Music Review : Experimental Series Turns Tradition on Its Ear

Resources were spare, but concepts rich at the kickoff event of the three-concert Beyond 440 Hertz series, at the Goethe-Institut on Wednesday night. The focus of the series is experimental instruments, as well as experimental use of conventional instruments. This program proved suitably contemporary in outlook, while also being ancient or elemental in origin: music of the outer limits via primal, inner calm.

Visiting artists in the series, a collaboration between the Goethe-Institut, Villa Aurora in Pacific Palisades and CalArts, include the engaging duo of trombonist Ivo Nilsson and percussionist Jonny Axelsson, from Sweden, and German composer/instrument inventor Volker Staub.

Staub, composer in residence at Villa Aurora, designed the series. Known to divine expressive meaning from such basic sound materials as tree trunks and artfully manipulated sirens, he was on hand Wednesday as a performer--a last-minute addition--on another of his signature instruments, a steel cable stretched tautly between two walls and positioned over a bridge on an empty 55-gallon oil drum, which acted as a resonator. Staub used a cello bow on the steel string to produce whirring, shifting overtones, while Nilsson exercised circular breathing and didgeridoo-like textural drones on his trombone and Axelsson meted out rhythmic energies on another metal drum, but this time a smaller one, fitted with a musical drum head. Tradition was creatively distorted and reformed.

“TVA for a Duo,” by Axelsson and Nilsson, involves spare interactions between the two players, who stand on either side of the stage. That leaves center stage empty, and the score also allows for ample emptiness, breathing space, silences that coat the various instrumental gestures and recall the mystical poise of Morton Feldman’s music.

Opening Wednesday’s program was a long set by the Los Angeles-based trio aptly called Many Axes (as in instruments). At the center of this group is Susan Rawcliffe, who has been exploring Mesoamerican culture while creating her own fantastical flutes, ocarinas and other wind instruments for past 25 years. In this largely improvisational, folk tradition-inspired group, Rawcliffe is joined by Scott Wilkinson and percussionist Brad Dutz, trading off on a wide array of instruments, many of Rawcliffe’s own creation. The music is in stark contrast to the cool, cerebral sound of the other players; Many Axes effectively evokes the sounds of nature as well as indigenous cultures.

Staub and the Axelsson & Nilsson Duo will be joined in later performances by Angeleno instrument inventor Kraig Grady (today), and electroacoustic specialist David Poyourow (Sunday).

* Beyond 440 Hertz, today, 7:30 p.m., Villa Aurora, 520 Paseo Miramar, Pacific Palisades, free, reservations required, (310) 454-4231, and Sunday, 2 p.m., CalArts, 24700 McBean Parkway, Valencia, free, (661) 253-7817.