An Evening of Contrasts and Innovation

SAN DIEGO — Kate Hatmaker, co-founder and director of Art of Elan, gave an enthusiastic welcome to the full house at an unusual concert by living composers from various corners of the world. The program was entitled, DEFINING HOME.

This concert took place Sunday evening, April 23, in the basement space of the newly renovated Mingei Museum in Balboa Park.

With compositions by Iranian-born composer, Reza Vali, Taiwanese composer, Shih-Hui Chen and our local SDSU Music Faculty composer, Yale Strom, it provided an evening of contrasts and innovation. Each composer had been born elsewhere than where they now lived.

The opening work, two movements from “Folk Songs Set No. 11B” by Reza Vali, Iranian-born composer, were beautifully rendered by the Hausmann Quartet, Quartet-In-Residence at SDSU. In the opening Largo, the strings entered one by one in sustained lines with the cello finally rising in a declamatory melody, The middle eastern scale pattern and Persian polyphony included micro tones. The second movement, “Molto Allegro,” was an unbridled dance with syncopated rhythms and percussive sounds, hitting the bodies of the instruments and utilizing pizzicatos.

Solo violinist Pei-Chun Tsai, a native of Taiwan and a Juilliard graduate, performed “Returning Souls: Four Short Pieces on Three Formosan Amis Legends.” This San Diego premiere was by the Taiwanese woman composer, Shih-Hui Chen, who now lives and works in the United States.

Solo violinist Pei-Chun Tsai, a native of Taiwan and a Juilliard graduate, performed “Returning Souls: Four Short Pieces on Three Formosan Amis Legends.” This San Diego premiere was by the Taiwanese woman composer, Shih-Hui Chen, who now lives and works in the United States.

The first movement, “Introduction: Sun: The Glowing Maiden,” was lyrical. “Legend I: The Great Flood: The Descending Shaman” began with a fast section, then plucking strings while playing legato passages with the bow. “Legend II: Head Hunting, the Ascending Stars” was characterized by glissandos, a jazzy feel and foot stomping while playing. “Legend III: The Glowing Maiden; Returning Souls,” ended with lyrical harmonic notes and pizzicatos of high pitches.

Pei-Chun Tsai, now a member of the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, performed these pieces with suavity and grace.

The last composer represented on the program was Yale Strom, klezmer violinist, author, filmmaker and composer. “Dju Tongo” was written for violin and cello and was performed by Isaac Allen, first violinist and Alex Greenbaum, cellist of the Hausmann Quartet. Several light tunes were strung together, most, with the cello providing the tango rhythm, the fourth, with the cello in a Jewish sounding melody. Opening themes returned at the end in different guises. It was a light-hearted, engaging piece with echoes of Piazzolla, the South American tango composer.

The final work on the program was “Detroit,” the birthplace of Yale Strom. It was in three movements and this was its world premiere. It was scored for violin solo and string quartet. Sara Caswell, renowned classical and jazz violinist, was the soloist with the Hausmann Quartet. The first movement, “Anishinaabe,” named after the Native American tribe in the Ohio Valley near the Canadian border, utilized the pentatonic scale. The second movement, Hastings Street, opened with pizzicato passages reflecting the hustle and bustle of this Jewish neighborhood street, with Jews of many stripes, Misnagdim, Chassidim, Hashomer Hatzair members, religious Zionists and Arbeiter Ring Socialists. Later, a more Eastern European Jewish melody was introduced. The final movement, “Black Bottom,” with jazzy riffs and syncopated beat, reflected Detroit’s African-American neighborhoods. Strom wrote a challenging virtuoso part for the solo violinist, which Caswell carried off with great esprit.

Although this was all new music to the audience, it kept the listeners enthralled. Hatmaker and Art of Elan is to be congratulated for putting together such an interesting and varied program.