Some readers may recall that, this past September, the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players (SFCMP), led by Artistic Director Eric Dudley, presented a showcase of three beneficiaries of the ARTZenter Institute's Emerging Composer Grant Program. The format could not have been informative. Each composition would be played by the SFCMP musicians, after which Dudley would engage the composer in a conversation about the motives behind the music. With that new frame of reference, the music was performed a second time.
Last night saw the second showcase, with music performed again by SFCMP in Herbst Theatre. This time, however, there were six compositions on the program, meaning that verbal discussion was kept to a bare minimum and listening twice was out of the question. The difference could not have been more disconcerting. The listening experience boiled down to “one damned thing after another;” and I found myself scribbling “too long” (not to mention “too much, too long”) in my program book. Even with an intermission break, there was just too much for even the most sympathetic listener to digest the music, let alone reflect on it.
Under such circumstances, I feel it would be unfair to provide the reader with a laundry list of the names of the composers. It would be better for each of them to be “rediscovered” in a setting more conducive to fully attentive listening without any negative impressions left over from the “first contact.” Indeed, a few of the participants have already been presenting their work to audiences under more favorable conditions. Mind you, the ARTZenter Institute deserves praise for launching their Grant Program, based on a fund created by Tony Magee (founder of Lagunitas Brewing Company); but those good intentions deserve a channel that encourages listeners, as well as composers and performers.
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