ON the Beat | Where the Wild and Spiritualized Things Are
Academy Update
Alas, the end is in sightfor the sublime summertime bounty offered Santa Barbara by the Music Academy of the West (MAW), ending its eight-week run with the epic sweep of Mahler’s Symphony No. 6 “Tragic,” filling the evening and the Granada this Saturday night. Respected Finnish maestro Hannu Lintu wields the baton with the ever-satisfying orchestral charges of the Academy Festival Orchestra, which has previously thrilled us in such season highlights as last week’s stunning reading of John Adams’ Violin Concerto (with violinist Leila Josefowicz and conductor David Robertson) and a crackling fine take on Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring in late June.
The timing is a bit odd, given the final concert’s competition with the revelries of Fiesta this weekend. On the other hand, this may be the ripest choice of a Saturday night diversion, of the serious musical kind, for the Fiesta-avoidant crowd.
Among the many branches of MAW’s festival this year, its opera/voice component lived up to its sturdy reputation. Operatically, trusty old Carmen got her second run in town in less than a year, with a rapturously sung, lean, and contemporary staging at the Granada, where Opera Santa Barbara opened its season last October with a more traditionally dressed Carmen.
The Music Academy’s opera component took a refreshing left turn into lesser-known territory last Thursday night at Hahn Hall, where a sold-out house took in the eccentric delight of Ravel’s one-act opera L’Enfant de Sortileges. Despite the child-like whimsy and innocence of its Where the Wild Things Are–ish and Goodnight Moon–y set, Ravel’s mischievous and musically tart piece — with libretto by the French author known as Colette (who later wrote Gigi) — goes into some dark-toned and decidedly surreal places. Come to think of it, the Sendak-ian rambunctious child model relates directly to Ravel’s romp.
For this small, delicious plate of opera production, Mary Birnbaum directed a large ensemble of colorfully and largely animalistic — and nimbly talented — voice fellows, with a special kudos deserved by Mariam Mouawad as “L’enfant.”
A quartet (Ann Kuo, flute; Emma Fisher, cello; Eric Head, piano; and Tony Stauffer, piano) supplied the ripe instrumental accompaniment in an altogether enjoyable naughty-turning-nice operatic outing.
Sacred Space is the Place
They had me at the power words “experimental” and “organ.” Hearing about last Sunday evening’s “Compline” performance in the inspiring chapel of Trinity Episcopal Church, in which the church’s gifted organist Thomas Joyce would join Andrew Elia on synthesizers in a fluid tapestry of music both scored and improvised, I knew this could be a must-see/hear/bask in. In fact, it was something special — and a too-rare case of an adventurous and category-busting musical program in town.
The occasional series of sessions under the title “Compline,” referring to evening prayer liturgy, found its magical form in the dim-lit sanctuary, where listeners were invited to sit or lay down on pews and join forces with the meditative sound-space relationship at hand. To open and close the seamless hour-long event and at other points, Joyce and Elia improvised over drone tones or created iridescent chords, overtones glistening in the reverberant “room.”
But the “meditative” aspect was hardly pallid or, well, woo woo: Joyce called on a variety of engaging and ear-challenging organ works, from the French likes of the great Olivier Messiaen, Maurice Duruflé, and Nadia Boulanger to African-Americans Florence Price and Calvin Hampton (whose music Joyce had played as a prelude during that morning’s service).
Another element of intrigue here was the program’s cross-historical, cross-talk and integration of instrumental sources. The ancient and profoundly acoustic pipe organ, which involves the structural housing and often spacious church settings as part of its sound palette, contrasts with the digital synthesizers, which have evolved into evermore sophisticated means of producing new sounds and reproducing known sounds via sampling. They got along well, if not always famously (says the avid pipe organ fan).
A few antiquated synth sounds and effects slipped into the mix, triggering another thought. Ironically, the pipe organ’s deep roots go back far enough to earn the instrument its badge as a “timeless” musical tool, less subject to the speedy obsolescence factor of the constantly evolving state of the electronic music art. But never mind the sonic fashion quibbles. This was a unique and special event and experience, in spiritual collusion with one of Santa Barbara’s most sacred spaces, with the city’s most treasured pipe organ eloquently put through fresh paces.
More, please. Speaking of more: the next “Compline” event is on Sunday, September 8, 7-8 p.m.
TO-DOINGS:
Love it, hate it, entertain ambivalent feelings about it, exclaim “Viva la Fiesta!” or mutter “Viva la fiasco,” but Old Spanish Days will not be ignored. The now century-old summer tradition in Santa Barbara kicks up heels and dust and horse dung in public this weekend, and sinking into the celebratory swim of it all can be a cathartic mid-summer escape scenario in our own hometown. Monday, we think about what it all means.
Enjoy Friday’s beachfront parade at noon and Saturday morning’s children’s parade, the food, music, and regalia Mercados (De la Guerra Plaza and the eastside treasure that is Our Lady of Guadalupe Mercado) and consider checking out the nationally respected Mariachi Festival Saturday at the Bowl (see story here).
Yes, it is also important to consider the dubious underbelly of an event which so shamelessly hails Spanish conquistadores, land grants, and Mission system abuses while shirking due respects to the exploited and enslaved Chumash and the Mexican cultural lineages of the area.
But for a weekend: Viva la (insert your preferred noun here)!
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