Shattering musical myths

There is a stigma attached to contemporary classical music — at least in the mind of the average concertgoer. A myth circulates among audiences that music written after 1900 is, by definition, unlistenable. Any recent work by a living composer needs to be swept under the rug and forgotten.

There are scores of reasons why people react so negatively to new music, but Lisa Kaplan believes that part of the problem lies in substandard performances. "The bad reputation of new music is partly because orchestras program it. At least half of the orchestra hates it, and you can tell in the performance that they're not interested in playing it. And often these pieces are very underrehearsed."

Kaplan is the pianist for the contemporary music ensemble eighth blackbird. She and her colleagues in the sextet don't see themselves on a mission to change people's perceptions of new music. They just want audiences to be exposed to something different, to get them to realize that the music of today isn't all that bad. "I think it's easier to do new music in a chamber-music context," she said.

She also believes the results are more satisfying. "We rehearse all the time. And we pick the pieces we're going to play very carefully."

Kaplan said that choosing repertoire isn't always easy. "We do a lot of compromising, but we're all unanimous about what we play. If you're not convinced of a piece, that shows, and audiences pick up on it."

Eighth blackbird returns to Utah next week, performing two concerts at the Deer Valley Music Festival. Both will be performed in the St. Mary of the Assumption Catholic Church in Park City.

On Wednesday, the group will join music director Keith Lockhart and the Utah Symphony Chamber Orchestra in David Schober's "Split Horizon." "David was a peer of ours at Oberlin and our violinist/roommate at one time," Kaplan said.

In 1999, Schober wrote "Variations" for eighth blackbird, which the group recorded on "Thirteen Ways," its first CD for Cedille Records. "We liked his music, and about the same time we were entertaining the idea of having a composer write a concerto for us. We approached David about three years ago, before we had even applied for a grant. But he started working on it right away, and in the meantime we were approved for a grant so he could finish it."

The American Composers Orchestra was interested in performing Schober's piece, and "Split Horizon" was premiered last March in Carnegie Hall. That concert was also eighth blackbird's debut in the venerable New York City venue. "It was quite a big event for us," Kaplan said.