Beats and Beatings

sfSoundGroup: sfSoundSeries @ ODC Dance Commons, Studio B, San Francisco, CA
Sunday, July 19, 2009

Fondamenta (1998) by Olga Neuwirth

ma++ ingalls: bass clarinet
John Ingle: tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone
Monica Scott: cello

n+1 (2009) by ma++ ingalls

ma++ ingalls: clarinet, bass clarinet
John Ingle: alto saxophone
Alexa Beattie: viola
Monica Scott: cello
Christopher Jones: piano

Lied (2008) by Hans Thomalla

John Ingle: tenor saxophone
Kjell Nordeson: vibraphone
Chirstopher Jones: piano

Improvisation (2009) by sfSoundGroup

ma++ ingalls: clarinet
John Ingle: alto saxophone, baritone saxophone
Alexa Beattie: viola
Monica Scott: cello
Christopher Jones: piano

Q (1996) by Alvin Lucier

ma++ ingalls: clarinet
Jen Baker: trombone
Alexa Beattie: violin
Monica Scott: cello
Richard Worn: doublebass

All Set (1957) by Milton Babbitt

ma++ ingalls: alto saxophone
John Ingle: tenor saxophone
Tom Dambly: trumpet
Jen Baker: trombone
Richard Worn: doublebass
Hadley McCarroll: piano
Loren Mach: vibraphone
Kjell Nordeson: percussion
Chirsopher Jones: conductor

The first half of this concert featured a music working through a language of harmonic beating, rhythmic hocket patterns tossed between instruments and a restless shifting through textural territories - even the more obsessive, process heavy constructions of ma++ ingalls would shift on a dime. Olga Neuwirth's Fondamenta was a particularly stunning example of this as the sequence of ideas held seamlessly in place through a gentle prism of psycho acoustic phenomena.

The second half featured a work singularly focused upon the rhythmic and harmonic qualities of beating with Alvin Lucier's fantastic Q for ensemble and sine tone generator. The sine tones playing a steady major second that the ensemble played against, adjusting to the minute range of tight frequencies that produce the phenomenon of beats between slightly detuned pitches as they go in and out of phase with one another. The result was a beautiful, droning wash of sound that opens the ears to the physics of sound.

The final work, All Set by Milton Babbitt is a piece that gives the performers a beating of a different sort as they navigate the wickedly difficult score. The interpretive angles of this performance taking on a particular interest as one who played this piece with Mobtown Modern back in December. The brush work on the drum kit made for a nice texture and I was struck by the sense of teetering on the brink of being utterly lost and out of control I recognize from rehearsing this piece. I thoroughly enjoyed watching other performers sweat bullets through what is a remarkably endearing work of swinging pointillism.