Contemporary music concerts keep on playing

Contemporary music concerts keep on playing

By Y. Bintang Prakarsa

JAKARTA (JP): A wave of contemporary music has been flooding
into Jakarta in recent weeks. Last month it was concerts by West
Sumatra-born Epi Martison, and a rising star from Germany, Detlev
Glanert. But it isn't over yet.

This month other exciting events will follow, beginning this
Saturday with a performance by two extraordinary women in Gedung
Kesenian Jakarta. What brings the Jakarta-based composer Trisutji
Kamal and Theresa Bogard (professor at the University of Wyoming,
United States) together?

Two things at least. First, Trisutji is one the most
productive composers in Indonesia. She composes in many different
genres, from symphonic works to piano pieces, and for the last 10
years has traveled extensively with her Trisutji Kamal Ensemble
performing her works in Europe, Africa, and Asia.

Her next concert will be in India this month. There, she will
participate with her ensemble in the World Festival of Sacred
Music in Bangalore. Bogard, on the other hand, is a promoter of
new music and an advocate of music by women composers. She has
given recitals and lectures both in the United States and
overseas. She has also recorded, on CD, the piano works of the
distinguished composer Louise Talma (1906-96).

Second, both Trisutji and Bogard are lovers of Balinese music.
During her teens Trisutji developed an interest in Balinese
culture, and when she began composing she was naturally inclined
to include Balinese elements into her music. Far from Indonesia
there is a Balinese gamelan orchestra owned by the university
where Bogard teaches. She plays in the orchestra and her love for
it brought her to Bali (starting two years ago) for further study
of the gamelan.

With members of the ensemble -- pianist Trisutji and Balinese
percussionists I Gusti Kompyang Raka and I Ketut Budiyasa --
Bogard will perform Trisutji's Gunung Agung, a choice that
perhaps symbolizes this common interest.

This composition can be traced back to 1963, when the news
about the explosion of Mt. Agung in Bali reached Trisutji in Rome
where she was studying and stirred her imagination. She finished
it much later, however, after returning to Indonesia and studying
Balinese culture.

The work -- set for two voices, two pianos, and percussion --
is divided into three "acts" based on a narrative about a newly
married couple that were killed in the catastrophe. Each act can
be performed independently in its own right, and in this concert
the musicians will play only the first piece, The Joy of Life,
that depicts a peaceful Balinese village in which the future
couple meet. Here, the versatile I Gusti Kompyang Raka and I
Ketut Budiyasa will improvise or play according to the composer's
prescribed instructions, as well as sing the Balinese songs that
are included in the first piece.

Another work by Trisutji, Halting at Arafah, will also be
performed by Bogard. It is a ten minute piece inspired by the
Wukuf, the most important ritual of Hajj pilgrimage, in which
millions of Muslims gather at the Arafah plain outside Mecca to
pray, meditate, and listen to sermons.

The composer, overwhelmed by the tranquility of the pilgrims,
imagined that they were a tremendous choir chanting the praises
of God. This work -- constructed of tone clusters variously
treated to achieve colorful effects -- is typical of her interest
in giving expression to the Islamic faith in her compositions.

The concert will feature, of course, American composers as
well. Bogard will play Sonata no. 1 by Louise Talma, Suite for
Piano Op. 13, by Robert Muczynski (b. 1929), Toccata for Piano by
Emma Lou Diemer (b. 1927), and Four by Barbara Bennett (b. 1952).

The pieces reflect the variety of approaches and techniques
taken by the composers. Diemer's Toccata, for instance, is an
agitated piece that uses, besides conventional piano techniques,
direct manipulation of the piano strings by the pianist's bare
hands. The newest composition to be performed, Four (composed in
1999), has a fascinating origin. Its four movements, representing
the composer and her three sisters, are based on their favorite
numbers, musical compositions, composers, and dates of birth.

Interested readers can call Gedung Kesenian Jakarta (3808283
or 3441892) for ticket reservation.