Posted by dmmorris on October 28, 2002 at 12:43:28:
I had the oportunity to hear the Meridian Art Ensemble once again yesterday afternoon at UNC (Chapel-Hill, NC).They had programmed a very strenuous program for this concert. They played excellently!!
> 3 German Renaissance pieces by Schein (SP?). The perfect opener for a "main stream" Brass Concert. Played tight and clear. The hall had a very nice natural reverb that made the cadences on this piece sound really beautiful. It lulled the audience into a false sense of security for what was to come!
> 2 fanfares by Stravinsky coupled w/ 2 pieces by Carlo Gesualdo. I love Gesualdo........a true wacko, writing harmony lines way-out left-of-center of his contemporaries.
> A piece call Corpus commissioned for them in '97 by David Sanford. I had not heard this before. Very American, each section with new life in it and the final section w/ decidedly bebop underpinnings. ......I liked it a lot and it gave us a good listen to the "new guy", Brian McWorter (he had an extended solo improv' part in the last movement), very cool!
Intermission
> Slim in Beaten Dreamers by Nick Didkovsky. What can I say...............very crunchy suite in 15 parts, most impossibly difficult for mere mortals to play. MAE claimed that yesterday was only the second time this work has ever been performed in public. It was killer!
> 2 pieces by Don Van Vliet
> 3 pieces by Frank Zappa. Including Echidna's Arf one of my fav's.
They are playing the same sets tonight at ...................
Monday October 28
NCSA: Meridian Arts Ensemble (brass & percussion)
Program: Music by Carlo Gesualdo, Frank Zappa, etc.
Crawford Hall, NCSA, Winston-Salem. 8:00 p.m.
$8, seniors/students $6. 336/721-1945 or http://www.ncarts.edu/ncsaprod/performances/calendars.asp
Go check 'em out!
Regards,
dmm