SIROCCO WINDS BLOW AS QUARTET SWINGS TO RHYTHMIC NEW WORK 
                                              By D. Rane Danubian
        artssf.com, the independent observer of San Francisco Bay Area music and dance 
                                                                 Week of Jan. 31-Feb. 7, 2010
                                                                  Vol. 12, No. 60
            STANFORD---Ezequiel Viñao’s new “Sirocco Dust” is a whirlwind of an opus, as suggested by the title. It is a fast-flying exercise inspired by the southerly sirocco winds and blowing red dust familiar on the Mediterranean, a nonstop, 19-minute minimalist adventure  in syncopation and unwavering dance-like rhythms. Viñao  provides subtle variants in the minimalism along the way. Here and there a few themes pop out from various instruments, but they are so deeply immersed within the sonic fabric that the impact is lost, threatening the listener with a surfeit of repetition. Flesh out the solo themes more, and the work would take on a whole new flavor, fully seasoned.
            Given the sheer number of notes flying past, the St. Lawrence String Quartet carried it off smartly, led by their occasional first violinist, Scott St. John. I was tempted to leap into the aisle and dance along, but in light of the full house at Dinkelspiel Auditorium on campus, I’d probably end up with the fire marshals corralling me.
            Viñao, 49, is an Argentinian-American composer who has won major awards back east, recipient of this joint commission from the Library of Congress and Stanford’s Lively Arts. The performance Jan. 31 was a West Coast premiere, serving up an appealing piece of high intensity without modernist pretentions, as influenced by Viñao’s homeland as well as music of past Hispanic masters like deFalla.
            The Lawrencians in residence here---all transplants from Canada---opened with a perfunctory performance of Mozart’s late D Major Quintet, K. 593, joined by guest violist Michael Tree, long a stalwart of the Guarneri Quartet. Happy to say, Geoff Nuttall, in the leader’s chair, has toned down his mannerisms of late, to the extent that his feet rarely leave the ground in mid-passage any more.
            The program concluded with Dvorak’s engaging “American” Quintet, Op. 97, followed by Viñao's audience discussion of his work.
            Chamber music at Stanford’s Lively Arts, with music of Ezequiel Viñao, Mozart, Dvorak, played by the St. Lawrence Quartet. For S.L.A. programming info: (650) 725-2787, or go online.

        ©D. Rane Danubian 2010
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        D. Rane Danubian has been covering the dance and modern-music scene in the San Francisco Bay Area with relish -- and a certain amount of salsa -- for years.
    These critiques appearing weekly (or sometimes semi-weekly, but never weakly) will focus on dance and new musical creativity in performance, with forays into books (by authors of the region), theater and recordings by local artists as well.
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