credit: Gary Stallsworth, 2011

The Electric Opera Company and Classical Revolution PDX join forces for the finale.

As the Electric Opera Company and Classical Revolution PDX were trying to find space to play together on the smallish Alberta Rose Theatre stage right before the last part of the show Friday night, Classical Revolution’s Mattie Kaiser called out a question to Electric Opera’s Bobby Ray.

"Have you ever made a deal with the devil," she asked, "and what did you get?"

"

Yeah," he said, "I got the ability to play the violin on the electric guitar.

"

"Good deal," someone in the audience piped up. And I, for one, weighed the bargain — one’s immortal soul in exchange for the ability to play Mozart, electrified — and for just a moment it seemed reasonable.

Of course that moment came toward the end of “Sympathy for the Devil,” an evening I thought was going to be devoted to lots of songs about His Satanic Majesty, but really wasn’t. And by that time, I’d seen the genuine glee that Ray brings to his rock interpretations of classical music, from Mozart’s “Figaro” to Chopin’s Funeral March, which makes a great, metal, doom rock anthem, by the way. At one point, he offered, “We’re gong to slow it down for the ladies — a little Debussy!” And then yeah, his part of the exchange with the devil seemed like a reasonable return.

This was a classical concert, in a way, but lots of other stuff leaked into our ears. Classical Revolution PDX played classical instruments classically and classical instruments with non-classical music. Electric Opera played non-classical instruments classically and also to non-classical music, especially when they hooked up with Classical Revolution for that last collaboration.

So, during Classical Revolution’s first set, we heard Tartini’s “Devil’s Trill” sonata, played by violinist Lucia Conrad and pianist Adam Whiting, Celine Thackston’s rock-ish take of Ian Clarke’s “Zoom Tube,” cellist/vocalist Ashia Grzesik’s excellent version of Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You,” an interpretation of Saint-Saens’ “Danse Macabre” for viola and violin, and David Binnig’s enhanced trumpet on his own “Dies Irae.”  Except for the “Devil’s Trill” and “Danse Macabre,” not much of the Evil One was present.

credit: Gary Stallsworth, 2011

Adam Goodwin and Josephine Woolington of the Electric Opera Company attack the classics with electric guitars.

He appeared in the Rolling Stone’s “Sympathy for the Devil,” after the two bands combined forces, crowding the stage to play the Beatles’ “I Am the Walrus,” Pink Floyd and Ravel and the Stones. But by that time we were all having a good time, and a good time isn’t necessarily devilish, is it? And then they closed with Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven.” Take that, Beezlebub!

But then I started thinking. Maybe the devil’s in the excess, which is why some religions have tried to ban music. Music can get excessive — those mad flights of fancy, those flourishes, the bombast, the puckish wit, the surrender of the audience to the song, the ego of the composer and the performer. Even in a song entitled “Stairway to Heaven”! And the Electric Opera Company shows just how closely rock and classical really are, how they share a taste for the excessive, though admittedly the company cherry picks a bit, sorting through classical standards for the ones that fit their scheme. Or as The Band wrote, “take what you need and leave the rest.”

Of course, if they couldn’t play well, none of this would matter, but they play very well, thank you, and sing very well, too. They did a great little medley of “The Nutcracker,” and it was impossible for me not to imagine an alt.ballet performance with a rock-i-fied scored played by the Electric Opera Company. Maybe I wouldn’t sell my soul to make it so, but...

Plazm’s 20th anniversary

Saturday night Plazm, the lushly illustrated and designed magazine, held a party at Disjecta to celebrate its 30th issue and 20th birthday. I’ll be writing more about this feat of wondrous publishing Tuesday in The Oregonian (if all goes according to plan), so look for it there. For now, let’s just say you’d be supporting the angels against the forces of evil design if you purchased a copy of Plazm at Powell’s or Reading Frenzy (or online).

Mark Williams, Organ Recital

This year’s William Byrd Festival has already passed its midpoint, and British organ phenomenon Mark Williams’ short recital Sunday at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral is all I’ve caught so far.

Byrd (1540 or so-1623) wrote some of the great liturgical music of the Anglican Church during the first part of his career, then retired to the country and wrote more music for the Roman Catholic liturgy, which is where his heart was all along it seems. Of course, switching sides in England in the 16th century was devilish business. Torture often was involved of the most hideous sort. Fortunately, Byrd avoided this fate: Maybe he was too great a musician, or too hidden from view during the last years of his life.

Williams’ recital, which included music by Franck, Byrd, Sir Charles Villiers Stanford, J.S. Bach and Lizst all on the theme of “fantasia,” showed us that musically at least Byrd was the one against excess (which is our temporary definition of “devilish,” remember?). Pure, clean, melodic and smart, his Fantasia in D minor had the balance and moderation of the heavenly. Of course, Bach’s Fantasia and Fugue in G minor is a fabulous work for organ and Liszt’s playful Fantasia and Fugue after the Theme B-A-C-H sped up the master, reconfigured him and made something new, all at once. My grandmother would have said, “The little devil,” though she would have meant it in a good way.

Williams, of course, made the organ at Trinity Episcopal itself cry, “The little devil,” as he worked its various nooks and crannies with complete mastery.