![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Auros Concert
Last night I attended Auros' last concert of the season. It was, overall, a good concert. Jason Eckardt, one of the professors I interviewed with at Northwestern had a piece on the program and was there, and one of the other composers is on the Peabody faculty, so I felt a little like it was the night of schools that rejected me. I did speak to Mr. Eckardt, though, even though I felt a little uncomfortable about it. To do otherwise would have been rude, and I do like him and his music. Who knows, maybe he backed my application and was overruled. He was quite friendly to me, at any rate.
Here's what I thought of the pieces:
La Farfalle Verde - Armand Qualliotine
This piece did nothing for me. It was pretty bland modern music. I honestly can't say anything more than that about it, because I kept getting bored and letting my attention wander away.
When Wind Comes to Sparse Bamboo - Sean Heim
I really liked this piece for solo saxophone. It was lovely - tuneful yet edgy. The saxophonist, Demetrius Spaneas, gave a great performance, too. You could tell he was really putting a lot into the music.
16 - Jason Eckardt
This was the most innovative piece on the program, requiring a lot of extended techniques (mostly involving breath noise, and speaking syllables into the instrument) from the flutist. And Susan Gall was more than up to the task. The piece had a lot of variety and contrast, both in timbre and content.
Language Instruction - Derek Bermel
This was about the most successful theatrical piece I've seen in a long time. The performance was almost like a play as much as it was a musical performance. It mimicked a language lesson, using motifs as the phrases being taught, with the clarinet as the teacher, and the violin, cello, and piano as the students. It was a lot of fun, as well as effective both musically and dramatically.
Suite: Eight Haiku by Richard Wright - Judah Adashi
This piece for violin and marimba was beautiful. It perfectly reflected the haiku (which were printed in the program, and yest, that is the same richard Wright that wrote Native Son.). The piece was accompanied by a set of paintings that local artist John Vinton had made for the work. The paintings were good - abstracts in muted colors. It all made for a very rich and satisfying experience. I think musicians and artists should collaborate more in this manner. As a bonus, the marimba player, Aya Kaminaguchi, was one of the people I went to school with at Boston Conservatory.
Here's what I thought of the pieces:
La Farfalle Verde - Armand Qualliotine
This piece did nothing for me. It was pretty bland modern music. I honestly can't say anything more than that about it, because I kept getting bored and letting my attention wander away.
When Wind Comes to Sparse Bamboo - Sean Heim
I really liked this piece for solo saxophone. It was lovely - tuneful yet edgy. The saxophonist, Demetrius Spaneas, gave a great performance, too. You could tell he was really putting a lot into the music.
16 - Jason Eckardt
This was the most innovative piece on the program, requiring a lot of extended techniques (mostly involving breath noise, and speaking syllables into the instrument) from the flutist. And Susan Gall was more than up to the task. The piece had a lot of variety and contrast, both in timbre and content.
Language Instruction - Derek Bermel
This was about the most successful theatrical piece I've seen in a long time. The performance was almost like a play as much as it was a musical performance. It mimicked a language lesson, using motifs as the phrases being taught, with the clarinet as the teacher, and the violin, cello, and piano as the students. It was a lot of fun, as well as effective both musically and dramatically.
Suite: Eight Haiku by Richard Wright - Judah Adashi
This piece for violin and marimba was beautiful. It perfectly reflected the haiku (which were printed in the program, and yest, that is the same richard Wright that wrote Native Son.). The piece was accompanied by a set of paintings that local artist John Vinton had made for the work. The paintings were good - abstracts in muted colors. It all made for a very rich and satisfying experience. I think musicians and artists should collaborate more in this manner. As a bonus, the marimba player, Aya Kaminaguchi, was one of the people I went to school with at Boston Conservatory.