Moevs' Pro-Seminar

When he began to teach the pro-seminar in composition (Music 260) this fall, Robert Moevs wanted to see if he could help his students find some sense of coherence in a familiar style that they could transfer to a new musical style. His students found that they could even transfer the raw materials of music, sequences of notes, from one style to another, with only minor changes. Thus of the six works by the members of Moevs' pro-seminar which were performed Monday, three used themes variously derived from the beginning of the hymn "Victimae Paschali" Christ lag in Todesbanden. An unshaken sense of coherence, occasionally lapsing into flat uniformity, bound each piece tightly into a unit.

Of the three pieces derived from "Victimae Paschali," the only one interesting as more than a musical exercise was Richard Wilson's Suite for Five Players (In Five Sections). While apparently making due obeisances to the contemporary requirement of a priori organization (the sequence of timbres and textures appeared well organized, i.e., sufficiently chaotic), Wilson actually indulged in the old-fashioned technique of wit. Conducting a very competent chamber ensemble (flute, clarinet, viola, cello, percussion), Wilson produced an observable change of tempo within the very first of the five sections: an event totally unexpected in view of the leaden, unchanging tempi of the preceding work on the program. In the succeeding movements, Wilson created intimate subensembles and experimented with their sonorities; e.g., he combined tuned drums, viola pizzicato, and flute. Of the student composers on the program, Wilson alone managed to go beyond cleverness in working out details to clear action at the perceptible levels of music.

It is hard to tell whether the utter tedium of George Nugent's String Quartet, Gerald Bennett's Three Songs, and James Webster's String Quartet should be blamed on the performers or the composers. In all three works, it is clear that the composers have approached the common idiom of twentieth century music--and beneath a few musical pinnacles, there really is one--much as a snake eats a rat: by swallowing it whole and unchewed. Giving the details of the ingestion would be too painful here. Three Psalm Fragments, by Thomas Benjamin, received a spirited performance by a selected chorus under Truman Bullard; the work is constructed of such modern musical discoveries as fourths, fifths, and tritones. It ends on a triad.

One must admit that the stylistic growth which the pieces on the program represent is an impressive achievement for any one-year course in music, and that the techniques used are often helpful for creative work. But now that Mr. Moevs has succeeded in getting his students to create a sense of coherence in their works, it is unfortunate that he will not be here next year to inculcate them equally skillfully with a sense of imagination.