Man, machine meet memorably in ‘Elektro Akoustics’

Never underestimate the power of one, especially when a single musician is interacting with a computer. That was the lesson of a fascinating five-part program, dubbed “Elektro Akoustics: The New Tradition,” played Monday by the New York New Music Ensemble as part of the Monday Evening Concerts series at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Take Stephen Gosling in the West Coast premiere of Ezequiel Vinao’s “El Simurgh Book 1: The Conference of the Birds,” for piano and electronic sounds. Written by the Argentine composer in 1991, this evocative work is based on a 12th century mystical Persian poem whose subject is announced in the composition’s main and three section titles: “Invocation,” “The Conference Opens” and “The Birds Set Out.” Musically, the piece is a fiendishly difficult piano concerto.

After sitting silently through the first section, as swelling electronic sounds filled the hall with a sense of expectation and cresting excitement, Gosling entered with the charming diffidence of a soloist in a Mozart piano concerto -- before the musician takes command. Soon, his hands flying, Gosling was storming through Ravel-like jazz riffs, South American dance rhythms and massive chord building as electronic sounds quarreled and reasoned with him.

Similarly, Jean Kopperud spun through a virtuoso five-minute jazz-influenced solo, amplified by a prerecorded tape, in Eric Chasalow’s taut “In a Manner of Speaking,” for bass clarinet and electronic sounds. Jayn Rosenfeld adroitly shifted from flute to bass flute to piccolo in the West Coast premiere of Mathew Rosenblum’s diffuse “Under the Rainbow.”

The program was not limited to such “solo” works. Jonathan Harvey’s “Concelebration” used different rhythm and note cycles for flute, clarinet, cello, piano and percussion to generate thin and thickening textures.

David Felder’s “Partial [dist]res[s]toration,” for sextet and electronic sounds, moved from perky brightness to limpid mystery and brooding in seven brief movements.

The five-member New York ensemble, which included cellist Christopher Finckel, enlisted the help of three guests: James Baker conducted Harvey’s “Concelebration” and the Felder piece; Matthew Gold was the percussionist; and Brett Masteller designed the sound.