Word: instruments
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Handel and Haydn Society, self-styled "America's Premier Chorus and Period Orchestra," features many interesting baroque instruments, several of which shone in solos in L'Allegro. A baroque flute, for example, enjoyed a lovely solo and interchange with Saffer in Part I, marred only by slight stumbling in the first few bars. The instrument, though held and played like a modern flute, is of black enamel, and considerably wider in diameter. Also fascinating were the horns, ancestors to the modern French horn, which had no stops and could only be played in the primary overtone series, manipulated...
With nary an indication of a downbeat from Gatti, the lower strings slid into the haunting opening strains of Schubert's Unfinished Symphony, displaying a rhythmic alliance so perfectly refined that it truly seemed as if only one instrument were present. The placement of the cellos between the second violins and the violas allowed for a heightened clarity, producing a concentrated, almost sinewy tone that typified the Allegro Moderato. The first movement elapsed without any fiery outbursts; Gatti instead focused intently upon the lyric strains of the oboe and clarinet. His conducting was comprised of a fairly conventional fluidity...
...youth of the marimba, first manufactured in its modern form in 1910. The viola, comparatively, seems to have been around forever. Mary E. Kissel's solo marimba recital, heralded as the first solo marimba recital ever given in Adams House, managed to succeed in making a contemporary instrument, and contemporary music, both fascinating and accessible...
...program alternated between works by Japanese and American composers, more than half of which, including the piece by Kissel herself, were written by women. Such new music for a relatively new instrument creates an interesting circumstance for most audiences: expectation defined by the instrument itself, rather than a repertoire of standard works or recordings of well known performers. In many ways, the marimba is a very limited instrument. The wood bars that generate the sound make subtle fluctuations of pitch (vibrato) impossible. The metal tubes under each bar--the resonators--provide only a few seconds worth of audible sustain...
Next up was "Youthful Bliss," a McBride original from his recent album as leader, Number Two Express. McBride took great liberties with his solo section, quadruple-timing figures in a way that seemed impossible on such a cumber-some instrument. Throughout it all, the bassist made it look effortless, never belying the technical hurdles he had to overcome in order to play such difficult intervals in such awkward positions. McBride was very much in a groove--toward the end of his solo, Redman interjected with a few notes, as if to indicate it was his turn. Through...