I’m Late, I’m Late … (4/18/15)

In my defense, oh heck, I have no defense. On Saturday the 18th, I attended A Concert of Music for Winds presented by L’Amore Della Musica Woodwind Quintet (Cecilia Sparacio, flute; Veroslav Taskov, oboe; Simeon Loring, clarinet; Nancy Vizza, horn; and Lori Brand, bassoon). It was a fairly varied program that included composers who were new to me as well as some I knew well, metaphorically, that is.

Quintet No. 2 in d minor – Giuseppe Cambini (1746–1825)
Trio Sonata in F – Georg F. Handel (1840–1893) (arr. Simeon Loring)
Partita for Wind Quintet (1948) – Irving Fine (1914–1962)
Concerto No. 2 after Vivaldi – J. S. Bach (1685–1750) (arr. Mordechai Rechtman)
Esquisses Hebraiques – Alexander Krein (1883–1951) (arr. Simeon Loring)
Petite Offrande Musicale – Nino Rota (1911–1979)
Vent de Folie – Dider Favre (b. 1961)

I say fairly diversified because a woodwind quintet has its own distinctive sound—the flute tootles, the oboe and clarinet are their reedy selves, the bassoon percolates along, and the horn provides some oomph (and isn’t even a woodwind, but I digress). The Cambini, a composer new to me, had a gentle first movement, even in its more boisterous moments. The second movement was a waltz in a subdued tempo, with the theme passed from player to player. The final movement was brighter in tone and fuller in compositional style. The arrangement of the Handel trio sonata had a gentle opening, once again, and was pastoral, though also playful at times.

The Fine piece had a more modern approach in its opening movement, including some dissonant passages, but only lightly so. The second went off on a tangent, with some of the phrases expanded melodically and harmonically, while the third had dark, thicker chords with slight dissonances, and was in a slower tempo. The fourth movement was dance like and had touches of humor. Its second section was a bit disjointed, but not too far out there. The final movement had lots of filigree, rhythmically, though in a subdued way, even as it got louder and louder before finishing in a gentle manner. Unfortunately, cell phones went off at two different times during this piece. And there was a printed reminder as well as an announcement from the stage at the beginning of the afternoon.

After intermission the Bach opened with a thicker texture than I expected and was pleasant enough. The second movement had a variety of clarinet/horn, clarinet/oboe, and bassoon/horn duos and then a flute/oboe/clarinet trio, all with shifting textures that created interest. While the final movement was bright and tuneful with a lot of busy fingering for all, it didn’t quite hold my interest. The Krein (I’d never heard of him before) had lots of separate phrases that didn’t seem to fit together. It was pretty enough, though. A bassoon solo that led to a clarinet solo was nice, and the clarinet added a touch of a klezmer feeling from time to time.

Nino Rota’s piece really perked along, after an extended introduction, and then returned to the opening theme. It was a nice little jaunt. The Favre (also new to me) was brisk and bright. It sounded like a journey to me—more so like music to accompany a journey, if that makes any sense. While I enjoyed the concert, overall I found the playing to be just a bit on the tame side. I would have preferred a little more oomph.

Though it seemed slightly unwarranted to me, the quintet performed the Humming Chorus from Puccini’s Madama Butterfly as an encore.

ConcertMeister