Composers Workshop Review

The Composers Workshop is an event that gives current University of Iowa composition students the opportunity to have their works performed publicly. The couple of dozen people present were not enough to fill Clapp Recital Hall. In my opinion they should have picked a smaller venue because this empty space did not transmit the feelings that chamber music should. The evening started with “Rigadoo (2007),” a trio by John Griffin. This piece of program music –the story of a wandering hobo– is based on an old Irish folk song. Elements of typical twentieth century American style reminded us of Ned Rorem. The piece was predicable, yet showed interesting motive development. It was followed by “Chants of the Ocean (2007),” a duo for piano and tuba by Timothy A. Davis. I really liked the piece. It was very subtle and volatile, like a Debussy prelude. Like the first one, this was also a program piece. However, it conveyed the feeling of walking at the seashore with the sound of ships as background. The third work, “No Sleep for the Wicked (2008)” is fifth movements of a ballet by Chistropher Gainey. Conceived for violoncello solo, the performer Emmalee Hunnicutt dived into the depths of this lamento, which was based on a Lord Byron poem. I would say this one was my favorite piece. The last one, “His Branches Run Over the Wall (2007),” by David DeVasto, a current teaching assistant and Ph.D. candidate in the Music Department, was the evening’s most mature piece. More complex in structure, the piece is based on a traditional story from the Old Testament. It was an excellent composition divided in two movements. The second movement started with a promising fugue but the composer got cold feet and it lasted less than a minute. I recognize that composing a fugue is not easy – even Beethoven had difficulty with them. I left the hall after one hour of interesting new music. I can’t wait for the next time.