Oct 6

Oct 6 Alarm Will Sound

Musicians, Performance, Things to Do in Chicago

“Springtime is upon us.

The birds celebrate her return with festive song,
and murmuring streams are softly caressed by the breezes.

Thunderstorms, those heralds of Spring, roar, casting their dark mantle over heaven,

Then they die away to silence, and the birds take up their charming songs once more.”

— Antonio Vivaldi, Sonnet Accompanying the Four Seasons (circa 1725)

The University of Chicago’s Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts reeled in a big fish this week, with the acclaimed ensemble Alarm Will Sound taking up residency in the main concert hall starting Tuesday. Tonight the residency culminated in the world premier of Land of Winter, a one-hour piece of music written by Irish composer Donnacha Dennehy. His objective: to convert the differing types of light that Dennehy experiences in his native land during each month of the year into an aural experience. The composition starts with December, proceeding forward through the calendar until it reaches November.

Those who are unfamiliar with Alarm Will Sound may wonder why this was such a big get for the Logan Center. This ensemble, comprising 20 musicians, first came into being in the mid- to late-Nineties, while its members were studying in Rochester, New York at the Eastman School of Music. As they interacted with each other, engaging in various conversations—musical and verbal—the idea emerged for an ensemble dedicated to the performance of contemporary music. Ah, contemporary music, what does that encompass? Early on, it meant works by Steve Reich, Aphex Twin and John Adams. I first discovered them when I began following Bang on a Can, a prolific collective of musicians and composers that includes Robert Black, Michael Gordon, David Lang, Lisa Moore, Julia Wolfe, and Evan Ziporyn, among others.

The music is hard to describe—It generally is more linear than efforts by Albert Ayers, Ornette Coleman, Roscoe Mitchell, Alan Silva, and other so-called Free Jazz adherents. Alarm Will Sound employs instruments traditionally associated with classical music, but no one will mistake their output for that of Brahms. At times Stravinsky or Debussy, but not Vivaldi. The ensemble exudes a hip or avant-garde mystique, bringing a punk- rock ethos to the world of classical music, but without the associated volume.

Innovative falls far short of describing the results. The group has gone so far as to record a musical podcast with composer John Adams; paid tribute to AACM member George Lewis in a composition written by Tyshawn Sorey; taken on the works of Radiohead, as filtered through Steve Reich; experimented with opera (when it performed another Dennehy work entitled The Hunger); reinterpreted the Beatles’ Revolution Number 9; and worked with Eric Hall on an album entitled Diffraction (Not Almost Equal to Refraction)—a work that presumably has something to do with light, but to me sounds like ice cracking on a frozen lake, or an iceberg calving, as played through synthesizers and other electronic contraptions.

The music establishment loves whatever Alarm Will Sound undertakes. Over the years, the ensemble has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Disney Hall, the Library of Congress, and the Warhol Museum, among countless other venues around the world. Not surprisingly, most reviewers offer high praise.

Naturally, I was excited to have the opportunity to photograph the ensemble tonight. I was horrified, however, when I first stepped into the concert hall. Music stands are always a problem for photographers, as are microphones, which often read as knives or spears piercing the backs and heads of musicians who happen to be standing in front of them. Tonight, the stage bristled with stands and mics— at least one mic for each musician, and a few thrown in for good measure. Lots of heads were pierced.

Well, that’s what happens when the performance is being recorded for release as a record album, although it is unclear whether this public performance will be supplemented by ones recorded earlier in the week when the music is finally packaged for release. But, this was a historic event, so I had to suck it up, adhering to the words of photographer Saul Leiter: ”Don’t move it; shoot through it.”

This was the most stressful performance I ever photographed. Before being allowed into the concert hall, I was required to meet with the audio engineer, Daniel Neumann. He understandably wanted proof that my camera shutter would not taint the recording. Only when he was satisfied was I allowed to photograph the event. To avoid any issues, I took my shoes off, crawled on the floor instead of walking, and left my camera case, lens hoods, and other stuff under my seat. After 15 minutes, i crept to the back of the hall, where I was much less likely to pose any problems because the mics were upfront.

And to the audience’s credit, I did not hear a single sneeze or a cough during the entire performance.

As for the music, which, after all, is why I was there—superb, as expected. As noted, composer Dennehy is enchanted by the light in his native Ireland, particularly how it changes over the course of the year. His objective was to sonically project his wonderment.

Dennehy’s concept is a rather straightforward one, but it does have historical roots. Antonio Vilvadi’s most famous work is the Four Seasons, a work that shows up in every college music appreciation course. Dennehy apparently is more precise in his delineation of time periods, preferring one-month to three-month intervals. While Vivaldi’s work may be a conceptual antecedent, stylistically what Dennehy created is worlds apart from Vivaldi’s work, at least to people unschooled in music theory.

Anyone who is familiar with Alarm Will Sound’s prior works would not be surprised with tonight’s performance. While more than one musician played at a time, the composition and performance relies on single notes or chords, with other musicians pushing against those notes, much like Olympic swimmers do when making the turn. The result is rarely discordant. As I listened, I could sense the progression.

Although a cliched comparison, the overall effect of Dennehy’s efforts had an Impressionistic bent to it. What often makes an Impressionistic painting emotionally evocative are the prominent brush strokes. Those strokes are initially what the viewer notices. The deep indentations, with the paint forming distinctive lines, swirls, and rims. But eventually the viewer pulls back, revealing the whole, the gestalt.

Dennehy constructed Land of Winter in similar fashion. At first, the listener can’t help but notice what are distinct micro elements, but as the musicians proceed through the score, the larger picture—or rather 12 pictures—emerge, creating a folio.

The result, however, is anything but abstract. Standing next to the sound board at the top of the theater, I found my thumb and index finger rubbing the fabric on the back of the aisle seat I used to support my weight. My fingers were mimicking the rhythmic swing embedded in the piece. Those rhythms propel the work forward, recreating the passage of time. The exuberant Alan Pierson served as the perfect conductor for Dennehy’s work because he is constantly in motion, frictionlessly moving the ensemble’s progression from December to November.

Alarm Will Sound and Dennehy also provided the audience with visual cues for each month by lighting the musicians with a different light scheme each time the piece reached the first of the month. I have no doubt what they did worked well for the audience as a whole, but as a photographer, some of the light was a disaster—yellow and orange in particular. That is not a criticism; it was simply a problem that I had to resolve.

As for a favorite month: Both the musicians and audience most likely would choose May. Dennehy commented in the post-performance discussion that in his experience, May offers up the widest range and most intense light of the year; it is overwhelming. To make that point, the musicians engaged in some interesting vocalizations, much like Aurora Nealand and her Instigation Orchestra did several weeks back at the Hyde Park Jazz Festival. Fortunately, tonight the musicians skipped the calisthenics and isometrics that Nealand introduced into her work.

The entire performance lasted just over an hour, although the program specifically called for 52 minutes, which makes a lot of sense given the focus on a one-year period. Afterwards, Conductor Pierson and Composer Dennehy returned to the stage for a discussion led by University of Chicago Professor Lawrence Zbikowski. While I enjoyed listening, most of the technical niceties went right over my head, for example what it means for instruments to be tempered. Next time, Zbikowski should have the performers remain on stage so that they can illustrate his points aurally to a lay audience.

Overall, this was an exciting evening. Hopefully Alarm Will Sound will return, and the University of Chicago also will book Bang on a Can and other innovative musicians who have yet to grace the Logan Center’s main stage.

I am anxiously awaiting the release of the album of this week’s performances.

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