ART-O-MATIC
D.C. Chapter Sets Nation's Capital Awhirl

By Elizabeth Botten
Photos by Anne Rickert

(Sounding Board, March 2003) On November 16, 2002, the Washington D.C. Chapter joined forces with Art-O-Matic, a month-long, nonjuried celebration of the arts held in a former EPA office building. As part of the festival, the chapter sponsored an evening of music by area composers. The concert filled the converted office space with a diverse array of works, including performances by solo pianists, a guitar quartet, and several electro-acoustic artists and chamber groups.

Haskell Small performing the third movement of his "Symphony for Solo Piano."

Composer-pianist Haskell Small accompanied by flutist Virginia Nanzetta, clarinetist Bill Wright, and cellist Deb Mylan Brudvig, opened the evening with "12 Snippets." The title, suggested by Small's daughter, was appropriate for the 12 short, playful movements, as the entire work lasted just under three minutes. Brief thought it was, the piece charmed the audience, especially the bluesy interlude near its end.

Small also took a more serious turn performing an excerpt from his "Symphony for Solo Piano," wherein a brisk, march-like tempo contrast with a gentler response in the upper register of the piano. Small's virtuosity imbued the piano with the range and color of an orchestra.

Kristian Twombly's "Aeterna" also boasted the range and color of an orchestra, albeit an electric one. Over the course of 10 minutes, the work's sound became a tactile sensation. The piece was inspired by the writings of paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould. His theory of punctuated equilibrium informs the structure of "Aeterna," with a number of simultaneous levels of sonic evolution unfolding randomly and unpredictably against a background of metaphorical "bacterial biomass." These levels progress independently until finally combining to create a new, aural "species."

Jessica Krash gives a solo performance as part of the Art-O-Matic concert.

Composers Jessica Krash and Lucas Zarwell both chose narrative routes for the evening. Krash premiered two short works for solo piano: "Undisclosed Location" and "Mother from Another Planet." The first was inspired by Vice President Dick Cheney's move to a secure site following the attacks of September 11, while the latter found Krash musing on the often frenzied experience of motherhood. "Mother from Another Planet"'s placid melody was punctuated with a quick, jazz-inspired dance, beautifully capturing the sudden shifts from calm to chaos that are such a familiar part of parenting.

Zarwell's interior monologue, "My Fish Has Mouth Rot," featured revelations provided by a computer-generated voice. The voice offered it's comments - including "I displaced my memories with other things like organization" and "Some might say synthetic voices are a convention" - while floating over an eerie, cinematic soundscape that included bell-like tones and Zarwell's own subtle improvisations on the piano.

Edwin Cleverdon performing Jonathan Matis' Guitar Quartet.

The premier of Jonathan Matis's Guitar Quartet, for electric guitars, closed out the evening. Using brushes and other objects to stroke the strings of their instruments, the quartet produced sounds similar to the electronic works heard earlier in the program. Throughout the piece, the sounds and interplay of the guitars intensified and thickened until the tension broke, revealing a dreamlike melody realized by more conventional guitar techniques. The composer was joined in this work by guitarists Edwin Cleverdon, John Kamman, and Keith Kramer.

Art-O-Matic was organized by volunteer artists in partnership with the Cultural Development Corporation.