PERFORMING ARTS

Friday, March 17, 2006

Eric Lowen and Dan Navarro

Eric Lowen and Dan Navarro ended the first of two sold-out Rams Head shows on Wednesday with a casual, unamplified performance of the Pat Benatar hit "We Belong," surrounded by a crooning crowd. It wasn't just the romantic ballad that made listeners' eyes misty: Lowen and Navarro, who have been writing and playing together for almost 20 years, are making what is likely their farewell tour.

Unlike their obvious progenitors Simon & Garfunkel, they're not being split by acrimony. Lowen has Lou Gehrig's disease -- "the closest connection I've ever had to professional baseball," he quipped. His disease was diagnosed on St. Patrick's Day 2004, and a song inspired by the illness, "Learning to Fall," bore an appropriate Celtic lilt. At the end of the giddy waltz, Lowen pushed his voice into a high harmony, almost a wail, triumphant. He showed no difficulty playing sometimes gentle, sometimes defiant finger-picked guitar and mandolin -- or lifting a glass of merlot.

Phil Parlapiano added a jazz edge with keyboards and squeezebox, and Robbie Magruder on drums and J.T. Brown on bass brought the rhythm. Navarro sang low harmonies and most of the leads, including lyrics that took on a certain pathos, such as: "Facts I could not erase/Exploded in my face/What I could not repair/I just left lying there."

Lowen and Navarro's legacy will be strong. At best, their songs hit on fundamental truths with a simplicity that is moving beyond expectation.

What will be missed most are the men's vitality and affection. Recalling a recent tribute concert in Austin, Lowen recounted his partner's damp eyes: "I think he was cryin' because he was out of tune or something."

-- Pamela Murray Winters

Baltimore Opera

Jake Heggie's "Dead Man Walking" is a first-rate opera that received a strong performance from the Baltimore Opera Company on Wednesday evening at the Lyric Opera House. The opera is a clear-eyed and moving exploration of capital punishment as seen through the eyes of Sister Helen Prejean, whose novel on her encounters with death row inmates sparked Tim Robbins's 1995 film of the same title. With a tightly crafted libretto of Terrence McNally and Heggie's attractive if overly smoothed-out score, the opera sensitively deals with themes of cruelty, forgiveness and redemption.

American mezzo-soprano Theodora Hanslowe gave a stunning portrayal of Sister Helen, capturing the conflicting dedication and doubt of a nun who seeks to rescue a convicted murderer from his demons. The role of the condemned criminal, Joseph De Rocher, was taken by baritone John Packard, who gave a searing performance filled with ardor and pathos. Soprano Diana Soviero sang with equal parts power and beauty as De Rocher's loyal mother, while several other cast members, including Kishna Davis as Sister Rose and Kelly Anderson as the father of murdered girl, artfully filled their parts.

Patrick Summers -- who conducted in the world premiere performances in San Francisco in 2000 -- elicited supple playing from the orchestra. Rarely straying from a narrow tonal center, the orchestration becomes somewhat predictable over the two acts. Thankfully, the alternating rhythmic and lyrical passages provide consistently nurturing support to the vocal solos and ensembles, which are superbly crafted and emotionally engaging.

Without taking sides or ultimately resolving the larger moral questions, this opera smartly reflects the gray area of the death penalty debate. The performance repeats tonight and Sunday afternoon.

-- Daniel Ginsberg

'Via Kabul'

The West has much to learn from Central Asian musicians -- chiefly, that less is more. An opportunity for that lesson came Wednesday at the Freer Gallery, from the musicians of "Via Kabul: Central Asia Without Borders." Three groups of Central Asian performers displayed their complex, transfixing art before a capacity audience: the Ensemble Tengir-Too from Kyrgyzstan; Homayun Sakhi and Toryalai Hashimi from Afghanistan; and the Academy of Maqam from Tajikistan. All were clad in shimmering native brocades and embroidered robes.

The Tengir-Too performed on an array of modest-size instruments: assorted versions of the gourd-shaped komuz (bowed and strummed lutes, some no larger than ping-pong paddles) and the tiny jew's-harp. These were played with the artistry and impact of concerto soloists in Western concert halls. The instruments accompanied singers in elaborate chantlike narrations of ancient folk tales.

Playing on a rubab (long-necked lute) and small tablas (hand drums), the Afghan duo engaged in sometimes mirthful flights of fancy with long mesmerizing chains of complex rhythmic patterns climaxing in boisterous fortissimos. The Tajikistan instrumentalists supported several singers in songs of human longing and despair. Brilliantly attired in a shimmering silvery gown and jeweled headpiece, a dancer underscored the vocal themes in pliant head and arm gestures and jingling wrist bells.

-- Cecelia Porter

The Ventures

There was no getting around the fact that the Ventures are getting on in age. Rhythm guitarist Don Wilson, 73, even made a joke about him and a younger woman ("Could you be interested in an older man?" "Why, do you have a son?"). The title of the first song, "Walk, Don't Run," described how the quartet took the stage Wednesday night at the Birchmere.

But you had to be thrilled to have them in front of you at all. As the best-selling instrumental rock-and-roll band ever, the Ventures have arguably accounted for more electric guitar sales and influenced more professional and basement guitarists in the last 46 years than any other ("Walk, Don't Run" reached No. 2 on the Billboard chart in 1960).

And still they aren't in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, unduly flagged as a cover band. There's a movement afoot to correct this oversight, but the Hall of Fame better get moving. Lead guitarist Nokie Edwards, 70, leaned on a stool and played surf rev-ups such as "Telstar," "Penetration" and "Out of Limits" with hardly any movement other than his fingers. He rarely turned his head to look at his fretboard. He performed "Sleepwalk" as if enacting it.

The younger members of the band -- bassist Bob Spalding, merely a 30-year veteran of the group, and drummer Leon Taylor, the thirty-something son of the late drummer Mel -- frequently energized songs with flashes of rock fury such as on "Wipe Out," but things eventually lost their urgency again.

The Ventures may be vintage, but give them credit for drawing a crowd to the Birchmere that rarely goes out anymore, unless it's to the deck of a cruise ship, and most of those fans stood patiently in a long line after the show to meet their heroes.

-- Buzz McClain