175 East at Hopetoun Alpha

By WILLIAM DART

For six years 175 East have been turning us on to the rush of the new in their concerts of contemporary music. Their final offering of the year turned out to be one of the very best.

There were only two offshore works this time. The brilliant Ingrid Culliford gave us Mark Yeats' Mad Canary, its piercing piccolo lines bouncing off the walls with ear-curling intensity.

Later, as something of a historical tribute, John Cage's notorious 4'33" of silence was performed by the full eight-piece, with K Rd traffic, a solitary siren and the occasional audience fidget supplying the music.

Laudably, the programme featured three fine local commissions.

Rachel Clement's feeblebeast compressed a universe of sound into its few minutes of life, with the same good-spirited humour that marked Jam, the composer's recent kidopera collaboration with Margaret Mahy.

With clicking and whooshing in the background, the bass clarinet led the ensemble for a jaunt on the jazzy side, from time to time duetting with bass trombone on a hearty, good-old-fashioned tune.

With a title from Prevert and talk of fugitivity and viscosity in its programme note, Michael Norris' dans les debris du temps looked daunting on paper, but proved less so in performance.

With a gentle sigh, the first pages led us down the ramp to a highway of thrilling sonic adventures, with some giddy-making dynamic moments. Although Norris intended that we should feel unsettled, the combined skills of composer and players ensured that we were never seriously lost.

John Rimmer's Au is a concerto written for bass clarinettist Andrew Uren, a man who can make his instrument sound like anything from didgeridoo to the coolest of saxes.

He had the chance to do just that in a work more than slightly touched by the Romantic spirit, especially in the dark, shifting harmonies of the opening and the duetting cello lines.

All three works benefited from the assured conducting of Hamish McKeich.

Once again, this was the big night for the half-dozen secondary school students who had carried off prizes in the annual KBB Competition.

Top of the list was Melissa Teh's Animation, a scurrying funky trio with some fiendish bass trombone writing that could well have put Tim Sutton's arm in a sling.

All six scores were impressive, although two made a more immediate impact. Coralie Deverell's Crisis Age doubtless had some toes tapping inside shoes with its jiving bass and duelling clarinets, while Robbie Ellis' una palabra al azar, bravely taking on a seven-piece ensemble, criss-crossed from r&b and lounge to scratchy cello cadenzas, all cohabiting snugly under a 12-bar-bluesy blanket.

If these are the composers of tomorrow, the future looks inviting.