It has got to be a little nerve-wracking to play the music of living composers when they are in the audience, but the stakes are even higher when a two-time Grammy winning composer is sitting in the front row, alert as a robin in spring time. Yet members of the Third Angle New Music Ensemble stepped up and played their hearts out last night (May 15) at the Old Church in a concert that primarily featured the music of Jennifer Higdon.
Things started off sort of like a rock concert when the audience (which almost filled the hall to capacity) enthusiastically greeted the performers as they walked onto the stage even though their appearance was somewhat tardy. In a short preparatory remark, Higdon told how the first number on the program, “Celestial Hymns” had been played at the Angel Fire, New Mexico, which is at a very high elevation, and that she had worried that the ensemble there might pass out because of the demands of the music. I got a sense of what she was referring to because clarinetist Todd Kuhns had to breathe life into a note that he sustained for a very long time right at the beginning of the piece. Supported by crisp playing from his comrades, violinist Ron Blessinger, violist Brian Quincey, cellist Hamilton Cheifetz, and pianist Susan Smith, Kuhns used superior breath control to get the most out of this evocative work, and together the ensemble took us to a higher plain that was soothing and satisfying.
Continue reading Third Angle creates upbeat concert of music by Jennifer Higdon
Gathering Note 