Going all athletic on us, Meister? Not in the least. This Subway Series is one concert in each of the five boroughs, performed by members of the St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble. The Ensemble forms the core of the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. This year’s program (and I believe it was the 10th annual—how could I have missed this for nine years?) was titled Brass Gardens. I caught the quintet at their Bryant Park concert in Manhattan after work on a beautiful early-autumn evening. It was also a food drive, and since I had just bought some cheese-filled spinach tortellini, I donated the box to the food drive.TMI? On to the music, then.
The performers were Carl Albach and John Dent, trumpets; Patrick Pridemore, French horn; Michael Powell, trombone; and John Rojak, bass trombone.
The program:
Grand Valley Fanfare, Eric Ewazen (b. 1954)
Three Venetian Canzoni (ed. Ray Mase): Canzon 19, Gioseffo Guami (1540–1611); Ricercar del sesto tuono, Andrea Gabrielli (1520–1586); and Canzon 22, Bastian Chilese (b. ca. 1600)
Colchester Fantasy, Ewazen
Elizabethan Consort Music (ed. Mase)
West Side Story Suite, Leonard Bernstein (ed. Jack Gale): Tonight, Maria, I Feel Pretty, Somewhere, and America
The opening fanfare was just that—a brassy, sassy, very pleasant fanfare in a clean style, but with some modern (yet listenable) harmonies. The Venetian Canzoni had nicely shaped dynamics with clean, clear lines in the Guami. The Gabrielli was a quartet (no French horn) with both trumpeters switching out to flugelhorns. The Chilese was both song-like and fugue-like.
Two (of four) movements (all named for pubs) were played from the Colchester Fantasy. The Rose and Crown had a dirge-like opening followed by a brisker section with, once again, modern writing, but still musical and not too far out there, and then a return to the dark chords of the opening. The Red Lion chugged along with a lot of forward movement, even in its slower middle section, and ended with calmer chords.
The Consort Music was arranged for the brass from what originally would have been a consort of viols. Eight dances were listed in the program, but I’m not sure all eight were played. A partial list of composers includes Thomas Morley, Thomas Weelkes, and John Dowland. All of the pieces were interesting examples of what I think of when I think of Elizabethan courtly dances. Some were bright and brisk while others were slightly somber.
West Side Story did not fare quite as well as some of the other arrangements. With only a quintet, some of the lines seemed a bit thin and shallow. Tonight had a couple of bobbles, while Maria had some writing for the lower instruments that was muddy at times. The low writing worked perfectly in I Feel Pretty, though, when the main theme was given to the bass trombone—witty and effective. Somewhere wants to be shimmery, and that’s somewhat hard to pull off outdoors with a brass quintet. America finished the suite off with a bang. Perhaps the familiarity of the music worked against it. I wanted it to be super, but it just didn’t quite make it there for me. YMMV.
A nice Scott Joplin rag, Easy Winners, was played as an encore. I enjoyed it, although the tempo was a little too brisk for my taste. All in all, a very enjoyable evening of brass music. I look forward to next year’s musical Subway Series.
ConcertMeister
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