New West Excels With ‘China’ in an Unpromising Venue

Absolutely nothing about the program “China Alive!”--except for the names of a couple of fine young Chinese composers--by members of the New West Symphony Sunday seemed promising. The venue, the GTE California Headquarters in Thousand Oaks, is neither well marked nor inviting. Six nearby gas stations thought it in six different places (all wrong). Hidden behind a shopping mall, the phone company posts signs warning concert-goers that they are trespassing on private property.

The site itself is just an airy corporate lobby set up with chairs. And when this reviewer entered, in time to hear the second piece on the program, Chen Yi’s “Sparkle,” the conductor, Boris Brott, announced that the work had had but one hour of rehearsal that morning. For the premiere in 1992, the New Music Consort, an expert New York ensemble, had needed nine rehearsals, the composer said at intermission. A second performance of the piece required four.

There was a mishap during the performance. The first violinist lost tension on a string and had to quickly readjust it during the performance. But, in fact, the performance of “Sparkle,” a work that lives up to its name, was a delight, as was the rest of the program.

Maybe it was the inspiration of Chen and another Chinese composer on the program, Ge Gan-ru. Both of them had undergone hardship as music students in China during the Cultural Revolution and both, after emigrating to the West and studying at Columbia University, have gone on to become significant composers.

Chen, in particular, is on the verge of an important career. She recently completed a year as composer-in-residence of the Women’s Philharmonic in the Bay Area, and the orchestra, under its music director, JoAnn Falletta, has just released a riveting recording on New Albion devoted to her work. The Los Angeles Philharmonic also has commissioned a piece from her that will premiere in the Green Umbrella series next week.

The two works by Chen performed Sunday have an easy time grabbing attention. “Sparkle,” written for chamber ensemble in 1992, is 12 minutes of fireworks. It is a happy rush of trills and scales and percussive explosions, but it also explores sophisticated pitch relationships. “A Set of Chinese Folk Songs,” which concluded the program, is a less interesting but still ingratiating setting of tradition Chinese music for small chorus (the Melodica Sinica did the honors), strings and percussion.

Ge’s “Si” is a trio for violin, clarinet and piano that was written in 1990 to commemorate the first anniversary of the Tiananmen Square uprising. It is haunting music, where anguished clarinet passages are tempered by lush effects made from the piano. A beautiful snippet of melody in clarinet and violin near the end indicates enduring love for China, despite the anger. The performance by Paul Shure (violin), Gary Ginstling (clarinet) and Gloria Cheng-Cochran was strong and intense.

The program, which celebrated the Chinese New Year, is the first of Musics Alive! ‘97, a series devoted to creating bridges between Western music and that of other cultures. Stuck with the GTE edifice as one of its venues, these surely will not be easy bridges to build. But that only made Sunday’s program seem all the more an inspiration.

* The New West Symphony repeats “China Alive!” tonight at 7:30, Poinsettia Pavilion, 3451 Foothill, Ventura, $10-$15. (805) 643-8646.