Henry Brant

Joshua Kosman's obituary of Henry Brant in today's Chronicle thrust me back seventeen years into the faded, jaded pomp of the Veterans Green Room on a night when the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players and baritone Michael Ingham joined forces with the composer to present his Pathways to Security, a strange, delightfully ritualistic piece we had co-commissioned. Brant's earnest and erudite-seeming program note was impenetrable to the point that none of us dared question it, including the reviewer. Now I see it as entirely tongue in cheek: a composer laughing up one sleeve and down the other. The piece ended with what I recall as a solemn procession of singer--invoking the gods in a complex, invented language, composer--improvising ecstatically on keyboard mouth organ, and instrumentalists--no doubt struggling to play the music and follow along in line at the same time. After all, even for the clarinetist, it had been too many years since high school marching band!

Brant has many zealous admirers, including especially former students, here in the Bay Area who showed up excitedly whenever his music was played. In addition to remembering Brant's own compositions, I would also call attention to his extraordinarily satisfying CD of Charles Ives' songs, again with Michael Ingham as singer and with Brant on piano. It seems to be out of print, but some copies can be found on the internet and it is well worth having.