Musical worlds collided Thursday night when rocker Trey Anastasio took the stage with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and conductor Marin Alsop. There were no casualties.
Anastasio, founding member of Phish and a songwriter with a refreshing avoidance of conventional chord progressions, has been collaborating with traditional classical ensembles for several years now. His most ambitious effort in this field is a half-hour piece called Time Turns Elastic that he co-wrote with Don Hart, composer-in-residence of Orchestra Nashville. It premiered last September with that orchestra and received its East Coast premiere at this BSO concert, which drew a young, animated crowd.
Time Turns Elastic might be described as a combination electric guitar concerto and orchestral song cycle. It is structured in three movements and unified by imagery of nature, with a certain tint of nostalgia and longing.
Much of the music is moody, introspective; some of the writing has the feel of a romantic movie soundtrack (not that there's anything wrong with that - except for the cliche of shimmering wind chimes). But when a fugue breaks out midway through, there's no mistaking the ambition of the writing, the interest in making a statement that straddles classical and pop realms.
In the vocal passages, Anastasio's verses do not exactly achieve profundity, but their evocative quality is neatly complemented by often elegant melodic lines and Hart's atmospheric, assured orchestration.
Anastasio's unpretentiously virtuosic guitar playing was as impressive in the subtle "Ruby Shaded Sea" portion of the first movement as in the driving "Carousel" finale.
His singing proved less reliable. When he sang "In and out of focus, time turns elastic," his voice went in and of focus, too, occasionally falling shy of pitch and taking on a rough edge (the effects of a cold, perhaps?).
But he offered a good deal of expression, just the same, and seemed to gain strength from the stylish playing of the orchestra, guided by Alsop with her usual rhythmic clarity and attention to dynamic detail.
The audience listened attentively to the composition and rewarded it with a hearty ovation (one fan shouted out "Thank you"). Anastasio plans to introduce the piece in a new guise during the Phish reunion tour that begins later this month.
