A Mesh of Sounds

An alluring array of sounds filled St. Paul's German Lutheran Church in Manhattan on Tuesday evening during a performance of the Brazilian-born composer Felipe Lara's 'Voz de Ventos' ('Voices of the Winds'), part of the imaginative Chelsea Music Festival. Mr. Lara advised the audience not to turn around and watch the clarinetist Danny Goldman, the flutist Caitlyn Phillips and the bassoonist Brad Balliett as they played in a balcony at the back of the church, but to focus instead on how the music traveled in space.

The lights were dimmed as what sounded like a chorus of deep breathers echoed through the church. It seemed as if more than three instruments were at work as unearthly timbres blended in a microtonal mesh, the music flowing and ebbing in intensity as the low rumblings of the bassoon underpinned the bright sound of the flute.

This year's festival features a German-Brazilian theme inspired by the birth and death anniversaries of Richard Strauss, Heitor Villa-Lobos and C. P. E. Bach, with concerts intertwined with visual and culinary themes. Bach was represented on the first half of the 'Voices, Winds and Paths' program, when Michael Culo conducted the Collegium Iuvenum Stuttgart Boys Choir in a lineup that traced the development of sacred German choral music from Bach and two other baroque composers, Heinrich Schütz and Andreas Hammerschmidt, through Beethoven and Mendelssohn. The choir (ranging in age from children to young men) sang with polish and expressive phrasing, although texts and translations would have been welcome.

The choir joined the Sirius Quartet for the premiere of the German composer and violinist Gregor Huebner's 'Six Songs of Innocence,' a lyrical setting of poems by William Blake. The most memorable moments were for string quartet, with the ensemble showing its versatility and flair with lively improvisations. During one section the Sirius violinists (Mr. Huebner and Fung Chern Hwei) engaged in a spirited duo, Mr. Chern Hwei beating time with his bow on his violin to accompany Mr. Huebner's fiddling.

The Sirius's performance of 'Paths Become Lines,' a recent work by Jeremy Harman, the group's cellist, proved another highlight. Driving rhythms and aggressive arpeggios were woven around an elusive cello melody in this engaging score, further enhanced by the improvisatory flair of the two violinists during their lively midpiece jam session.

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