Traveling with bass in hand

Crossover is still a dirty word in many corners of classical music, where it’s viewed as a sign of dilution and possible marketing department cunning. But down-to-earth double bassist Edgar Meyer is one so-called crossover artist whose motives and results are above suspicion. Meyer habitually gives the act of crossing over a good name. He did again in recital Sunday afternoon at Caltech’s Beckman Auditorium as part of the 100th anniversary Coleman Concerts season.

Meyer, the recipient of a MacArthur “genius” fellowship in 2002, has the knack of throwing himself into whatever musical matter is at hand, whether classical or from somewhere along the Appalachian-Nashville trail. That breadth was fully in evidence Sunday, when Meyer had his longtime collaborator, the fine and flexible pianist Amy Dorfman, in tow.

If Meyer has anything to prove in terms of purely classical chops, he did so handily in the recital’s first half, which ranged from the innate lyricism of Chopin’s Nocturne “Lento con gran espressione” to the tour de force gymnastics of Fritz Kreisler’s “Tambourin chinois.” After intermission, the “other” Meyer emerged, with a set of original pieces covering a wide but organically integrated swath of influences.

In a bad news/good news story, a program change nudged out Schubert’s “Arpeggione” Sonata in favor of the first Bach cello suite, which wound up being the program’s highlight. Meyer’s approach to Bach is lucid and revealing, partly because of the added gravitas of the transcription for his lower instrument as well as because of his graceful playing. He maintained a lightness and sureness of touch and injected extra bounce and a dance factor into the final movement, with an energy we could imagine stemming from Tennessee affinities. Or maybe that sensation was the result of a listener’s border-crossing interpretation in the presence of Meyer’s unforced eclecticism.

As Meyer announced with typical dry wit, the fascinating original work he calls “Amalgamations for Solo Bass” is an evolving organism. Its title is “a shell” for changes made since its inception in 1985. As someone involved with improvisational music styles, he seems keen on the importance of adapting to fresh impulses. In the piece’s present state, the movements shift from a varied mountain-music-like theme in the first to a bluesy sort-of waltz played with jazzy pizzicato in the second. Finally, the third movement dramatically amps up the glissando -- suggesting the South Indian Carnatic style -- and builds to a whizzing, and dizzying, 16th-note flurry.

Meyer’s “Canon for Double Bass and Piano” follows the classical form, with the piano echoing the bass parts but adding material as a plot-thickening agent. Although neo-Baroque at times, the piece also slips, with uncanny ease, into the neighborhoods of blues and bluegrass.

Meyer remains a rare bird -- able to get away with such flagrant nomadism with his musicality intact.