MUSIC REVIEWS : Percussionist Gives Recital at Art Museum

NEWPORT BEACH —  First impressions can be deceiving when considering the music of percussionist-composer Ron George. Although his compositions generally use simple ideas in easy ways, they are not always easily comprehended.

Saturday night at Newport Harbor Art Museum, George gave a recital of three of his works (plus another work written for him) that displayed this paradox between simplicity and deeply meditative esoterica.

Half the program utilized his visually spectacular, carefully designed percussion setup--dubbed the “ballad console”--while two other smaller setups derived from it served in the other half. Unobtrusive prerecorded percussion sounds also were used sparingly in two of the works.

Due to the small size of the room used, the space was thoroughly saturated with the sound (at times deafening) of the large gongs, tam-tams, modified vibraphone (“super vibe”), marimba, chimes, bells and other found objects that constituted George’s homemade, piecemeal instruments. Nearby, uninsulated, exposed pipes added an unintended whooshing sound every time the commode in an adjacent washroom was flushed.

But the music oddly maintained its fragility throughout. Sometimes it lulled, but more often it fascinated with its unusual, overpowering inwardness.

In three tonal pieces from “Album of Lullabies”--described as a piece in progress for super vibe and electronics--George explored a range of improvisatory, childlike ideas. Between pieces, his similarly elementary explanations and demonstrations revealed a remarkably gentle personality--almost like a Zen version of Mister Rogers.

Two other of George’s works proved equally engaging: the tonally pulsating “Improv on a Broken Nose”--another work in progress for ballad console and electronics--and the lyrical, metallic study “Variations on a Butterfly” (1988) for a series of graduated gongs and bells. Opening the program, a 1973 opus for ballad console by Joseph Julian, “Windows and Clouds,” satisfactorily ran the gamut of sounds offered by the instrument, creating a routine but pleasant collage of timbres and sound effects.