Hey diddle diddle:Lisa Bokyo and Nicholas Underhill of the Cleveland Chamber Collective performed at the New Music Faculty and Guest Recital last Sunday.

“I’ve been in the concert business for over 50 years, and I’ve never heard my music played that well,” composer Donald Erb gushed after violin professor Gregory Fulkerson’s performance of his Sonata for Solo Violin (1994) last Sunday night in Kulas Recital Hall. These were kind words completely deserved. Fulkerson delivered spectacular renditions of both Erb’s work and of Daniel Asia’s Sonata for Violin and Piano (2000) in a recital that showed new music can be exciting, innovative and accessible all at the same time.

Erb’s work opened the program. Fulkerson began the piece with an incredible subdued intensity. The first movement, “Vesper,” evoked ancient solemnity with slow, haunting melodic lines and irregular intonation. The scherzo that followed was eerie and energetic, making use of several unconventional techniques including humming and playing the violin with a small stick instead of a bow. Fulkerson’s impeccable coordination in making the switch from bow to stick and back nearly in mid-phrase matched the impeccable precision of his playing.

The third movement, “Ceremony,” was played entirely in harmonics and accompanied by a chime, continuing the sonata’s theme of equating the sacred revival with otherworldliness. Finally, the last movement brought the work back to earth. Titled “Gut Bucket Blues,” Fulkerson executed its rousing, spirited gestures in a manner that was dramatic without being at all flashy.

Daniel Asia’s Sonata for Violin and Piano, which was next on the program, represented a completely different manifestation of “contemporary American music.” Clearly influenced by Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein, Asia’s work was permeated by a natural, open quality and felt heavily influenced by jazz. Fulkerson captured this change of character seamlessly; his sound in this work was appropriately rich, but clear and much more focused than in the Erb sonata.

Asia’s sonata consists of five movements, although the second and fourth are vignettes, filled with idiosyncrasies. The first and last movements are closely based on the same material and thus form a frame around the inner three movements. The literal centerpiece of the sonata is the third movement, marked “grave, maestoso.” Surprisingly romantic for a contemporary work, this movement made up the real emotional essence of the piece. Its sweetness contrasted delightfully with the brash first and fifth movements, its emotional weight counterbalanced by the lightness of the other inner movements. Fulkerson captured the shifting moods of this sonata beautifully, providing a completely captivating performance of a completely captivating work. Guest accompanist Nicholas Underhill also deserves mention for his energetic yet sensitive rendition of the piano accompaniment.

Unfortunately, the guest musicians of the Cleveland Chamber Collective demonstrated that new music is sometimes none of these things, even when performed with impressive technical proficiency. This recital would have done well to end at intermission, after Fulkerson and Underhill left the stage to a standing ovation and the enthusiastic cheers of the audience. There was, however, another work remaining on the program one of Daniel Asia’s earlier works, his Piano Quartet, performed by the Cleveland Chamber Collective.

Much of the audience did not return after intermission, but those who did faced a significant letdown from the highs of the first half. Asia’s earlier work is somewhat plodding, lacking the focus of the later violin sonata, although it picks up momentum as it progresses. The Cleveland Chamber Collective’s performance was undeniably clean and energetic, but quite impersonal.

Violinist Takako Masame, violist Lisa Boyko and cellist Linda Atherton did little to make the work exciting beyond executing the notes and the dynamic markings. Pianist Underhill, already warmed up from the first half, was easily the most animated of the four the others looked at each other only to coordinate specific entrances.

The orchestral backgrounds of the three string players were quite evident in their ability to produce a polished performance with little real communication; this ability, however, made for a lackluster performance of a work that could probably have been better served by more enthusiastic amateurs.