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lumen - reviews
for trumpet, assistants, four percussionists, and live electronic sound (2005) -----------------------------------------------------------
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Francisco Classical Voice – January 13, 2005 By Mark Alburger Sharing a program with John Cage, Anton Webern, and Anthony Braxton would be daunting enough to some; being the finale would be scarier still. But David Bithell, in the premiere of his Lumen (2004), proved himself more than up to all tasks. It was the most entertaining work of an excellent sfSoundsSeries concert at San Francisco's ODC Theater last Monday. Bithell is a consummate composer-trumpeter whose imagination and humor never ceased to astonish in this three-movement music-theatre piece. In "Lumen Prelude," white-gloved vaudevillesque hands grabbed at the sides of two white screens in rhythm to an electronic score rich in drums and bells. A mock altar of two "ring for service" bells and a shrouded middle element appeared dead center between the screens, from which emerged oversized "point-fingers" on sticks somehow akin to Indonesian shadow puppets. The fingers found their targets in the bells, which set off multiple recorded ringings; the centerpiece was revealed to be yet merely another ringer. Into this environment, in Samuel Becket-like picaresque fashion, is thrust the trumpet player, with two "trumpet assistants" (Matt Ingalls and Christopher Burns) alternately abetting and harassing a la the Beckett "Play" in such schtick as illumined editorial signs and a veritable "Waiting for Godot" hat trick involving fast hand passings of multiple mutes. Somehow in all of this Bithell got to play a few notes, which were either sound-processed or imaginatively complemented (or both) by electronic means. He also sneaked in a nice techno-sexual bit about mouthpiece and mute and horn and sonicvibration and animal-electronic magnetism. Rube Goldberg meets Java Man A more virtuosic, traditional concert-like format ("Lumen Aria") brought the performer downstage right to a double microphone setup, whereupon the center stage was altered to become a throne-like array bedecked with protruding bell stands. "Lumen Finale" found the soloist seated amongst the bells, flanked by two female and two male performers on Javanese gamelan instruments. Rhythmic poundings from the gamelanists were met with repeated pitches in a hands-free trumpet setup, such that Bithell could simultaneously reach up and strike any bell in his contraption. No worries about changing pitch here — one of the point-fingers reappears to depress a valve at a key moment. Meanwhile the two beautiful movement specialists (Pauline Jennings and Angelina Nicole) engaged in various seriocomic shadowplay, assisted in illusion by the trumpet valets, ultimately evolving into a brassinstrument-as-weapon and mute-as-bulletimage. It all ended with bells and mime and, despite its 50-minute running time, had very little downtime. View the complete review (.pdf)
------------------------------------------ Transbay Creative Music Calendar – February 2005 By Phillip Greenlief The performance of the extended work lumen was most pleasurable on every account. Composer & choreographer David Bithell achieved a great deal of mileage from simple visual/sound motifs, and it all moved admirably forward with a fresh breeze of humor that took the audience captive and nuzzled them into submission. The live music interacted with the taped music about as seamlessly as you could possibly expect. All was beautifully sounded throughout the space. And lo and behold: a flock of clever gadgets floated all about the place and repeatedly stole the show. Oversized gloves and a host of associated icons floated on the air and insulted, teased, and aggravated a trumpet, a composer, his (and others) shadow(s), and many a clever cue card. Information drifted through the experience like junky hummingbirds – gamelan vibrations soothed the receptors and urged the audience to trance their way through a uniquely sparse surrealist landscape. Yumsky, yumsky! View the complete review (.pdf)
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