Percussion triumphs in Southwest’s season opener

Speaking about his “Encounters” series from the Zipper Concert Hall stage Monday night, composer William Kraft explained that “one theory guiding these pieces is that percussion wins.” Indeed, over the course of six “Encounters” pieces dating from the ‘60s and ‘70s and presented in Southwest Chamber Music’s season opener, percussion of shifting colors and functions commanded the spotlight with bravado and poetry. It won.

Percussion music came of age during the 20th century, and Kraft had a stake in that process. His illustrious history includes years as a percussionist in the Los Angeles Philharmonic, as a composer of international repute and as a musical spark plug who started the Phil’s New Music Group in the ‘80s.

Southwest Chamber is taking its “Encounters” project seriously. The concert series is set to continue in March with a new commission. A recording is planned for release on Kraft’s 85th birthday next September. Like those in the audience, Kraft seemed ebullient Monday at the opportunity to experience several “Encounters” in a concentrated evening, passionately played. Heard together, the works engage in dialogue -- comparing, contrasting and cross-talking.

Kraft’s playful medieval battle game plan of “Encounters III: Duel for Trumpet and Percussion” (with percussionist Lynn Vartan and trumpeter Tony Ellis in friction and accord) contrasts with the pacifist aura, with texts including passages from the Bible and Longfellow, of “Encounters VII: Blessed Are the Peacemakers: For They Shall Be Called the Children of God, for Speaker and Two Percussionists.” In the latter, John Schneider lent his warm, clear voice as narrator, and percussionists Vartan and Miguel Gonzalez moved between atmospherics and tight unisons.

Kraft belongs to the elite group of composers combining the serialist and the sensualist. The solo tuba tour de force of “Encounters II” -- commissioned by Roger Bob and played beautifully Monday by Zach Collins -- ventures into extremes of range and dynamics, enlivening the “atonal” writing.

The concert at the Colburn School hall in L.A. opened with “Soliloquy: Encounters I for Solo Percussion and Tape,” and Ricardo Gallardo supplied proper virtuosity and subtlety. Closing the concert boldly, Vartan was the vibrant soloist on pitch-altering roto-toms in “Concertino for Roto-Toms & Percussion Quartet.” The fine Mexico City-based ensemble Tambuco acted as a roving, supportive quartet.

That wild and yet sonically effective instrumentation points to the creative character and taste for reinvention embedded in the Kraft aesthetic. While well-grounded in 20th century compositional vocabulary, he also has felt free and confident enough to make things up as he goes along, like any good Modernist.