Music Review | Chris Mannigan And Stephanie Griffin: Bach With A Southeast Asian Accent

Bach never heard the saxophone, which was invented almost a century after his death, but as he didnt specify most of the instrumental combinations to be used in his Musical Offering, the work is fair game for unusual pairings. The saxophonist Chris Mannigan and the violist Stephanie Griffin performed excerpts from the work on Thursday in the intimate (and stiflingly hot) Gallerie Icosahedron in TriBeCa.

Chris Mannigan and Stephanie Griffin performing excerpts from “Musical Offering.”

Bachs Canon a 2: Quaerendo Invenietis from the Musical Offering and the Canon Alla Decima in Contrapunto Alla Terza from The Art of Fugue were sandwiched between homages to Bach by the Malaysian composer Kee Yong Chong and the Indonesian composer Tony Prabowo.

The concert, called A Musical Offering from Southeast Asia, was produced by the VIM: TriBeCa concert series — a recent addition to this citys thriving contemporary-music scene — and the Argento New Music Project.

Mr. Chong was inspired by the theme from The Art of Fugue while writing his thorny, dissonant Thousand Ripples of a Lonely Bell for solo viola. Mr. Prabowos Music for Multiple Violas 2004 B-A-C-H for solo viola and tape, based on the musical notes spelling Bachs name in German notation, is a discordant, modernist tapestry layering repeated phrases, startling timbres and improvisatory elements. For someone listening with eyes closed, it seemed as if a swarm of angry violists had been unleashed in the room.

The program opened with a canon from Bachs Musical Offering and flowed without pause into Mr. Prabowos Ke Erse for viola and alto saxophone, a wail of sax over rapid viola figures based on an earlier work for viola and voice.

After performing Ke Erse, the two musicians began distributing free CDs to the audience, a thoughtful gesture that Ms. Griffin said was in the spirit of this musical offering. It would have been preferable to wait until the end of the program, however, as the interruption disrupted the flow of the concert.

The program also included Mr. Chongs Metamorphosis IV for two musicians and CD (derived from an earlier work for flute solo). Mr. Mannigan and Ms. Griffin played over a recorded montage, which sounded like a storm brewing over mournful cries.

Mr. Chongs Lost Psalm of the Abyss, a Sept. 11 tribute that Mr. Mannigan adapted for solo alto saxophone from the flute original, featured soulful, jazzy riffs and incorporated breathy vocalizing and whispered fragments from the 23rd Psalm.

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