Another inspired grouping, this quintet presented the rare sight of two contrabass clarinets in the same line up, and delivered an exhilarating performance. Barely introduced, Hoyt leveled rough low notes. Looney dropped small gongs into the piano, and Berndt blew sharp bursts. Rosenberg switched to soprano and spar with Heenan’s unpredictable alto resulting in a glorious honkfest. As Looney played the piano’s strings, Heenan took on Berndt, both on alto, both wailing. Rosenberg struggled with balloons and ended up back on contrabass clarinet. Berndt squealed through his mouthpiece. Hoyt percolated on trumpet. Heenan blew fluent cb clarinet.

Berndt started the second effort, Looney playing with his right hand and muting strings with his left. He also adds pie plates and gongs. Rosenberg blew sopranino muted on his leg. Berndt popped the mouthpiece, then played a sweet line with Rosenberg dogging him high.

Looney got part three going from inside the piano. Hoyt struck some lightning runs, and Heenan flowed on contrabass clarinet. Berndt blew sweeping alto.

Kyle Bruckman, oboe, english horn; Jessica Catron, cello; Brian Eubanks, reeds; David Rothbaum, Bb & contralto clarinet; Karen Stackpole, percussion; Jonathan Zorn, analog synthesizer.

The sextet opened with Rothbaum circular breathing clarinet. Stackpole's’ gong tones, and Eubanks’ multiphonics. Catron added long tones, then all went silent. Catron lightly tapped cello with bow, then silence. Rothbaum popped lightly, Eubanks produced high squeaks, and Zorn growled on synthesizer. Stackpole sent windup spiders over cymbals, and Zorn’s growl grew. As Rothbaum blew through half his clarinet, Bruckmann and Eubanks hit long high tones. Stackpole struck small gongs, building to the really big gongs, and from there to rattles and shakers.

John Berndt, electronics; Mitchell Brown, electronics; Dan Clucas, cornet; Hendrik Greidanus, double bass; Scott Rosenberg, reeds; Eric Sbar, euphonium, Ben Wright, double bass, musical saw.

The final septet of the Festival let the drawing of Greidanus' bow be their first McCAIN action. Wright demonstrated his prowess on musical saw. Berndt used his altered guitar like a tamboura. Brown nested in a tangle of wires and a blinking light, manipulating sounds through the placing large cardboard tubes on the electronic device. Berndt’s bowed guitar matched up with Rosenberg’s alto tones. Sbar blew mellow tones, and Clucas vibrated a tuning fork on his cornet. Sbar took the trombone out for a run and Clucas ran along with him. As the horn men gained momentum, Wright bowed high, and Rosenberg joins the rabid frontline. Berndt’s buzzing guitar signaled a cooling down. Wright jammed with Brown’s sounds. Clucas and Sbar played subdued muted, and Berndt generated springy sounds. Rosenberg played smeary alto.

Clucas switched to flute for the second piece, and Rosenberg played flute mouthpiece. Sbar and Clucas contributed another vigorous duet, soon to be a threesome with Rosenberg blowing in. Clucas closed it out with lip wrenching runs.

Day 4

Karen Elaine Bakunin, viola; Hendrik Greidanus, double bass; Rich West, drum set; Cory Wright, reeds.

LA violist Bakunin brought her energy, charisma, and luminous talent to give LSL Fest’s last night a truly grand finale. Her effusive inspiration proved contagious. The matchup with Greidanus, West, and Wright opened the evening with a fireworks display

Bakunin tapped her bow on strings she plucked with her left hand to start. West rung muted a triangle, and Wright joined on baritone. Bakunin peeled off maximum melodic runs, while West visited an array of little instruments. After a fiery display of Bakunin’s that ended sweetly melodic, an intensifying interplay between West and Greidanus boiled over. Bowing, plucking, playing muted, Greidanus worked up to a gallop. West from bare hands, brushes, sticks, to mallets and wound up riding with Greidanus.

Warmed up and friendly, the quartet went for gold. Bakunin spun long ribbons of melody effortlessly. After exhibiting athletic stamina during several brutal runs over the past evenings, clearly Greidanus saved the hard stuff for this piece. Wright joined the fun with a bubbling clarinet line. Some of his flashy phrases echoed through tapestries Bakunin wove. Greidanus dogged Bakunin’s marathon pace, finally losing the others in intense duet. Wright and Bakunin mix it up next, clarinet careening. As the performance wound down, West reactivated the triangle and and struck resonant wood blocks. Luckily, they recorded this one.

Eric Barber, tenor and soprano saxophones; Chris Forsyth, electric guitar; David Rothbaum, Bb & contralto clarinets; Rachel Thompson, violin.

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