I enjoyed this performance very much. But in order to make myself blogworthy beyond the previous sentence, I've latched onto a thesis. So, allow me to bleat this sweeping generalization in reference to five of the six pieces performed in Saturday night's Icebreaker IV: The American Future (Classics of Downtown): The Music of the Future inherently features an interface between instruments of acoustic design and those of electrically based technology.

As the opening to her program message, Elena Dubinets writes, "SCP is committed to supporting the composition and performance of music that elucidates and celebrates, shouts and protests, meditates and contemplates, music written by composers seeking a way to reflect articulately upon these complicated times." The Alex Ross curated program of "Icebreaker IV" certainly meditates and contemplates.

I miss the days of new music festivals in Seattle. In the early 1990s, composer Robert Priest produced Marzena, a Festival of Contemporary Music that brought composers such as Toru Takemitsu and R. Murray Schafer to the Northwest. Performances took place in venues that ranged from traditional concert halls to unique places where the audience was encouraged to bring sleeping bags and pillows to listen to music while in repose. Along with well-known contemporary composers, there were over two dozen other composers from all over the world who would converge in Seattle as part of Marzena.