Review of concert

Alea III: Soloists of Alea III

Wednesday, December 7, 2005, 8:00 PM
Tsai Performance Center , Boston University , Boston , MA

Each season, Alea III music director Theodore Antoniou relinquishes the podium to let his players present small chamber items. Not every opus pleased here, but several did, enough to make this an enjoyable event.

The prize for cleanest architecture this evening went to Michael Damian's Marsyas --Sonata-Improvisation for Flute . Rather than a true sonata form construct, this attractively supple entry utilizes a five-part arch, with the centerpiece serving as development and the last sections festooning their recapitulated ideas with gossamer filigree. Both Geppetto's Workshop by Michael Gandolfi for flute/piano duo and Three Pictures from "The Devil in the Flesh" by Jay Reise for two pianos meld Impressionist sonics with process writing, the former more pervasively employing minimalist trappings. Here, we encounter ably-built edifices anchoring irresistible facades. Fortunately, neither sound like clones of the other -- both Gandolfi and Reise imbue their music with clear stylistic fingerprints.

For violin, clarinet, and piano, Paul Chihara's fine Trio Nostalgico proves plenty eclectic without resorting to sloppy eccentricity. Its multi-sectional construction outlines an intuitive yet well-balanced format. And despite elements of jazz and klezmer, this work proves motivically airtight, deftly deriving its material from the Bill Withers chart favorite "Ain't No Sunshine When She's Gone."

Other selections were less successful. Corollary IV for trombone and piano by Brian Fennelly is angular, dense, and square, a mating of Milton Babbitt and Alec Wilder that regrettably synthesizes the least attractive elements of both composers. And all one needs to know about George Couroupos's ill-advised mini-musical The Little Red Riding Hood [sic], based on James Thurber's wry retelling of this classic fairy tale, is that its vocal lines neither engage nor compel.

Performances were generally excellent, with the Chihara and Gandolfi entities benefiting from especially persuasive renditions. Flautist Alicia DiDonato and pianist Hugh Hinton played the latter with a perfect mix of compassion, energy, and control while Krista Buckland Reiser (violin), Michael Norsworthy (clarinet), and Yukiko Shimazaki (piano) reveled in the Chihara's intense, fiery passages. Keyboardist Konstantinos Papadakis joined Shimazaki in a colorful, well-balanced reading of Reise's piece, while Melissa Mielens's flute playing smartly captured the warmth embedded in Marsyas's pages.

--David Cleary