Music Reviews : Lozano, Waites at Plaza de la Raza

Flutist Danilo Lozano and pianist Althea Waites offered one of the bold concerts of the “Mexico: A Work of Art” festival, in the black-box Margo Albert Theatre Sunday afternoon at Plaza de la Raza.

At first, the only hint of any adventures to come was a brief, abrasive Sonatina for Piano by Carlos Chavez, in which Waites stoically made do with a badly out-of-tune piano. Otherwise, there was a gentle Joaquin Gutierrez Heras homage to Ravel (“Sonata Simple”), a set of flighty solo flute caprices by Manuel de Elias (“To play playing”), and some cute Carlos Jimenez Mabarak vignettes (Five Pieces for Flute and Piano).

But the complexion of the music toughened a bit with Rodolfo Halffter’s appealingly quirky “Apuntes para piano,” and Lozano skillfully laid out his avant-garde credentials with a playful solo display of extended techniques in Arturo Marquez’ “Moyolhuica.”

Then came the rough stuff, “Diptico I” by Manuel Enriquez, a deranged 1969 tour de force that the composer says is his most experimental piece. No kidding, for it lurched in atonal fits and starts, throwing in every extended technique (flute key slapping, hammering and plucking the piano strings, etc.) Enriquez could think of. Yet far from being driven out of the room, people surged to the stage afterward to gawk at the weird printed score.

The program will be repeated at Loyola Marymount University Friday and at UCLA Saturday.