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CHAMBER REVIEW

Brian Wilson, Carol McGonnell, Elizabeth Roe and Saeuun Thorsteinditter Nov. 25 at Schroeder Hall

CLARINET VIRTUOSITY AND SONOROUS NEW MUSIC IN SCHROEDER CONCERT

by Nicki Bell
Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Some new music got a hearing Nov. 25 in Schroeder Hall when the Trio Ariadne, in their second year of SSU residency, played a world premiere as well as a repertoire staple.

The evening’s small and appreciative audience was treated to a Poulenc Clarinet Sonata performance sandwiched between novel instrumental quintet and a probable first local hearing of a Shulamit Ran's “Monologue for an Actor,” written in 1978. Clarinetist Carol McGonnell met the composer last year, and had studied instructions appended to the score such as "flexible, free, make it your own." She told the audience that some of the directions had to be discarded and many things relearned. At the concert multiple copies of sheet music were lined on three stands and the clarinetist seemed to dance from one to the next. Histrionic sounds were heard from the instrument: deep and long resonances, short screeches, hollow vibrations, faint pianissimos and violent bursts of sound. It was a work of exceptional variety ending in a whisper.

Continuing an evening of clarinet virtuosity the B Flat Poulenc Sonata, premiered at Carnegie Hall in 1963 with Benny Goodman and Leonard Bernstein, was heard here with pianist Elizabeth Joy Roe partnering with Ms. McGonnell. The performers captured Poulenc's distinctive palette of tone colors – harlquinesque, theatrical, haunting and playful. Ms. Roe and McGonnell played as if consummate actresses, their physical gestures and facial expressions an expression of universal sound.

Following intermission cellist Saeuun Thorsteinditter, violist Jenny Cho and French hornist Alex Camphouse joined the duo in the first performance of SSU faculty composer Brian Wilson’s "Mixed Multitude." Originally sketched as a concerto grosso, Mr. Wilson moved the piece (based on Exodus from the Bible) into a chamber quintet. The five instruments are the “mixed multitude marching toward freedom” that is contained in Miriam’s poem/prayer when crossing the sea of reeds. The theme is played three times by the horn.

The work opens with a resemblance to the earlier clarinet Monologue with Ms. McGonnell playing declamatory and ardently singing passages that shriek, warble, honk and hold long luscious notes. This line was joined by Mr. Camphouse, then the strings and percussive phrases from piano. Most of this work was chaotic and noisy, and at the end there were crashing waves of sonority fluttering to a quiet end. Clearly the work required formidable performance skills and the Ariadne and colleagues were up to the task.

It was a remarkable concert of provocative music and first-cabin clarinet playing.