CONSIDERED OPINION OF THE RED {AN ORCHESTRA} CONCERT OF 8 OCTOBER 2006

John Cage: Credo in Us. John Corigliano: Fantasia on an Ostinato. Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92. (Jonathan Sheffer, cond.)

If, thanks to a fit of insomnia, you come across John Boorman's 1974 cult classic Zardoz on late-night TV, any chance of drifting back to sleep will be dispelled in short order by two alarming sights: a floating stone head that spews rifles from its mouth and Sean Connery running about in red briefs, a bandolier, and thigh-high boots. At the end of two hours, you're likely to head back to bed humming the familiar music that underpins this fascinating and sometimes infuriating film: the second movement of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony.

A few clips from Zardoz would have fit in neatly with Sunday's concert by Red {an orchestra}—an ensemble which, after all, has not been averse to adventures in multimedia. Assembling Beethoven is a concert-length exploration of the Beethoven Seventh, both in its original form and incorporated into two twentieth century works: John Cage's Credo in Us and John Corigliano's Fantasia on an Ostinato.

Truth be told, in the first case the Beethoven is introduced by conductorial fiat. Credo's instrumental forces include either a radio or a phonograph. Should you opt for the record player, you're instructed merely to use "some classic: e.g. Dvorák, Beethoven, Sibelius or Shostakovich." Conductor Jonathan Sheffer used computer-triggered digital samples instead of the crackly 78s Cage would have had in mind; and one could debate at length whether that violates the spirit of the exercise. But however one resolves such philosophical conundrums, Credo in Us is an engaging piece to hear in live performance.

It was, coincidentally, another Credo—Hélène Grimaud's CD with that title—which introduced many listeners to the second work on Red's program. In his Fantasia on an Ostinato, John Corigliano stretches and bends and massages the second-movement theme of the Beethoven Seventh, at times almost beyond recognition. The original solo-piano Fantasia is, to my mind, easier to like and ultimately more satisfying than the orchestral rethink performed by Red. Nonetheless, Sheffer's ensemble proved impressively adept at keeping Corigliano's thick instrumental textures from clotting.

The youthful orchestra seemed far less proficient when presented with the challenges of the work that inspired Sunday's program. Had this been a CD recording session, the list of retakes in the Beethoven Seventh would have been disconcertingly long. And that's too bad, because Sheffer's ideas for the piece—with the exception of his sickly-sounding third-movement trio—were basically sound.

And yet a Red concert, by its very nature, discourages focusing on such details. It's interesting to reflect that the year of Beethoven's first public performance also marked the publication of Thomas West's Guide to the Lakes—a popular guide to England's Lake District that sent travelers to precisely calculated spots from which to view the scenery. Travel, West wrote, should not be "a jumble of impressions," but "a series of properly composed and memorable tableaux." Assembling Beethoven is just such a tableau. The view's really fairly attractive—you've just got to see it from a suitable distance.

I'm Jerome Crossley for WCLV 104/9.

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