Can you stage a symphony with three musicians? Guess so, because electric guitarist Alexander Noice did it with Dan Rosenboom (right hand holding piccolo trumpet, left hand on synth-bass) and Max Jaffe (drum kit).
Noice lists composer first in the list of the skills he has employed in his ensembles since graduating from CalArts in 2008, and all three players this night were reading, though there was a ranchworth of roaming room built in. As on other occasions, Jaffe did not cease to amaze with his constant action and dynamism, even pounding appropriately loud in the quiet parts, the sheer tornado of his sticksmanship blowing his sheet music all over the bandstand. Rosenboom divided his mind easily between low and high frequencies, his trumpet chasing Noice's lines, doubling them, calling reveille or spraying off into hailstorms of passion.
Yes, while Noice's past music has leaned toward the brainy (if intense), this symphony, continuing without pause for well over an hour, felt consistently emotional. He dug hard into his riffs and took off on heart-plotted paths that nevertheless rolled with logic and cohesion, augmenting his flights with electronic echoes and a bowing device. Sometimes he was as inspiring as a gospel preacher, sometimes as nerve-shattering as a fire alarm, sometimes as plaintive as a motherless calf. The whole thing rang very American, as if Copland had come back with a whole new set of contemporary references.
A segment or two carried on too long; well, no composition ever goes unrevised. But it was a privilege to be present for this. The wider public should get to hear it.
PHOTO BY FUZZY BORG.