Setting the classics to a new rhythm

Canadian composer and data-tweaker John Oswald has been considered a maestro of rascally mixology for two decades. His “plunderphonics” involves altering and reinventing existing musical materials, from Michael Jackson and the Grateful Dead to anything else that strikes his encyclopedic fancy.

Such antics have led to controversy and cult-hero status for Oswald and incurred the wrath of the Jackson camp. Yet all these years later, with the prevalence of sampling, “plundering” is routine. Oswald was literally ahead of his time.

At REDCAT on Friday night, that semivisionary character came through in the enticing program “John Oswald & the Rascali Klepitoire” but with a less pop-oriented angle. Presented by CalArts the California Institute of the Arts and featuring the game, eager young musicians of the CalArts New Millennium Players, led by Marc Lowenstein, the evening sampled conceptual and classical-oriented pieces dating to 1976.

The results left a mixed impression. Oswald’s pop borrowings can be exhilarating as well as a commentary on the disposability, cliche-mongering and commodity-like nature of pop. But somehow, his cut-and-paste aesthetic applied to classical sources can seem very, very devilish, to quote the King of Pop. Hearing Bach casually tossed in the Cuisinart can bring out the dormant purist in you.

At best, Oswald’s avant-vaudevillian and Dadaistic approach came through in concept pieces indebted to John Cage. In “Acupuncture,” a blindfolded percussionist is led out and a chamber group is poised for, and then opts out of, action.

The program’s highlight was the 1998 multimedia work “Homonymy.” Here, a display of wordplay on a screen -- reminiscent of the experimental filmmaking of Oswald’s Canadian friend and ally Michael Snow -- worked in stunning synchronicity with the crisp note-play of a small chamber ensemble.