'Chimeras' was scored for what has come to be widely known as the "Pierrot" ensemble - that is, the instrumentation of Schoenberg's 'Pierrot Lunaire': vocalist, violin, cello, flute (here doubling alto flute), clarinet (doubling bass clarinet) and piano (doubling organ and celeste) - plus percussion. (Zorn acknowedged this connection explicitly after the performance.) In this case, the performers were sopranos Ilana Davidson and Beth Anne Hatton, violinist Jenny Choi, cellist Fred Sherry, flutist Tara Helen O'Connor, clarinetist Michael Lowenstern (who, if memory serves, commissioned this piece), pianist Stephen Drury and percussionist William Winant. Though it sounds like a cop-out, I must admit that I would have a very hard time describing the piece in detail. It's simply so dense and full of information - and so long, too, with its 14 movements totalling some 45 minutes or so in duration - that I had a hard time actually keeping track of the passing highlights. In this respect, I guess I fail as a reviewer - other pieces, like 'Rituals' and 'Contes de fee,' seemed much easier to recall immediately after. 'Chimeras' is a piece that requires and will reward repeated listening, and there seemed to be very few of what some have called Zorn's stock gestures (the "napalm clusters," for instance) and references to other stylistic genres - though I'm certain that Steve Drury, who's written some of the most cogent and intelligent analysis of Zorn's chamber music I've seen anywhere (check out his website), could proved enlightening insights. (Hint! Hint!) Though I wasn't as immediately overwhelmed by this as I was by 'Rituals' earlier in the year, still, there was a lot of fine writing and playing that can only be described as "heroic" (which was actually announcer John Schaefer's choice of wording as he opened the post-concert panel discussion). A few thoughts, though: Zorn's command of instrumentation, color and balance continue to astonish. Every bit of writing felt "right." Seldom did the entire ensemble perform together; that force was held in reserve to bolster its impact of a climactic 11th movement. Soprano Ilana Davidson did a superb job of delivering the demanding vocal lines, which called for operatic vocalizing, cantillation effects, birdlike trilling and choked ululations, all without texts - Zorn later explained that he still hasn't figured out how to write to text (which perhaps explains why he didn't fulfill an Eos Orchestra commission for a 10-minute opera a few seasons back, giving them instead 'Contes de fee'). He explained that text makes too many demands of the music, implying that it has to go in a certain way - a element of control that Zorn is loathe to cede. As usual, I doted on Zorn's innovative writing for percussion - Winant was often a blur of bows and mallets as he darted from vibraphone to gongs, drums to woodblocks, and such auxilliary instruments as the omnipresent wind machine, construction paper and scissors, a hardcover book and a ficus tree. The piece was warmly received by the sizeable audience, after which Zorn, Schaefer, Davidson and Sherry came out for a discussion. Zorn was his usual cantankerous self; resistant to interviews and explaining himself, he often tossed back terse replies like (I'm paraphrasing here) "What do YOU think it means?" "You tell me, John' and "It is what it is, motherfucker!" I'm sure Schaefer was glad that this was not being broadcast live. Sherry often stepped in as intermediary, trying to explain to Schaefer what Zorn really meant and offering his own valuable views on performing Zorn's work. Schaefer's greatest unintended gaffe, I would say, was to ask Zorn why he insisted on using an "old fashioned" wind machine instead of some more technologically up-to-date alternative that might offer more "realistic" results. Schaefer wanted to know if the wind machine itself had a greater extramusical significance to Zorn, but Zorn, seemingly taken aback, said something like "You're always doing this to me, Schaefer..." Sherry jumped in to talk about all the other contemporary composers using wind machines, noting that Steve Reich called for two of them in his 'Three Tales' (which was receiving its second US performance at Spoleto that evening). Zorn remarked, "I've written a piece for THREE wind machines and two noise generators," and Schaefer replied, "You win." Despite the challenges, Schaefer did manage to prise a fair amount of interesting information out of Zorn, including the bits about the "Pierrot" instrumentation and his reluctance to write to texts. Afterward, the discussion moved out to the lobby, where I spotted Ikue Mori, Shelley Hirsch, Annie Gosfield, Kenny Wollesen, Trevor Dunn and Raz Mesinai hobnobbing with the other patrons (though I failed to locate Alastair and his Rough Trade bag). I'm pretty sure I saw Charles Wuorinen offering his congratuations to Zorn after the performance, as well... :-) Steve Smith ssmith36@sprynet.com