JAVS Summer 1989

39

tempi are at the discretion of the performers.

Wells and the composer performed the Equus music. Orpheus and Eurydice: Concerto for Viola and Chamber Orchestra is really as much a display piece for chamber orchestra as it is a display piece for the viola. The soloist is certainly prominent, but this is not a virtuoso work, such as the Walton Concerto. A poem by Gene Patterson-Black, a lyric but economical re-telling of the Orpheus legend, is attached to the score. The form of the Concerto, which is in one, twenty-one minute movement, divided into six sections, corresponds to the six parts of the poem. The Concerto ends with a varied reprise of the opening, so it really has seven distinct parts. The orchestration is most successful in conveying an other-worldly and ancient Greek atmosphere ...strange, distant, surreal: chimes and orchestra bells, celesta and harp, (these are the spirit-world requisite) flute, alto flute, clarinet and bass clarinet, two horns. The violins are divided into six separate parts, violas and cellos into three parts each, and the basses into two. With the solo viola line, this chamber orchestra takes a full twenty-four staff score page! Additionally, each instrumental part (except solo viola and harp) is assigned a handbell. Probably the most obvious feature of Mr. Heller's style is his concern for vertical sonority. He is obviously more interested in harmonic beauty than many twentieth century composers. His harmony is often triadic, but altered with added dissonant notes. Sometimes it is simply polytonal. But often, a sense of tonal orientation is present, such as in the first eleven measures where in a very slow tempo, the only notes used are B natural, D-natural and C-natural. The result is a strong tonal center on B, with C as a decoration. Rhythmic quality is essentially amorphous. This is achieved through rhythmic counterpoint which is, at times, extremely dense. Sometimes this is written out and sometimes left up to the players in aleatoric sections where the pitches and rhythms are given, but the

The various sections of the work make use of one or more procedures or techniques which are the main focus of attention, and may not recur in other sections, for instance: multiple string glissandi, much pizzicato, melody in the solo viola, all handbells striking thirteen times in rhythmic unison (probably very symbolic), fairly complex rhythmic unison passages accompanied by upper and lower pedal notes in the strings, or passages of fairly extensive aleatoric procedure. There is no question that this is a beautifully crafted, highly original work of serious dimensions. To pass aesthetic judgment on the basis of a tape recording which lacks technical sophistication would be an injustice. The question of proportions does come to mind, though. Perhaps the beautiful sonorities, the unearthly tone qualities, the subtleties of rhythm would be more vivid to an "in person" listener. It's been said that Mozart was the only composer who had an unfailing sense of proportion. Music for "Equus" is a fourteen minute work written as incidental music for Peter Shaffer's expressionistic play "Equus" (1973). The play's total lack of realism, and references to ancient Greece finds us in a milieu similar to that of the Concerto, but this is a much less complex effort. It was written for a production of "Equus" at Oregon State University in 1986 and consists of four short sections, or movements: Prologue, Metalogue I, Metalogue II and Epilogue. Considering the play's psychological subject matter and altered concept of reality, the use of prepared piano, (that is a piano where certain notes are damped or muffled with rubber bands, creating an unreal piano sound) might well be justified. It's a gimmick, but maybe a good one in this context. Throughout, the texture is sparse rhythmically and this is achieved with simple, traditional note values; melody, when present, is obviously stated, and