L.A.-Bound Piano Spheres Delivers a Thoughtful Church Finale

With Vicki Ray’s thoughtfully organized, Buddhist-inspired, season-closing program Tuesday night, Piano Spheres turned a corner, for this was the innovative series’ last concert in Pasadena’s Neighborhood Church.

After eight seasons there, Piano Spheres joins the stampede to downtown L.A.’s Zipper Hall in 2002-2003, trading the sylvan, off-the-beaten-path ambience of the church for better acoustics, vastly improved sightlines and, most likely, a higher profile.

Titled “Meditations,” Ray’s program opened with five pieces that formed an uninterrupted suite, bookended by a pair of John Cage prepared-piano miniatures, “Prelude for Meditation” and “And the Earth Shall Bear Again.” Sandwiched within were Bill Douglas’ rolling caldron of Asian and impressionistic influences, “Vajra”; Janice Giteck’s “Tara’s Love Will Melt the Sword”--which veered dangerously toward tranquilizing New Age platitudes before rousing itself with a dash of Philip Glass--and Frederic Rzewski’s hypnotic dialogue between rapidly repeated notes and decaying chords, “The Turtle and the Crane.” Later on, Sean Heim’s “In the Between” found Ray using prepared-piano and bowed-string effects, producing deep, growling, highly absorbing bass resonances.

All of this led up to the most audacious piece on the program, Bill Alves’ “Skala-Niskala,” a bright, vibrant, microtonal concerto for piano and gamelan ensemble. Not only did this fusion of cultures produce an easily assimilated, even melodious work, the gleaming, pinging sounds of the gamelan echoed those of Cage’s prepared piano earlier, thus unifying both ends of the evening.

Rather than mess with the tunings of the Steinways at hand, Ray played on a detuned MIDI controller keyboard, which seemed muffled in contrast to the colorful gamelan ensemble staffed from the ranks of CalArts and Pomona College. And the Zipper is beginning to look like a godsend already, since the gamelan players were partially obscured by a podium.