Romantic Times 2

Chamber music returns to Ventura County with a solid one-two wallop this weekend as Camerata Pacifica’s concert season continues. On the menu are major pieces by Brahms and Schoenberg, those titans of the 19th and 20th century, respectively.

Brahms’ String Quintet No. 2 in G major, Opus 111, is one of the grander statements in the romantic division of the chamber canon, suggesting nearly symphonic proportions for five players.

For those disinclined toward atonal writing, have no fear: The Schoenberg piece is his “Verklarte Nacht” (“Transfigured Night”), a sweeping, emotionally charged and clearly tonal piece.

It’s one of the landmark works written before his epiphany, which led him to break ties with his romantic lineage and create the revolutionary new language of 12-tone “row” music. Written in 1899, Schoenberg’s mesmerizing string-oriented tone poem is based on a Richard Dehmel poem about lovers expecting a child, pre-wedlock. It could also be viewed as one of the last-gasp statements of 19th-century Romanticism, just before its turn. Ironically, Schoenberg’s controversial 20th century revolution, the serial school of composition, has ultimately had an ambivalent impact on the music of the epoch. In the 21st century, it is his tonal writing, such as “Verklarte Nacht,” “Gurrelieder,” and--on the bridge between tonal and atonal writing--”Pierrot Lunaire,” that secure his place in the repertory.

DETAILS

Camerata Pacifica, Thursday at the Music Academy of the West, 1070 Fairway Road, Santa Barbara; Friday at Santa Barbara City College, 721 Cliff Drive, Santa Barbara; Saturday at Temple Beth Torah, 7620 Foothill Road, Ventura; and Sunday at the Civic Arts Plaza’s Forum Theater, 2000 Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks. All performances are at 8 p.m. Tickets are $25; (800) 557-BACH.

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Saxophonic Genes: The new millennium’s first big jazz show in the area--and undoubtedly one of the hottest shows of the year--has come to pass only by happenstance. Tenor saxophonist Joshua Redman, in the upper echelon of prominent, distinctive young saxophonists, was booked into UC Santa Barbara’s Campbell Hall next Tuesday as a replacement for Milt Jackson, who died last fall.

Redman will bring along a band featuring the fine young pianist Aaron Goldberg and drummer Brian Blade.

Blade, pianist Brad Mehldau--another Redman group alumnus--and bassist Larry Grenadier formed an all-star band for Redman’s latest album, “Timeless Tales (for Changing Times).”

That album, Redman’s sixth since debuting as a Warner Bros. artist in 1993, differed from his earlier projects in that he took on cover material, with a song list that veered from jazz standards to more modern pop material by the likes of Joni Mitchell, Stevie Wonder and others. Each tune was reshaped in some personal way.

Redman, on the phone from his new home in the suburbs just north of Manhattan, said, “One of the great things about that record, in terms of my own personal development as an artist, was, ironically, through working with other people’s music that I discovered some of the most personal and original aspects of my own music, both as a composer and a player. There was a certain amount of radicalism that had to go into interpreting [the standards]. If I just played ‘Summertime’ as a standard, no matter how much passion and inspiration I bring to it, to what extent is it going to be original, compared to the way Miles or [John Coltrane] or Stan Getz did it? With a tune like that, you’ve got to find something that hasn’t been found before.”

Unlike more conservative “young lions” in the jazz scene of the last decade, guided by the example of Wynton Marsalis, Redman came into the game with an abiding love for funk and pop as well as mainstream jazz concepts. Even so, he has remained in the acoustic jazz mode. “I made a conscious decision to pursue a life and a career and a love of jazz. Acoustic jazz was and is very much the thing I wanted to pursue. But it’s never that I thought I wanted to make a statement or make a choice to the exclusion of other types of music. I’ve always been open.”

Beyond the obvious strength of his playing and his general creative fiber, Redman’s unusual background carves out a charming legacy. The son of noted tenor saxist Dewey Redman, he grew up with his mother in Berkeley and headed off to Harvard to study law. But the young Redman’s passion for music, and a growing buzz about his artistry, led him into a sharp career detour.

Once locked into a career as a jazz artist, the image-making and marketing process set in, but music was always the thing. “How I was cast, my imaging--how I was portrayed, how I was perceived--none of that was ever part of my plan,” Redman said, “because my plan was never to have a record deal, even. My plan wasn’t to do interviews or other things that go along with life in public. That was never part of my plan and still isn’t part of it. That’s like icing on the cake, a nice fringe benefit.

“My plan has just been to play the music that I like and that I want to play, creatively and honestly, and to learn how to play it, quite honestly. When I moved to New York, I had done everything but be serious about music. I just want to play good music with good musicians.”

DETAILS

The Joshua Redman Quartet, 8 p.m. Tuesday at UCSB’s Campbell Hall; $14-28; 893-2080.

Josef Woodard, who writes about art and music, can be reached by e-mail at joeinfo@aol.com