Marin Alsop and Colin Currie at Cabrillo Festival, 2015. Photo: RR Jones
Marin Alsop and Colin Currie at Cabrillo Festival, 2015. Photo: RR Jones © RR Jones

In her 24 years at the helm, Marin Alsop has brought both cohesion and a rationale to northern California’s oldest contemporary music festival. Those qualities, plus a trio of recent and appealing orchestral essays, pervaded the opening concert of the 53-year-old celebration Friday evening. Not only has the conductor established ongoing relationships with composers of all ages, she remains fiercely loyal to many of them. The festival orchestra, recruited annually from around the globe, demonstrates a comparable fealty to Alsop. Performances here often burn with conviction.

Mason Bates is one composer whose rapport with Alsop goes way back. Currently the occupant of important posts at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Kennedy Center as well as a holder of a Santa Fe Opera commission (on the life of Steve Jobs), Bates returned with the West Coast premiere of his most recent piece, the captivating Anthology of Fantastic Zoology, a conscious attempt to deliver a Carnival of the Animals for a druggy age. If Borges’ book of the same title provided the inspiration, Bates’ increasingly masterful gift for orchestration (none of his customary electronics) portends a new direction for the composer. Cast in 11 uninterrupted sections, the work delights in arresting sonorities, solo oddities, spatial games (for the lovely Sirens) and irreverent gestures: did I detect a quote from Bernard Herrmann? The piece will live.

So will James MacMillan’s one-movement “Percussion Concerto No. 2”. For this American premiere, Alsop, who championed its predecessor two decades ago, again invited percussionist Colin Currie, who lavished his genius on the complex solo writing for a variety of struck instruments. A recent invention, the aluphone, was described by Alsop as resembling “one of Madonna’s early outfits”. Currie dashed from drum set to vibraphone to steel drums, creating a glorious racket. Meanwhile, in a reflective middle section, MacMillan introduces a hymn-like chorale which evolves with a genuine sense of spirituality. The dynamic and tonal contrasts suggest a muted ecstasy struggling to express itself.

David T. Little, who bowed here in 2003, returned for the first performance of the night, trailing accolades for his urgent fusion of rock and the classics. An omnipresent, occasionally modulating pulse dominates the reflective Haunted Topography, which rises to sectional writing infused with unshakeable grief. A downbeat opening to a thrilling evening.

This article has been amended since original publication to correct the title of David T Little’s work.

To August 16, cabrillomusic.org

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