Lisa told me during my week’s trial in June for the eighth blackbird flute position that the group had never canceled a concert in all of the ten years they had played together professionally. That is commitment.
A concert in late Fall is always going to be a minefield for illness - and at tonight’s 3P concert in Richmond, VA, while Lisa battled a minor case of somethin’ nasty, Matt managed to sniffle loudly (better described as a ’snort’, perhaps?) directly into his microphone during the performance of a soft, fragile, ambient amplified piece by Ira Mowitz.
The diverse program provoked a diverse reaction. ‘I liked the end of the first piece and nothing else’; ‘I loved two of the pieces - really interesting textures - and thought everything else was crap’; ‘I loved it all’; ‘I hated it all’. God bless contemporary music. And god bless Ben Broening for programming a concert with something for everyone. Ben’s piece for clarinet and pre-recorded clarinet ‘double’ was quite simply gorgeous, and Ashley Fure’s piece Susurrus seemed to be very well received by a wide range of people. I was pleasantly chuffed by the reaction to my performance of Vermont Counterpoint, a great little flute showcase that I hope to somehow tour in the future.
Comments 1
I’ll comment on this entry first, because I was at this very concert last night, and can attest to the veracity of Tim’s description of Matthew’s snort. (As his father, I tenaciously cling to the more-than-30-year-old habit of calling him “Matthew,” but the rest of you may call him “Matt”). It probably started out as a sniffle, but was caught short when he realized, belatedly, that there was an open mic nearby, and came out as described. Definitely not susurrific.
That’s why we love live performances: there’s always something happening.
Ben’s piece for Michael was quite beatiful: lyrical and complex and subtle, and realized perfectly.
Tim deserved to be chuffed about “Vermont Counterpoint,” it was a bravura performance that also managed to seem easy; his comfort with the music was palpable. It was an honour to hear it. (I mean an honor.) (”Chuffed”?)
Good show.
Posted 04 Nov 2006 at 9:46 am ¶Post a Comment