all written within the last couple of years--as part of an ongoing contemporary music series, Le Nuove Musiche. Although Terry is neither widely known nor a superstar, the program served as an attractive cross-section of his stylistically diverse output, which favors computer music but also contains thoughtful, impressive non-electronic music as well.

The premiere of a revised version of Terry’s “Deus ex Machina” (1983) for clarinet and tape took center stage. Inspired by a science-fiction novel, the atonal creation combines eerie electronic crashes and bangs with an erratic clarinet part.

Revisions to the well-conceived work include an extended clarinet coda and a digitally re-mastered electronic part. Clarinetist David Nicholson gave a convincing reading, performing with a mastery of multiphonics.

A jazzy work for four instruments, “Illuminations” showed off Terry’s prodigious ability to write virtuosic melodic lines and ostinatos. Described as a tonal work, though not without its dissonances, the score centers on two-part counterpoint and quirky melodies.

The Sterling Consort--violinist Robin Lorentz, cellist Manon Robertshaw, pianist Lucia Unrau and (filling in for injured Linda Kordek) flutist Cheryl Loofbourow--presented the piece handsomely.

Four enticing works performed by the duo Electro-metamorphosis--Terry and Unrau--opened the program. Of these, two virtuosic pieces for MIDI keyboard, “A Halo of Dark Stars” and “Aria,” represented contrasting uses of the equipment: the former utilizing a single tone color with sophisticated atonal writing, and the latter forming a collage of multifarious effects and timbres.

The purely electronic “Accidental Music” parodies rock music of the 1970s with overly complex, explosive blues licks over a relentless pulse. Terry performed on a MIDI wind instrument for the provocatively ethereal “In the Shadow of Passing Angels.”