With ‘light years,’ newEar Contemporary Chamber Ensemble presents challenge, virtuosity and contemplation

Wood is grown with water and light, shaped by moisture and heat, refined by blade and sand. We, too, are formed by experience and challenge, our physical veneer refined to reflect our spiritual grain. Trust newEar Contemporary Chamber Ensemble to provide both experience and challenge, refining our artistic sense.

With “Impressions in Wood: Music for Strings and Winds,” newEar presented a virtuosic program at Central United Methodist Church Saturday night, featuring the world premiere of Scott Unrein’s “light years.”

The concert started with Toru Takemitsu’s “Rocking Mirror Daybreak” for two violins, performed by Véronique Mathieu and Man Wang in a convincing duo. This piece gave a startling image of a winter forest, the stark and quiet creaking of a leafless grove indicated through the independent voices, dark tone and complex lines.

Shulamit Ran’s “For an Actor: Monologue for Clarinet” was staged at the top tier of the church’s dais, emphasizing the piece’s dramatic influence. Clarinetist Trevor Stewart’s simply paced introduction soon revealed an impassioned, yet dignified performance, the character’s distress evident in the work’s technical challenges of trills, flutter tonguing and multiphonics, these intricate passages demonstrated by this agile musician.

Oliver Knussen’s “Trumpets” is based on Georg Traki’s poem, which disrupts images of peaceful activity with blaring, almost violent interruptions. Using a trio of clarinets (Sharra Wagner, Stanislav Golovin, Trevor Stewart) and soprano voice (Liz Pearse), Knussen challenged the clarinets’ near human sound in a fluttering, chaotic display of energies colliding at high speed and high volume with impressive ability, the voice melded to these timbres until Pearse unleashed a final clarion assertion.

Violinist Mathieu performed Pierre Boulez’ “Anthémes 1” atop the dais, highlighting the work’s expressed inner tensions. In this meticulous and aggressive work, pointed, rapid pizzicato contrasted with soft harmonic slides, the last pluck finalizing, yet refuting, the intensity of the piece.

For Unrein’s “light years,” an atmosphere of gradual expansion and fade examined the vitality and decay of resonance. A simple repetitive figure on piano (Michael Kirkendoll) was rich, stately, supported by a lingering, singing tone from the cello (Esther Seitz), while gentle mallet strokes responded (percussion, Sean Sweeden). The hidden entrance of the mandolin (Megan Illidge) completed the texture, though that unique timbre was subdued and difficult to discern. The strike of crotales was like a sudden glint off a shimmering surface. In this performance, they darkened the space, subverting the visual aspect to encourage an encompassing, an ultimately rewarding, aural experience.

This story was originally published November 20, 2016 at 7:45 AM with the headline "With ‘light years,’ newEar Contemporary Chamber Ensemble presents challenge, virtuosity and contemplation."