Sneakers, sunshine, bratwurst and beer. It’s a seemingly impossible wish list for curious college students looking for a classical concert to attend. Add not having to worry about applauding in the wrong spot to the list and you’re practically looking at a distant dream for most.
That dream came true on Sept. 1, however. Low-key environment and high-concept art converged as chamber ensemble wild Up performed “Bach-BQ,” an afternoon courtyard concert as part of their fall residency at the Hammer Museum. Along with the aforementioned sunshine and brats, the program consisted of six modern reimaginings of J.S. Bach’s historic Brandenburg concertos.
Yes, they re-composed Bach, and the results were exquisite.
For reference, Bach and his Brandenburg concertos are jewels in the canonical crown of the traditionally stodgy classical crowd, and their less progressive ranks may find tinkering with the works akin to drawing a mustache on the Mona Lisa.
Wild Up smartly doesn’t mind, however. The ensemble, expertly led by director Christopher Rountree, dared to believe a monolithic composer such as Bach could be honored not by the staunch recreation of his works, but rather by taking the conceptual thought of both the man and his stunning Brandenburg concertos and applying them to contemporary ideas of harmony, form and performance practice.
Wild Up eased the audience into reimagining Bach with the aptly titled “Transcription,” conductor Rountree’s relatively faithful vision of Brandenburg 3. They performed the work with exceptional precision and vigor, as if to state the ensemble could nail Bach’s original music as written if they felt like it ““ it was indeed the closest to the source text of any work in the program.
The rest of the afternoon was a significantly larger departure from Bach’s original scores. For example, in a nod to Bach’s historic improvisatory skills, composer and violinist Mark Menzies composed a work with aleatoric elements. Featuring trumpet player Conrad Jones inventing each note’s rhythmic value, the ensemble and Rountree placed their trust in Jones and navigated the ponderous work with a profound sense of discovery. Menzies’ harmonic language was contemporary, searching and unresolved, the perfect accompaniment to the wandering trumpet solo.
A turn on Brandenburg 6 by composer Andrew McIntosh found timbral common ground with a modern audience, including guitar, Rhodes keyboard and baritone saxophones in his orchestration. The bubbling, minimalist introduction to his first movement gave way to “Bitches Brew” type wanderings on the Rhodes, making for an adventurous and interesting sound experience.
The strongest compositions of the afternoon came immediately after intermission from Richard Valitutto. His three-movement “Razing Castles,” inspired by Brandenburg 4, was a hit with the audience and excellently executed by the ensemble. The first movement was equal parts Ornette Coleman and Charles Ives, and saw violent machinations on the first violin performed emotively and with effective aggression by violinist Andrew Tholl.
In the sprawling final movement, Valitutto created enormous sonic spaces calling to mind the more atmospheric works of John Adams, the conclusion of which elicited the largest applause of the afternoon from the Hammer crowd.
Of no small note was the concert atmosphere wild Up created. Pre-concert music took the form of kitsch electronic renditions of classical pops fare, setting the tone that wild Up would be rethinking canon from the get-go. Dress was as casual as the sunny courtyard the concert took place in, and the conductor himself visited with the audience during intermission.
While attendees did skew older (as at a traditional symphony concert), a college crowd would have been right at home at Bach-BQ. Conductor Rountree encouraged the natural reactions of the appreciative crowd, no belittling for not adhering to arbitrary decorum. Conducting with a pale ale by his feet post-intermission, one felt that the place they were in was less sacred and more safe, the absolutely perfect environment to introduce challenging new literature to a casual audience. Composers were on hand to give brief, insightful chats about their works before they were performed.
From concept to execution, the ensemble offered top-notch art music with none of the pretense. It was a fantastic afternoon in which wild Up was expertly informed by the past while taking a bold step into the future.
Email Horlings at phorlings@media.ucla.edu .