9TH CALARTS FESTIVAL: SO WHAT’S NEW?

Poignant, witty, articulate, crafty and economical--the music of Mel Powell seems oddly separated from its times, though its times are ours.

Seen in perspective March 8, when the festival returned to the Valencia campus, six of these works, poetic and abstract at once, seem to be part of a stream, not disjunct entities.

CalArts founding dean of music and former jazz pianist--though Powell does not take exception to that description of himself, as do some other former jazz pianists--the 62-year old composer continues to produce touching and viable works.

Most touching on this program were three chamber pieces for soprano and instruments or electronics. Being heard in its West Coast premiere, “Strand Settings: ‘Darker,’ ” proved to be haunting in its evocation--for voice and tape--of bleak but choice texts by the American poet, Mark Strand. Performed assuredly and in clear, lush tones and even clearer word-projection by Judith Bettina, the 1983 song cycle made a deep impression.

An important revival of Powell’s modestly named but equally eloquent “Little Companion Pieces” (1979), written for Bethany Beardslee and the Sequoia Quartet and an earlier CalArts Festival, this time paired the Sequoians with Bettina, joyously. Every word, every nuance and every interplay between voice and strings carried clearly in this wondrous performance.

And “Settings,” for soprano and instrumental septet--performed by Joan LaBarbara and a CalArts faculty/student ensemble conducted by Stephen Mosko--lived up to its composer’s continuing affection for it. Though LaBarbara proved often wispy of tone and unclear of word, she and her colleagues nevertheless plumbed its poetic content to handsome effect.

In between, Yoko Matsuda brought all her considerable virtuosity, musical intelligence and emotional intensity to bear on Powell’s “Nocturne” (1985), a rewrite of a trio for voice, violin and electronics; pianist Aki Takahashi made sense of a fragmented, five-minute Intermezzo (1984), and the Sierra Wind Quintet from the University of Nevada at Las Vegas gave what seemed a fair and affectionate, though ultimately unpersuasive (to these ears) world premiere performance to the Woodwind Quintet (1984-85).