CalPerfs presents Mark Morris Dance Group
2014-09-27
Zellerbach Hall Auditorium
U.C. Berkeley, Bancroft Way at Telegraph Ave, Berkeley, CA
8:00 PM, Saturday, September 27, 2014

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• The Muir (music: Scottish folk songs, arr. Beethoven)
• A Wooden Tree (music: Cutler)
• Jenn and Spencer (music: Cowell)
• Festival Dance (music: Hummel)

[8:07 PM lights down, announcements]

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827): Irish and Scottish folksong arrangements

1. [8:m PM] “Ye shepherds of this pleasant vale,” WoO 156, No. 4 (1818)
2. [8:m PM] “The sweetest lad was Jamie,” Op. 108, No. 5 (1815)
3. [8:m PM] “Cease your funning,” WoO 156, No. 5 (1817)
4. [8:m PM] “Sally in our alley,” Op. 108, No. 25 (1817)
5. [8:m PM] “Could this ill world have been contriv’d,” Op. 108, No. 16 (1816)
6. [8:m PM] “What shall I do to shew how much I love her?,” WoO 152, No. 6 (1810)
7. [8:m PM] “Sunset,” Op. 108, No. 2 (1818)
8. [8:m PM] “Come fill, fill, my good fellow,” Op. 108, No. 13 (1817)
9. [8:m PM] “The lovely lass of Inverness,” Op. 108, No. 8 (1816)
   [8:29 PM, pause at end of work]

• Rita Donahue;
• Laurel Lynch;
• Dallas McMurray;
• Billy Smith;
• Noah Vinson;
• Michelle Yard.

• Angela Arnold, soprano vox;
• Wolfram Koessel: cello;
• Daniel Pickens-Jones: baritone vox;
• Yegor Shevtsov: piano;
• Jonathan Smucker: tenor vox;
• Georgy Valtchev: violin.

Music and Words by Ivor Cutler (1923–2006)

1. [8:35 PM] “Here’s a Health for Simon”
2. [8:36 PM] “Stick Out Your Chest”
3. [8:37 PM] “The Market Place”
4. [8:38 PM] “Rubber Toy”
5. [8:40 PM] “Trouble, Trouble”
6. [8:42 PM] “Little Black Buzzer”
7. [8:44 PM] “I Got No Common Sense”
8. [8:46 PM] “Deedle, Deedle, I Pass”
9. [8:47 PM] “A Wooden Tree”
10. [8:48 PM] “Phonic Poem”
11. [8:51 PM] “I’m Going in a Field”
12. [8:52 PM] “I Love You But I Don’t Know What I Mean”
13. [8:54 PM] “Beautiful Cosmos”
14. [8:55 PM] “Cockadoodledon’t” (pseudoencore)
    [set and work ends 8:57 PM; applause, bows and call backs until all off at 8:59 PM]

• Sam Black;
• Rita Donahue;
• Lesley Garrison;
• Aaron Loux;
• Dallas McMurray;
• Maile Okamura;
• Jenn Weddel;
• Michelle Yard.

[9:20 PM lights down]

Henry Cowell (1897–1965): Suite for Violin and Piano (1925)

1. [9:20 PM] Largo
2. [9:23 PM] Allegretto
3. [9:24 PM] Andante tranquillo
4. [9:27 PM] Allegro marcato
5. [9:28 PM] Andante calmato
6. [9:32 PM] Presto
   [work ends 9:33 PM]

• Sam Black;
• Jenn Weddel.

• Yegor Shevtsov: piano;
• Georgy Valtchev: violin.

Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1778–1837): Piano Trio No. 5 in E major, Op. 83 (1819)

1. [9:38 PM] Allegro— Waltz
2. [9:49 PM] Andante— March
3. [9:56 PM] Rondo— Polka
   [show ends 10:05 PM]

• Sam Black;
• Rita Donahue;
• Domingo Estrada, Jr.;
• Lauren Grant;
• Brian Lawson;
• Aaron Loux;
• Laurel Lynch;
• Dallas McMurray;
• Maile Okamura;
• Billy Smith;
• Jenn Weddel;
• Michelle Yard.

• Wolfram Koessel: cello;
• Yegor Shevtsov: piano;
• Georgy Valtchev: violin.

• Michael Chybowski: lighting design (A Wooden Tree; Jenn & Spencer; Festival Dance);
• Elizabeth Kurtzman: costume design (the Muir; A Wooden Tree);
• Mark Morris: choreographer;
• Martin Pakledinaz: costume design (Festival Dance);
• Nicole Pearce: lighting design (the Muir);
• Stephanie Sleeper: costume design (Jenn & Spencer);

After a well-packed morning and afternoon, topped by a stressful drive from Bodega back to Berkeley, we parked and race-walked over to Zellerbach, arriving just in the nick of time to catch the opening moments. Whew! I knew it was going to be tough to swing this schedule, but we made it!

My strongest recollection of the opener, the Muir is that the songs were in English. I suppose with a subtitle, Scottish Songs, this should not have been a surprise, but with Beethoven as composer, I somehow expected that this was an instrumental suite as opposed to a collection of amusing Scottish folk songs with piano trio accompaniment. The singers were quite good, and the trio also acquitted themselves admirably. Which leaves me blank thinking back to the dancing. Doh! I guess I was still too distracted from the busy day to have paid proper attention.

The second collection of dances on tonight's program, titled A Wooden Tree, after one of the accompanying songs, was altogether different from the classic opener. In the first place, the company was garbed in some sort of pseudo-pop-Edwardian costumes, as if they were circus rowdys plucked out of a psychedelic Dickensian production. Cute! Secondly, whereas the choreography of the first dances emphasized Morris' connection to modern ballet, the moves here evidenced an almost Broadway-esque quality – clap hands for Bob Fosse everyone! Now turn and shake a leg! This effect was further enhanced by the use of small props like chairs, as well as costume elements like bowler hats, suspenders and ties – the incorporation of these elements (synonym!) into the dance served to clearly divide it from the relatively pure presentation of the Muir. Finally, and most startling to me, this work relied on pre-recorded musical accompaniment, apparently from the now deceased composer and his cohorts. As hinted at by the costumes, these were English tunes from a period since past – silly, unsophisticated, and evocative of rural life in simpler, pre-industrial times. Methinks I should learn more about the composer, for both lyrically and musically, he seemed kin to me to more recent musical artists as Syd Barrett and Robert Wyatt. Very goofy. Lot's of fun to watch and listen to. Cock a doodle do!

The second half of the program opened in sharp contrast to the preceding work with a fairly astringent modern classical piece, Henry Cowell's Sonata for Violin and Piano, of 1925. Given that Cowell was experimenting with dissonance and tone-clustering techniques, this was obviously NOT going to be a bit of classic ballet, and indeed, Morris choreographed the work in ambiguous fashion, asking the dances to roll or slide or tumble along the ground as well as making the usual leaps and bounds. Interesting, inventive and strange, but not one for his list of choreographic masterpieces like _V_.

The final work on today's program, a dance realization of Hummel's Piano Trio of 1819 was stately, swirly and fun to watch. Smart to wrap things up on a strong note!

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2014 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2014 event list! ☸ On to the next event!