Should you trust a new-music ensemble over 30?
For Zeitgeist, an internationally lauded, St. Paul-based quartet founded in the heyday of American minimalism, the question isn't wholly facetious. The ensemble -- percussionists Heather Barringer and Patti Cudd, woodwind player Patrick O'Keefe, pianist Shannon Wettstein -- has been celebrating its 30th anniversary this season.
For a group that champions the new, 30 years is a long time. Their edge is apt to dull. Tastes can narrow, aesthetic positions harden. But Zeitgeist -- the name is German for "spirit of the times" -- gives every sign of thriving. "You can count on one hand the new-music ensembles around the country that have had as much staying power," says Philip Bither, senior curator of performing arts at Walker Art Center and a close observer of the contemporary musical landscape.
Composer Libby Larsen is characteristically emphatic: "Never once have they played it safe, never once have they been stale," she said. "Their ears are entirely open. They're fabulous musicians and wonderful collaborators. Best of all, they embody the idea that music really does speak the spirit of our culture."
Back-to-back premieres
Zeitgeist's openness will be displayed this month in two programs. The first, "Glancing Back" (June 13-15), draws on the group's archives, reviving landmark works by three iconic figures: the minimalist Terry Riley, the politically engaged Frederic Rzewski and the protean John Cage. The second, "Charging Forward" (June 20-22), embraces Minnesota's heterogeneous community of composers, unveiling 30 new 2 1/2-minute pieces commissioned for the occasion. ("We first thought of asking 150 composers to write 30-second pieces," said O'Keefe, who plays an array of clarinets and saxophones. "But we realized that could be a logistical nightmare.")
The anniversary commissions cover the stylistic waterfront. "There are modernist and postmodernist pieces, tuneful pieces, improvisatory pieces," said Wettstein. "Electronic and neoclassic pieces. Pieces influenced by various forms of world and folk music. And a few that are unclassifiable." Every composer invited to participate said yes; among the better known are Carol Barnett, Philip Blackburn, Jeffrey Brooks, Mary Ellen Childs, Brent Michael Davids, Steve Heitzeg, Gao Hong, Larsen, two Thomases (Carei and David Evan) and Janika Vandervelde (married to this writer).
"The creative community in the Twin Cities is incredibly diverse," said Barringer, who as Zeitgeist's longest-serving member -- she joined in 1991 -- functions as its institutional memory. "Yet much of the music made here sounds a certain way, because people here tend to think a certain way. We've tried to cultivate that, and to export it when we can."
