John Adams’ GnarlyButtons for clarinet and chamber orchestra was Present Music at its verybest. As soloist, Bill Helmers displayed why he has been a valued musician onthe contemporary scene for so many years. He played with strong, tight rhythmnecessary in this style, aggressive when called for, and tender tone in thenostalgic third movement. Four of the 10 movements for string quartet andrecording from Adams’ John’s Book of Alleged Dances were performed so well they whettedthe appetite for more.
Twenty-eight-year-old Gabriel Kahane combines thesensibilities of a popular singer-songwriter with a contemporary chamber musiccomposer. His style echoes artists from James Taylor to Rufus Wainwright. Hisart songs specifically bring to mind the work of theater composer/singer AdamGuettel, particularly Guettel’s Myths andHymns. Kahane has a captivating tenor voice, easily moving from casual,popular tone to classical singing. He is accomplished on banjo and piano asaccompaniment. His music, both popular songs and art music, is very attractive.A composer can learn techniques, but very few have the natural gift of settingwords to music. Kahane certainly has it.
His concept for the long song cycle For the Union Dead is questionable.Kahane's music promises emotion but never delivers it. Robert Lowell’s poetryrequires reflective and repeated reading for comprehension. Dense and abstractwordy poems are simply incomprehensible in art song settings, even readingalong. Before the performance Kahane made an impassioned speech about RobertGould Shaw, a white civil war colonel who fell in battle leading an all-blackregiment. The audience was then confused by six songs that had nothing to dowith that theme before a setting of the title poem.
