The contemporary music scene in New York may seem like a niche within the niche of classical music. But this teeming musical world has an
intensely loyal audience and its share of brilliant young stars. One is Blair McMillen, a hardy, fit 34-year-old American pianist of Irish and Scottish heritage, with the reddish hair and gregarious manner to prove it.
You may not encounter McMillen playing a Beethoven concerto with the New York Philharmonic. You won't find a separate McMillen bin in the rows of CDs at Tower Records. But he appears frequently at museums, adventurous recital halls and hotbeds of new music and attracts enthusiastic audiences. Last year at the Miller Theater, for example, he presented a daunting recital of works by two Italian
modernists, Luciano Berio and Giacinto Scelsi, winning high praise from the New York Times critic Allan Kozinn for his technique, authority, imagination and "irresistible energy." Another pianist in the new-music scene, equally formidable but of a different personality than McMillen's, is the British-born Stephen Gosling, who turns 35 on Monday. A lanky, serious-minded artist with a wry sense of humor, he has scant patience for the numbing routine of conventional
concertizing. On his own terms, Gosling has made
notable appearances as the soloist in contemporary works with Orpheus, the Orchestra of St. Luke's, the American Composers Orchestra and the Riverside Symphony. More typical, though, is a program Gosling will present Sunday evening at 7 at the Triad, the jazz club on West 72nd Street in Manhattan. The concert inaugurates a bimonthly series featuring the music of the composer and saxophonist Patrick Zimmerli, who "married jazz to uptown Columbia serialism," as Gosling described it recently, though these days, Zimmerli's music is looser and more tonal.
You could call McMillen and Gosling the dynamic duo of contemporary music pianists in New York. Yet they are not close friends who hang out -- just good colleagues who move in the same circles. In a rare occurrence, they are sharing a recital program next week, with McMillen playing the first half and Gosling the second. Presented by a new group, the American Modern Ensemble, the program of mostly new and recent works by, among others, Chester Biscardi, Lee Hyla, Eric Moe, David Rakowski and George Tsontakis, is called Powerhouse Pianists. And few people who have heard them would quibble with that billing for these thoroughly impressive players.
Gosling is especially excited by a group of fiery etudes he will play by the Chicago-based composer Mischa Zupko. A fanciful work by Annie Gosfield, inspired by baseball and titled Brooklyn, Oct. 5, 1941, requires McMillen, at one point, to roll a ball on the keys and wear a baseball glove.
These artists share a messianic devotion to modern music, something they spoke about in separate interviews recently. "Contemporary music is the most fulfilling for me right now," McMillen said. "I thrive on working with musicians and composers -- the feedback, arguing over the music, putting it together." He finds audiences for new music, however small, energized and open-minded. "I'd rather play for 30 or 40 people who are really listening intently than for 500 who couldn't care less."
For his part, Gosling said that the mainstream repertory was being "very adequately covered" by others. "I can't imagine being happier doing anything else," he said. Besides being convinced that contemporary music is what his "brain is most suited to," he added, he also considers himself useful. "I don't like to feel perfunctory," he said. He is gratified to think that he is doing his bit to "continue the canon" by adding works to it.
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