PERFORMING ARTS

-- Andrew Lindemann Malone

Califone

Despite its smooth Americana-blues sound, Califone is a difficult group to pin down. Time and again during its show Sunday night at Iota, songs that began as straightforward, twangy numbers transformed into more fluid, instrumental jams. While those moments have always existed in the group's music, they have become more striking after leader Tim Rutili's recent move to Los Angeles to pursue soundtrack work.

Califone began its 80-minute set with such an instrumental soundscape while much of the crowd continued to chatter, unaware that the group was performing. But the noise died down as Rutili began to sing "Horoscopic Amputation Honey," an alt-country piece that morphed into a droning instrumental grounded by driving percussion.

Califone's three-piece core was joined onstage by additional musicians: Trumpet and trombone accents spiced up "Pink & Sour"; a second keyboard enhanced Rutili's on "Spider's House"; and local cellist Amy Domingues joined in on "Michigan Girls." Her contributions were particularly stunning on the plaintive "Fisherman's Wife," a highlight of the set with its somber, swooping melodies. Staticky feedback forced the group to stop toward the end of the song, but Califone barely missed a beat, calmly regrouping to play the entire gorgeous number again.

-- Catherine P. Lewis

Contemporary Music Forum

Few of the works in the Contemporary Music Forum's Sunday afternoon concert at the Corcoran Gallery will likely become immediate commercial successes, and mainstream audiences might find much of the program abstruse and, sometimes, downright confusing. But it was all beautiful to hear in the way that the diverse music bespoke bold creators, and today's opaque abstraction could well be tomorrow's classic.

First there was the committed account of "Chromatic Canon" by James Tenney, an American composer who died this year. Fusing the subtle repetitions of minimalism with a rigorous 12-tone language, this work for piano and recorded piano traces an entrancing sonic arc. Pianist Jenny Lin, playing with rhythmic precision, took a subtly transformed figure to variously intense and more fluid places, gradually coloring and darkening the music.

Tom Lopez's "Underground," which features electronic sounds and images, stirred the senses, but only scarcely called to mind the London subway that inspired it. Defined passages morphed into more hazy chords, while photos and videos were projected on a screen. Lawrence Moss's "Korea for Kwartludium" more directly evoked a location, using traditional colors to suggest Asia, albeit through an astringent modernist lens. The players -- violinist Lina Bahn, clarinetist Kathleen Mulcahy, pianist Lin and percussionist Svet Stoyanov -- put the extreme mood and texture changes in high relief.

Roger Reynolds's "Transfigured Wind IV" often seemed more indulgent than probing. Despite Carole Bean's taut solo flute and the skillful use of multi-channel sound to dart birdlike sounds across the hall, the work cried for editing, saying all it had to say and then saying it again. Stoyanov, showing himself to be a marimba virtuoso, reveled in Alejandro Vinao's ever-shifting "Khan Variations." The players capped off the concert with a gripping account of Alexandra Gardner's "Migrations," a pungently attractive ensemble piece. Cellist Ignacio Alcover made strong contributions, while conductor Robert Pound was there to keep its bracing effects and textures in balance.

-- Daniel Ginsberg