Festival marks composer turning 80 TERRY RILEY FESTIVAL
Riley honored in 3 concerts presented by Kronos Quartet
The list of composers who have launched careers in the Bay Area is long and distinguished, yet Terry Riley has always stood apart from the crowd. From his groundbreaking minimalist masterwork “In C” to his decades- long exploration of Indian classical music, the composer, who turned 80 on June 24, has always combined a questing musical spirit with a serene California vibe.
Friday night at the SFJazz Center, Riley was honored in the first of three concerts presented over the weekend by the Kronos Quartet. With the composer in attendance, the Terry Riley Festival opened with performances, tributes and appearances by frequent musical collaborators.
Hosted by Kronos’ first violinist, David Harrington, the results were aptly celebratory. Coming between the recent Supreme Court decision on same- sex marriage and Sunday’s Gay Pride event, Harrington noted that the concert was happening “at the epicenter of what might be the biggest party in the country.”
It certainly felt that way in Friday’s finale, an ebullient performance of “Sunrise of the Planetary Dream Collector.” The Kronos players — Harrington and John Sherba ( violins), Hank Dutt ( viola) and Sunny Yang ( cello) — launched into Riley’s vibrant, flowing 1981 score accompanied by tabla master Zakir Hussain. Partway through the performance, pipa player Wu Man walked onstage and joined in. Another woman began playing a kind of upright xylophone. A trio of stringed instrumentalists, including Riley’s son, guitarist Gyan Riley, appeared on an upper tier. Others — on saxophone, percussion, accordion, saw and electronica — popped up around the hall. Choreographer Anna Halprin got up and danced to the groove. It was an electrifying moment, an epic jam to one of Riley’s seminal works.
An earlier high point came in Kronos’ luminous performance of “One Earth, One People, One Love,” the Featuring Kronos Quartet and guest artists When: 7: 30 p. m. Sunday, featuring performance of Riley’s “Salome Dances for Peace” Where: SFJazz Center, 201 Franklin St., S. F. Tickets: $ 25-$ 65; 866- 9205299, www. sfjazz. org final movement of Riley’s 2002 “Sun Rings.” Riley’s cosmic opus melds a string quartet score with lighting, voice- overs and visual images gathered by NASA. Kronos gave it a reading of austere beauty, with Yang’s cello part sounding particularly ravishing.
The evening began with the first movement of Riley’s “The Cusp of Magic.” Harrington kept time on bass drum and shaker as Sherba, Dutt, Yang and Wu Man careened through this beguiling, Eastern- flavored 2004 score, with the springy sound of the pipa lending it a rustic, otherworldly quality. Riley’s “Taal In T” for tabla and tuned percussion followed, featuring Hussain in an articulate solo performance that finally faded away to the softest wisp of sound.
Works by other composers comprised the rest of the program. The world premiere of “Oberek for Terry Riley” by Polish composer Aleksander Kosciów introduced a whirling score reminiscent of a country dance, played with considerable verve by the members of Kronos. Pete Townshend’s “Baba O’Riley,” arranged by Jacob Garchik, likewise elicited an intense, pulsing performance by the quartet. Kronos can play anything, but what fun to hear the foursome deliver this iconic rock anthem. ( Harrington described Townshend as a Riley devotee, noting that the Who guitarist had worn out multiple copies of Riley’s “Rainbow in Curved Air.”)
Perhaps the evening’s most unusual entry was Yoko Ono’s “To Match the Sky,” a “birthday performance piece” written in Riley’s honor. It consisted of four lines of text, with instructions to improvise sounds. Beginning with “Sky with clouds floating,” Kronos keened and plucked. Rain and snow followed; on the fourth line, “Thunder and lightening” ( sic), Harrington asked the audience to contribute storm- appropriate noise. The crowd responded with gusto. Riley, seated a few rows from the stage, pounded along gleefully.