1+1: Maley Performs Bach and Glass

Artwork by Kelly Schultz

Pianist Rachel Elizabeth Maley presented a 60-minute recital of works by Philip Glass and J.S. Bach to raise funds for three local human services charities Sunday at St. Patrick's Church of St. Charles. Conceived as a program exploring compositional parallels, to us it was realized as a program of intersections, or incongruities.

St. Patrick's is a light, spacious and beautiful building whose muted earth tone interior is decorated with stark contrasts. A few human likenesses are surrounded by overwhelming patterns of rigidly ordered geometric forms. In the stained glass windows, the human figures are intersected by shapes with dark, heavy boundaries. We leave the interpretation to you.

In the midst of these visual tessellations, Maley explored the non-melodic motifs of Bach in a slow movement from the Italian Concerto (1735), Partita No. 1 (1726) and Toccata in E minor (1706). As a master of counterpoint, Bach displayed an astonishing talent for building large scale works out of small materials: he could use a single four-note sequence to produce many bars of music by inverting, transposing, multiplying or subdividing it.

This is the parallel with Glass, whose Études 2, 3, 6, 12, 20 (written between 1992 and 2012) also demonstrate composition based on, as he puts it, "repetitive musical structures." Using a pair of alternating notes like blades of grass, his works are more like textural landscapes than melodic tableaux — colored and shaded, but abstract rather than descriptive.

Maley has combined these composers before, and the extent of her understanding was evident as she shifted easily from Bach to Glass twice without pausing. Working from a digital tablet, she "turned pages" by tapping a pedal, and executed 300 years of keyboard technique with the touch sensitivity of a pianist and the left-hand skill of an organist, varying her volume of sound independently from a volume of notes so massive they had to be performed by remembering rather than by reading.

And instead of a mere exhibition of the music, this recital was an art performance in which Maley herself was the meaningful gesture against the repetitive musical structures of thousands of dots and lines. Swaying fluidly from phrase to phrase, tensing and relaxing, leaning forward, cracking a smile — her performance was beautifully imperfect and essentially human. It's an intersection of form and gesture she gravitates to in her own work, and in the images she paired with this event.

And if you knew her, you might say it's the kind of incongruity she works with every day.

Maley Envisions Bach's Goldberg Variations

Despite the frigid temperatures Friday night, music and art lovers packed themselves into the main gallery of Side Street Studio Arts, which is quickly becoming the primary downtown Elgin venue for chamber music performance.

They came to hear J.S. Bach's 32-part Goldberg Variations (c. 1740) performed by artist-in-residence Rachel Elizabeth Maley, in conjunction with an exhibit of her visual art that was inspired by the music.

Groupings of four small, float-framed paintings echoed the orderly mathematical subdivision of the music. Each element was related in scale, tone and color, but fully developed and individually recognizable after a thoughtful observation.

On an opposite wall, an unframed drawing emphasized unity over individuality, composed of proportionate geometric forms decorated by the counterpoint of a wandering line. The effect was Bach-like: more about the harmony of a structure than the melody of a story.

Pairing abstractions with the human touch of pencil is always beautiful, and the suggestion of architectural sketches of stained glass designs was not lost on those of us from the Prairie.

The concert opened with Wichita Vortex Sutra (1988) by Philip Glass, a piano piece composed to accompany the reading of Allen Ginsberg's 1966 anti-war poem of the same name. Wearing fingerless gloves, Maley's fine rendition of the piece reminded us of the repetitive rhythmic and tonal structures that serve as Glass's characteristic compositional material. 

Some musical detail was acoustically blurred for listeners seated in the back of the room, an unusual placement made necessary by the sheer size of the audience. Some might suggest the Glass could have fared better here with the soft pedal down.

Legend has it that Bach wrote the Variations as an exercise for Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, a young harpsichordist who traveled with an ambassador prone to insomnia. The suite was supposedly used as a repertoire of soothing diversions for sleepless nights.

Reading the score from a digital tablet, Maley worked her way through the nearly eighty minutes of continuous music, subtly differentiating each piece with tempo and affect, and deftly negotiating difficult crossing passages that were originally played on an instrument with two separate keyboards.

The dim light and salon-like atmosphere effectively recreated variations of the scene from 275 years ago, as some listeners experienced closed-eye serenity, while others anxiously counted the passing minutes.

This well-conceived program was a highly successful culmination of creative efforts by Maley, and another milestone for Side Street, whose tireless support of local artists is helping transform downtown culture.

EYSO Faculty Recital Benefits Scholarship Fund

Switching roles from teacher to concert performer, more than a dozen accomplished area musicians shared their gifts with an audience of students and parents in a free concert Sunday at Elgin Community College. 

The seven-part program featured performances by the conductors, teachers, and administrators of the Elgin Youth Symphony Orchestra's numerous ensembles, leaving no doubt as to the passion and depth of talent that sustains a professional musician.

Members of EYSO faculty perform "Septet, op. 65" by Camille Saint-Saëns

The tradition of the great masters was honored in classics by Bach and Saint-Saëns, alongside works by living composers scored for surprising combinations like cello and soprano voice. Four pieces were brilliantly arranged by the faculty themselves, as though to convince students that music is a living art requiring personal involvement far beyond playing back the notes printed on a page.

Events like these also offer a chance for EYSO faculty to demonstrate that music encompasses more than just strings, woodwinds and brass. The marimba, berimbau and electric guitar were played to superb effect, and the electric viola and bowed vibraphone highlighted the possibilities of unconventional playing techniques.

At the hands of an artist, electronic effects are a natural extension for traditional instruments, and jazz, television scores, and world music are all part of an equal-opportunity medium of expression that all people understand.

Karen Archbold, soprano and Timothy Archbold, cello
perform "Songs of the Night Wind" by Gwyneth Walker.

With all due respect to your neighbor lady with the dusty, old piano method books, these inspired faculty are living examples of what a devoted music career looks like, with its endless variety of challenges for the head, hands, and heart.

Students and their parents who are seriously considering higher education in music have no better place to explore and to prepare than in the programs of the EYSO. Voluntary donations raised at this concert will support scholarships for qualified students, but the EYSO welcomes your support in many forms.  For more information, visit www.eyso.org.

Elgin Chamber Players' Lively Debut

An innovative concert program and great performances marked the arrival of a new chamber music ensemble to the Elgin arts scene. The Elgin Chamber Players, led by bass trombonist Mark Fry, presented their first formal concert in Gail Borden Library's Community Room Thursday. The free event also featured flutists Scott Metlicka and Lily Floeter (substituting for Melissa Snoza), and percussionists Matthew Coley and Lia DeRoin, all from Elgin or the surrounding area. 

Recognizing the need for more local chamber music -- concert works performed by small groups of various instruments -- the Players developed a program of rarely heard compositions played by unusual combinations of instruments. 

The attention-grabbing "100 Bars for Tom Everett" by Romanian composer Andras Szollosy paired bass trombone with bongos in a 1981 piece named after the best known master of the instrument. Informative remarks by Fry set an engaging, informal tone for the remainder of the concert.

The combination of hammered dulcimer played by Coley, with Metlicka on flute, lent a baroque quality to four "2-part Inventions" by J.S. Bach, whose counterpoint, normally played solo on a keyboard, is perhaps even more beautifully rendered by the interplay of two expressive musicians.

Diversions was an early (1960) piece by modern American composer Philip Glass, scored for two flutes (Metlicka and Floeter) and bass trombone (Fry). Its fluid, pastel chord changes were deftly shaped and intoned by the trio, despite the late addition of Floeter to the ensemble.

Houston composer and scholar Aubrey Tucker's Four Cantigas (1992), a set of four movements inspired by an ancient Spanish song style, served as the memorable finale. Led alternately by flute/piccolo (Metlicka) and bass trombone (Fry), each cantiga began in poetic free from, and evolved into metrical dance-like rhythms, showcasing the skills of percussionists DeRoin and Coley. 

The surprisingly lively sound of the room brought out every nuance of technique of the artists, whose impressive range of dynamics and tone sounded full, balanced and fresh. We welcome this superb addition to the Elgin area music scene, and look forward to more concerts of such good design and quality.

Area Artists Perform World Premier at Tribute Concert

Capping off another magnificent weekend for the arts in Elgin was a spectacular concert of soloists and a world premiere performance of original music in a program dedicated to the life of Nancy Hillquist, an Elgin mother, nurse and ECC educator who bravely fought cancer until September 2009. 

The audience in Epworth United Methodist church was nearing capacity Sunday as harpist Theodora Barclay played works by Rota and Saint-Saens. The angelic sounds of a solo harp are a rare pleasure, and Barclay's graceful and expressive renditions were a perfect prelude to the concert of remembrance that followed.

Concert organizer and noted Elgin choral conductor and organist Gary Hillquist commissioned an original anthem in honor of his wife Nancy, scored for choir, organ, harp, flute, brass quartet and percussion. The world premiere of "Great Our Joy," with original music by Joel Raney and words by Fred Pratt Green was performed by a superb ensemble: the Heartland Voices directed by Dr. John Slawson, harpist Theodora Barclay, flautist Diane Hansen, organist Aram Basmadjian and the five-piece Brilliant Brass.  

The sacred and inspiring lyrics were given a glorious setting by Raney in a perfect blend of traditional choral harmony and counterpoint, and a free modern form that used changes in key and voicing to create a sense of deep spiritual truth combined with constant, joyous renewal. 

The majority of the program featured the charismatic organ virtuoso Aram Basmadjian in series of works spanning three centuries. A former airline pilot, and now music executive and recording artist, Basmadjian produced an astonishing volume and variety of sounds on Epworth's three-manual Allen organ. Awed by his talent and delighted by his engaging and witty remarks before each piece, the audience was treated to an encore performance of Bach after giving a long standing ovation.

For more information on the artists, or to donate to the Community Crisis Center in honor of Nancy Hillquist, visit tributetonancy.wordpress.com.