Concert: Seattle Chambers Players
Performers: Laura De Luca, David Sabee, Mikhail Shmidt, Paul Taub
April 21st, 2009
Poncho Concert Hall
I was very impressed by the first piece of the concert, by Jim Pfeffer. As soon as I walked in to the concert hall, the music started playing, softly, quietly. It was a quartet playing: a clarinet, a cello, a violin and a flute. What strike me at first from composition was perfect way these four instruments were playing together, in a unanimous coherent manner. I tried to listening to the music without watching the stage, in order to draw my attention only to the sound. I realized that I was hardly able to separate the sound of each instrument: they were all intersected in an harmonious way.
This piece was guided by a conductor who was writing numerical scores on a blackboard. This made me realize that such beautiful melodic sound was happening for chance, since the piece was a sort of structured improvisation. The conductor was the heart of the performance: he was giving impulses to the musicians with movements of his hands and arms, but also with his look. He was guiding the sound and each instrument. While watching this performance I noticed that I was trying to focus on the sound, but my brain was automatically analyzing also the movement that was happening on stage: the conductor expressions and impulses, the musicians reactions to the new directions, the movement of their bodies while playing.
The violinist especially captured my attention, because his movement of the body seemed to be representing the sound he was playing. There was unity between the person and the instrument, and this reflected on the music he was playing: pure, honest, dramatic.
The music of this piece was overall melodic and harmonious. Because the different instruments were integrating and collaborating with each other, it was hard to recognize one single melody. The melody was therefore created by the unity of the quartet. The music was continuous, it never had breaks or pauses. This continuity make me even more curious about the source of inspiration the composer had in order to make this specific choice. The continuity and smoothness of the ensemble allow the piece to be extremely pleasant. Each instrument was following separate directions but the musicians were able to be aware of each other, therefore to make a whole coherent sound.
