Pamela Z Takes Song Cycle to Exploratorium

Last night Pamela Z took her Carbon Song Cycle to the Kanbar Forum at the Exploratorium. She had premiered the work in 2013, when she performed it at the Berkeley Art Music/Pacific Film Archive. The music is, indeed, a series of vocal compositions. However, unlike a “classical” song cycle, there tended to be smooth transitions from one episode to the text. Another departure from tradition is that the accompaniment is provided by a chamber ensemble.

That group consists of only four instrumentalists. Bassoonist Dana Jessen provided the only wind instrument. The string players were Charith Premawardhana on viola and Crystal Pascucci on cello. The remaining player was percussionist Mark Clifford. As usual, Z provided the vocals (the only contribution to the upper register) with electronic enhancement, much of which involved digital processing. There was considerable innovation in Z’s approach to prioritizing the lower register; but, more often than not, the instrumentalists had to struggle to be heard above the overall electronic landscape of the composition.

The performance also included video created by Christina McPhee. There were multiple projections covering much of the area in the vicinity of the stage. The program also listed “video drawing,” which suggests real-time creation of at least some of the projected images. However, the entire visual element brought little to bear on the performance of the music.

The announcement for this performance described it as “inspired by ongoing changes and upheavals in the earth’s ecosystem, and by the carbon cycle–the process through which carbon is exchanged between all terrestrial life forms and domains.” I remember from my student days when Martin Mull declared,, “Writing about music is like dancing about architecture.” One might say the same when it comes to singing about ecology. This is probably a bit unfair, since Z’s imaginative approaches to vocalization go way beyond the boundaries of vocal education at the Juilliard School. However, the overall environment that emerges over the course of Carbon Song Cycle tends to be more overwhelming in its massive electronic content (both auditory and visual) than speculative in raising ecological issues.

One cannot fault the urgent motivation behind creating Carbon Song Cycle; but, as a work created to be performed before an audience, I have my doubts as to whether one leaves the performance better informed or motivated to do something about those ecological issues.