“H” Preview

NewEar is ending its season with a bang

PAUL HORSLEY, Kansas City Star

MUSIC & DANCE NOTES

You've heard of Isaiah's prophecy "beating swords into ploughshares," when warfare ceases and weapons are made into something useful.

Perhaps NewEar has already begun that process. Its program this week, "Nuclear," features a performance of Michael Henry and Dwight Frizzell's "H for Thermonuclear Device and Remote Chamber Ensemble."

This sequel to their 2003 collaboration "Sonic Force" - scored for an A-10 Warthog attack plane - uses a B61 Mod 11 thermonuclear device, 50 of which are stockpiled at Whiteman Air Force Base.

The score follows a chronology of events leading to detonation: graphs showing the initial chemical reactions, first and second fusion blasts, shockwaves, atmospheric effects, changes in human bone marrow cells, radioactive fallout and so forth.

The chamber ensemble will be seen on a live video feed from inside a bomb shelter, from which its performance is carried to the concert hall via multichannel sound system. As to what "music" a nuclear warhead makes, we will just have to see.

Wacky? Maybe not. One could view this as part of a long history of musical statements on war, from Beethoven's "Wellington's Victory" to Shostakovich's "Leningrad" Symphony, from Haydn's "Mass in Time of War" to Britten's "War Requiem" and Penderecki's "Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima" (with its attempts to mimic the sound of jets and bombs).

"H" is just one of the works on NewEar's final performances of the season, at 8 p.m. Thursday at St. Mary's Episcopal Church, 13th and Holmes, and at 5 p.m. May 8 at Unity Temple on the Plaza, 707 W. 47th St.

The program also includes Penderecki's Sextet from 2000, in what is most likely its Kansas City premiere. It's scored for clarinet, horn, violin, viola, cello and piano, and its relatively accessible surface might surprise those familiar only with this Polish composer's more avant-garde experiments like "Threnody."

"Clave," by Judith Shatin, is inspired by Afro-Cuban and other Afro-Latin musical styles. "Mal Occhio," by the New Zealander John Psathas, scored for soprano saxophone, electric guitar, marimba/vibes and piano, finds its root in jazz, rock and minimalism.

All but the Penderecki are receiving their world premieres at these concerts. Tickets cost $18 ($8 for students). Call (816) 235-6222 or go to www.newear.org.