MUSIC WITH THE MORAVIANS
Featuring The Mule (J.C. Jones, Ken Read, David Wall). Edmonton Moravian Church (9540-83 Ave). Sat, Nov 28 (2pm). Admission by donation.

Dave Wall likes the much-maligned term “postmodern” and doesn’t hesitate to use it. “Postmodern is good,” he says. “It’s a handy term which works well for me when describing the stuff I compose — and I compose postmodern stuff.”

Wall’s got a point. He belongs to the new breed of classical composers who takes a serious interest in all aspects of our civilization’s ever-changing soundscape. He may not necessarily be crazy about fluffy commercial pop, but he’ll always take notice of what’s happening in progressive metal, new jazz, or other genres like funk, in which serious experimentation is often the norm.

“I cannot ignore those things,” Wall says, “because, one, I’m a guitarist and electric guitar is the one I use the most; and two, they can only enrich my compositional palette. If you listen to what I did for The Brian Webb Dance Company for their show The Effects of Sunlight Falling on Raw Concrete, you will hear in those eight movements — or, rather, eight separate pieces — influences ranging from my own timbre-focused improvisatory esthetics to heavier sounds coming directly from metal, industrial music, and Nick Cave.

“As a matter of fact, the music evolves from ethereal and spacious to heavy, pulsating, aggressive. Even the group I’ve written that music for is like an oversized rock band. It’s got four electric guitars, two electric basses, and drums. Occasionally, the sound’ll get big and nasty — a bit like intentionally blowing the fuse!”

Over the years, Wall has produced a formidable body of work, which has been consistently championed by some of the best New Music groups — including the Ontario-based Penderecki String Quartet, who recorded his exciting “In medias res,” a master class in modern string quartet writing. I put it to Wall that the fact that a composer of his imagination and skill has yet to receive a single commission from the Edmonton Symphony shows a disgraceful lack of interest in the local scene on part of the ESO board and artistic director. He agrees... tactfully.

“Classical music composed today is taking a back seat,” Wall says. “I’m not saying that J.S. Bach doesn’t deserve to be played, but our audiences are more than ever deprived of exposure to new, fascinating composers who before our very eyes are changing the nature of what we call classical music. This is largely a fault of presenters who are slavishly attached to the music of the bygone eras and see nothing but! Yet there’s still room for the ‘old’ classical music, if only to give proper context to New Music — and vice versa. My music rarely sounded better then when I had one of my pieces performed between Brahms and Mozart! But if classical music is to survive, New Music must become part of the standard repertoire. Hearing same old sounds over and over again is boring!”

With his experimental trio The Mule, Wall is preparing new material which is anything but boring. “The music will be both improvised and structured. Funk’s the word, because we have two bass instruments, trombones, and the eight-string guitar I’m playing is a hybrid between the electric six-string, and bass. Is this music still classical? I think yes, but your ears should definitely be
wide open!”