Lucky Lindsay: I got to hear the terrific Imani Winds – not just once, but twice. Thursday’s third Music in Time program was devoted entirely to them – and I was part of their absolutely enchanted Simmons Recital Hall audience. It was quite a different experience, compared to their big gig at the Gaillard the night before – where they And the (very noisy) Spoleto Festival Orchestra blew us all away with their brilliant traversal of David Newman’s big Concerto for Winds … you can read all about it right HERE.
But Thurdsay, they did their more everyday thing: performing as the polished and exuberant chamber ensemble that they are. As series host John Kennedy told us, this Grammy-nominated, all-African-American quintet has done for the classical wind quintet what the revered Kronos Quartet did for the string quartet. Though classically grounded, they – like the Kronos folks – concentrate on the chamber music of today: performing modern classics and the latest creations from promising contemporary tunesmiths, many of which they commission themselves. Visit their nifty website to find out more (that saves me from listing all their names, too!) – or if you’d care to support their ongoing efforts to enrich the wind quintet repertoire.
They kicked things off with a promising pair of fairly short works composed by their own gifted members. Titilayo (meaning “eternal joy”) – by French horn whiz Jeff Scott – was built on catchy snippets of roots music, in an overall context of manic momentum and perky pizzazz. Then we heard fab flutist Valerie Coleman’s Portraits of Josephine: a four-movement suite commemorating the legendary Josephine Baker, whose hundredth birthday comes up this year. It’s a series of musical “snapshots” of her varied life – from her early years in St. Louis to her glory years in France, where (among other things) she tried to establish sort of a “rainbow utopia” at her Les Milandes castle. The music was engaging and evocative – especially the bluesy musings of the St. Louis section.
Next on the menu was Ten Pieces for Wind Quintet, by Hungarian marvel György Ligeti: one of the giants of the late 20th Century. These mostly very short pieces (some well under a minute) explore all the varied sounds, effects and tone-colors that a woodwind quintet is capable of. We heard everything: grumbling low textures, collective squawks (and what sounded like sneezes), tense dissonances, twittering cacophony, in-your-face tonal “splats,” etc. We even got to experience the phenomenon of “ghost tones” – a creepy overtone effect that’s produced when the various woodwinds play high notes in a certain way. I could’ve sworn that there was a faint clarinet somewhere behind me.
The next number — Terra Incognita – was commissioned from Jazz giant Wayne Shorter: a number that the composer later told them they could play as freely as they wanted to — (like ignore the bar lines and meters). That probably means an invitation to improvise — and it sounded like that’s just what they did. I bet it never sounds the same twice. It was brainy, hip, and oh-so spontaneous. I loved it.
They finished up with the evening’s best-known piece: Argentinian composer Astor Piazzola’s Libertango, as arranged for wind quintet. As in most of his work, this music explores the outer limits of the tango: the languorous dance music of his native Buenos Aires. It gave us sultry Latino strains, but elevated to classical complexity. It’s always a treat, but this bunch made it sound extra-special.
If you weren’t there … I’m sorry.
The Imani Winds – By Themselves
Lucky Lindsay: I got to hear the terrific Imani Winds – not just once, but twice. Thursday’s third Music in Time program was devoted entirely to them – and I was part of their absolutely enchanted Simmons Recital Hall audience. It was quite a different experience, compared to their big gig at the Gaillard the night before – where they And the (very noisy) Spoleto Festival Orchestra blew us all away with their brilliant traversal of David Newman’s big Concerto for Winds … you can read all about it right HERE.
But Thurdsay, they did their more everyday thing: performing as the polished and exuberant chamber ensemble that they are. As series host John Kennedy told us, this Grammy-nominated, all-African-American quintet has done for the classical wind quintet what the revered Kronos Quartet did for the string quartet. Though classically grounded, they – like the Kronos folks – concentrate on the chamber music of today: performing modern classics and the latest creations from promising contemporary tunesmiths, many of which they commission themselves. Visit their nifty website to find out more (that saves me from listing all their names, too!) – or if you’d care to support their ongoing efforts to enrich the wind quintet repertoire.
They kicked things off with a promising pair of fairly short works composed by their own gifted members. Titilayo (meaning “eternal joy”) – by French horn whiz Jeff Scott – was built on catchy snippets of roots music, in an overall context of manic momentum and perky pizzazz. Then we heard fab flutist Valerie Coleman’s Portraits of Josephine: a four-movement suite commemorating the legendary Josephine Baker, whose hundredth birthday comes up this year. It’s a series of musical “snapshots” of her varied life – from her early years in St. Louis to her glory years in France, where (among other things) she tried to establish sort of a “rainbow utopia” at her Les Milandes castle. The music was engaging and evocative – especially the bluesy musings of the St. Louis section.
Next on the menu was Ten Pieces for Wind Quintet, by Hungarian marvel György Ligeti: one of the giants of the late 20th Century. These mostly very short pieces (some well under a minute) explore all the varied sounds, effects and tone-colors that a woodwind quintet is capable of. We heard everything: grumbling low textures, collective squawks (and what sounded like sneezes), tense dissonances, twittering cacophony, in-your-face tonal “splats,” etc. We even got to experience the phenomenon of “ghost tones” – a creepy overtone effect that’s produced when the various woodwinds play high notes in a certain way. I could’ve sworn that there was a faint clarinet somewhere behind me.
The next number — Terra Incognita – was commissioned from Jazz giant Wayne Shorter: a number that the composer later told them they could play as freely as they wanted to — (like ignore the bar lines and meters). That probably means an invitation to improvise — and it sounded like that’s just what they did. I bet it never sounds the same twice. It was brainy, hip, and oh-so spontaneous. I loved it.
They finished up with the evening’s best-known piece: Argentinian composer Astor Piazzola’s Libertango, as arranged for wind quintet. As in most of his work, this music explores the outer limits of the tango: the languorous dance music of his native Buenos Aires. It gave us sultry Latino strains, but elevated to classical complexity. It’s always a treat, but this bunch made it sound extra-special.
If you weren’t there … I’m sorry.