New works by Maneval, Levinson and DuBois

The Philadelphia composer Philip Maneval says he's developing "a musical language that captures the contemporary spirit of our time, while still incorporating classic principles of sound counterpoint and expressive melodic writing." His Second Piano Trio obviously stems from the same tradition that gave us the piano trios of Schubert, Brahms and Shostakovich, but it delivers a style all its own— starker and rougher than any of its predecessors, and more turbulent than anything Schubert and Brahms ever produced.

Maneval's trio, first performed last year in Los Angeles, opens with a blast and packs plenty of emotion and musical variety into a modest amount of time— a good practice when you're creating music for the Age of Twitter and Surf. Maneval even dispenses with the breaks between his three movements. The trio includes some striking piano effects and a haunting cello melody, but it's primarily a contribution to the great tradition of passionate, emotional piano trios.

The Philadelphia Chamber Music Society presented its Philadelphia premiere of the Maneval Trio with a threesome composed of veteran chamber performers: violinist Daniel Phillips, cellist Marcy Rosen and pianist Cynthia Raim. Two days later, Orchestra 2001 presented a program that featured world premieres by two other Philadelphia composers: Gerald Levinson and Sarah DuBois.

Competing string sections

Maneval's trio is the kind of piece that can best be described in terms of its passions and moods. Levinson's Now Your Colors Sing, on the other hand, can best be described in purely musical terms.

Levinson splits his orchestra into two halves that face each other from opposite sides of the stage. Much of the interest and tension of Now Your Colors Sing stems from the interaction of two complete string orchestras doing entirely different things at the same time.

Levinson drew some of his thematic material from natural sounds like the voices of thousands of unsynchronized crickets producing the same two-note call. The opening, with the two-note cricket call played by two offstage violins, sounds like a scratchy series of isolated fragments. But Levinson soon moves to sweet melodies and harmonies.

Dramatic but not romantic

The violinist Sarah DuBois has joined the ranks of Philadelphia performers who've turned to composing. As promised by its title, her Harmonic Divertimento creates most of its effects through harmony, and it's definitely a divertimento— a piece that's primarily supposed to entertain. But it's neither romantic nor charming, like most divertimentos. Instead it's a very dramatic piece— a diversion, in the way an exciting story is a diversion.

DuBois was asked to write a short piece for this concert, and she chose to create something light. If her longer, more serious pieces are crafted this well, we should hear more of her work in the future.

In distinguished company

Are these works masterpieces that deserve a permanent place in the repertoire? Time will make that decision. For now, it's sufficient to note that they all added depth and zest to concerts in which they shared the program with music that has survived decades of scrutiny.

Maneval's piano trio had to stand shoulder to shoulder with beautiful performances of two French classics: Debussy's moving sonata for cello and piano, written in 1915 near the end of his life, and the rhythmic, inventive piano trio Ravel composed a year earlier. Levinson and DuBois had to submit to a comparison with works by Stravinsky, Debussy and one of Debussy and Ravel's major successors, Henri Dutilleux.

The Dutilleux created a fitting coda for the entire Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts, with its focus on the French art of the early 20th Century. Mystère de l'Instant consists of ten brief "snapshots" of fleeting states of consciousness, with each snapshot bearing a title like "echoes" or "litany." Dutilleux composed it in 1989, but it glows with the sonic poetry that Debussy and Ravel spread over their music— and, like their work, it reminds us, graciously and gently, that we're surrounded by mystery and enchantment.