The Arthropologist

Brain-bending music: Houston group discovers real fountain of youth

Karol Bennett with Musiqa in "Inner Voices"
Photo by Stan Kwan
Musiqa presents "Sprint"
Photo by Mark Dean
"Film of the Sea" by Takashi Ishida
Diego Maclean's "The Art of Drowning"
Musiqa in "Jalbert"
Photo by Bill Klemm
Musiqa's artistic board members, from left: Karim Al-Zand, Rob Smith, AnthonyBrandt, Pierre Jalbert and Marcus Marone
Photo by Mark Dean

If you want to light a fire under Anthony Brandt, ask him a question about new music.

"Going to hear music you have never heard before puts you in a position of being a child. It's the fountain of youth," Brandt exclaims with both hands in the air. "We know that schema making is crucial to higher intelligence. The role of art is the bending and breaking of old rules and the making of new schema."

Brandt, founder of Musiqa and an associate professor of Composition and Theory at The Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, knows his brain science. He's the man behind the upcoming conference Exploring the Mind Through Music at Shepherd. Well aware of the memory enhancing powers of novelty, Brandt proposes one listen to contemporary music to do the job.

New Music gets overlooked too often. Just listen to Alex Ross' rant on the subject. We seem to have no problem with contemporary visual art, theater or dance, yet when it comes to music, audiences and arts organizations can seem stuck in the past. Instead of whining about the new music drought on today's music concert stage, Brandt prefers to act as a fearless advocate, telling his students, "You are the musicologists and curators of the 20th Century."

At Musiqa, he's doing his part to expose Houston to fresh sounds with "Real and Imagined," an exploration of reality and fantasy with Musiqa and Aurora Picture Show, which will be held 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Zilkha Hall at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts. Brandt carefully arranged the program to meld well with the film components, selected by Aurora curator, Mary Magsamen.

"Each work contains recognizable elements or 'totems' of indigenous music, out of which the composer develops a personal statement," Brandt says. "Thus, all of this music lies somewhere between shared traditions that evolved collectively and the 'imagined' of an individual vision."

Heading into their fourth event together, Musiqa has found a partner in Aurora. "We truly enjoy the process of collaborating with Musiqa, as they do for the classic music experience what Aurora's does for the cinematic experience," Magsamen says. "We both enjoy breaking the rules and shining a light on new talent."

The eclectic program includes Paul Frehner's Oracle for violin and tabla, a propulsive work for violin and percussion, using a set of Indian hand drums, called 'tablas.' "The piece is improvisatory in character and, in the words of the composer, 'tries to evoke a primal setting, in which communication to the spirit world is achieved through frenzied and energetic ritualistic motions,'" Brandt says.

Houston Symphony assistant conductor Brett Mitchell will conduct Theo Loevendie's Six Turkish Folk Poems for soprano and ensemble. Loevendie, one of Holland's most celebrated composers and founder of the Ziggurat Ensemble, draws on his Turkish heritage, infusing it with contemporary virtuosity and flair.

"Originally an accomplished jazz player; he turned to classical music in his forties, quickly becoming internationally renowned as both a composer and teacher," Brandt says. Evan Chambers: Love Dogs for string trio, riffs on American folk fiddle playing to create a lively string trio.

Eve Beglarian:I Will Not Be Sad in This World for flute and electronics is based on a song by the 18th-century Armenian troubadour Sayat Nova. One of New York's foremost "downtown" composers, Beglarian's work has been featured at Bang-on-a-Can All-Stars, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the St. Luke's Chamber Orchestra and others.

Magsamen selected films that work well with Musiqa's mission. "Takashi Ishida's Film of the Sea is very contemporary, compelling and unique. It bends reality, collapsing and transforming space, time and image through animation, film and music.

"It's stunning and created in the same creative spirit that Musiqa works," she says. "The two minute short, The Art of Drowning by Diego Maclean makes a nice compliment to Film of the Sea because it's an animation based upon a poem by American poet Billy Collins that also uses water as context for the story."

Film and music come together in Musiqa resident composer Pierre Jalbert's Visual Abstract, performed live to a film by Jean Detheux. Jalbert hopes the audience will perceive the film and music as a single entity.

"Last year, I composed music to Jean's film," Jalbert says. "This year Jean and I wanted to reverse the process — he would create his film to my previously existing music; a piece entitled Visual Abstract, which appropriately used images as its initial inspiration." Mitchell conducts.

If the joys of new music continues to elude you, head to Brandt's online listening based course at Sound Reasoning. So open up those ears and minds Houston and get over your fear of new music once and for all.

Brandt and the Musiqa team want you to flex those schematic muscles. There are numerous ways to expand your brain.

Brandt prefers the musical choice.

"It's safe, inexpensive, and it doesn't even matter if you like it, in fact, It might be better if it challenges you more," he says. "The very thing you might be afraid of is its greatest benefit."

Trailer for The Art of Drowning by Diego Maclean

Visual Abstract (1st movement) from Jean Detheux on Vimeo.

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Movie Review

Daniel Craig shines in Queer, an unapologetic tale of love and loss

Photo courtesy of A24

Drew Starkey and Daniel Craig in Queer.

As recently as the late 2010s, if a movie was made about an LGBTQ+ character, it was more than likely about their coming out experience. Romance, if it existed, was typically chaste, and actual sex was almost completely out of the question. Things have changed dramatically in the 2020s, to the point that a major movie star has no issue starring in a film called Queer.

Based on the 1985 novella by William S. Burroughs, the film features William Lee (Daniel Craig), whom everyone calls just Lee, a writer living in 1950s-era Mexico City who spends most of his time haunting local bars with friends like fellow writer Joe Guidry (Jason Schwartzman) and hitting on younger men. His early interactions in the film seem to indicate that Lee has a bad reputation within the local gay community, as multiple people avoid him or give him odd looks.

Lee senses an opportunity when he encounters a newcomer, Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey). Despite some awkward interactions, the two of them start spending time together, although Lee has much more invested in the relationship than Eugene does. Their hit-and-miss bond continues until Lee, who’s starting to get into drugs in addition to the booze, convinces Eugene to accompany him on a trip to South America.

Directed by Luca Guadagnino and written by Justin Kuritzkes (making their second straight film together after Challengers), early on the film seems to be mostly about the divide between an older person who’s grown comfortable in his ways and a younger person who’s living a relatively carefree life. The introduction of drugs into the plot changes things, though, with Lee searching out more ways to open his eyes to what the world has to offer.

Guadagnino and his team use some interesting visual storytelling techniques to introduce ideas that may not be present in the actual script. The most successful, demonstrated in multiple scenes, is the superimposition of movements by Lee over what’s actually taking place in the scene. The subtle overlay gives the audience insight into Lee’s true feelings, showing what he can’t or won’t say out loud.

Music also plays a big part in how the plot is perceived, with the use of anachronistic songs from Nirvana and Prince serving to heighten certain moments. The score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is not as in-your-face as the one they did for Challengers, but it complements the film well, especially when the plot starts to get trippy in its final half hour.

Craig, who appears sweaty and disheveled for much of the film, is about as far from the suaveness of James Bond as you can get in this role. He takes multiple risks with his performance and almost all of them pay off. Starkey’s character is subdued by comparison, but still comes off well. Schwartzman and Lesley Manville are given showy roles, with both using altered appearances that make them nearly unrecognizable to deliver memorable performances.

Queer is not as accessible as Challengers was storytelling-wise, but the fact that it tells a story about gay men living their lives as they see fit with no interference or questions shows how far the film world has come in a short period of time. It also continues Guadagnino’s streak of making audacious films in a way that few other filmmakers are willing or able to approach.

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Queer is now playing in theaters.

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