Sanford Margolis Archives - Cleveland Classical

CD Review
Kendra Colton: Late Air —
Music by John Harbison

July 17, 2020 by Mike Telin

by Mike Telin

Composer John Harbison has done it all. His numerous awards include a MacArthur Fellowship and a Pulitzer Prize. He has written works for many of America’s leading musical organizations and has served as composer in residence with the Pittsburgh Symphony and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. His catalogue includes three operas, seven symphonies, twelve concerti, a ballet, six string quartets, numerous chamber works, and a large body of sacred music. On her latest CD, Late Air — Music by John Harbison, soprano and Oberlin voice professor Kendra Colton reminds us that the celebrated composer has a special talent for writing art songs — she also proves herself to be a sensitive interpreter of them. [Read more…]

Review: eighth blackbird returns to play with the Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble

October 15, 2013 by Special to ClevelandClassical.com

by Mike Telin

Founded at Oberlin, the contemporary music sextet eighth blackbird had a triumphant homecoming on Friday, October 4 in Warner Concert Hall, when the three-time Grammy-winning ensemble joined with the Oberlin Conservatory’s Contemporary Music Ensemble (CME) in a brilliant concert for a large and enthusiastic crowd. Throughout the evening, eighth blackbird confirmed its reputation as one of the world’s preeminent chamber music ensembles. And from all appearances, the future of new music is in good hands with the members of CME.

Premieres by Oberlin faculty members Tom Lopez and Peter Swendsen bookended the concert. Each work is scored for two identical groups of instruments — flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano and percussion plus electronics. Both were given inspired performances by eighth blackbird and CME.

Lopez’s Skipping Stones (2013) is an evocative work reminiscent of tossing rocks into the water while floating down a placid river — an effect achieved through the tossing of musical motives from one group of six to the other. [Read more…]

Meridian Arts Ensemble cast a wide net at the Bop Stop (Nov. 8)

by Stephanie Manning

The Meridian Arts Ensemble specialize in the avant garde, but they’re dextrous enough to flip between all kinds of genres. So, what was Joseph Haydn’s Feldpartie — written in 1780 — doing on the program next to George Lewis’ uber-contemporary Tightrope? Quite a lot, as it turns out.

Presented by No Exit, the brass quintet’s November 8 concert at the Bop Stop had something to satisfy fans of modern and traditional music alike. The cheery Feldpartie, appearing just after intermission, balanced out some of the evening’s more thorny works.

Originally written for an outdoor band, this arrangement by trumpet player and group founder Jon Nelson allowed the five players to anchor themselves in a satisfying blend. Nelson, fellow trumpet player Matthew Onstad, horn player Daniel Grabois, trombonist Faustino Díaz Mendez, and tuba player Tom Curry treated the charming mini symphony with love and care. [Read on…]

Cleveland Repertory Orchestra’s season opener contemplates circles of life (Nov. 2)

by Stephanie Manning

“This moment is full of wonders.” Composer Anna Clyne meditated on those words — written by Buddhist monk and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh — as she wrote her orchestral work This Moment. That theme, of learning to cherish life more by reflecting on death, underscored most of the music chosen for the Cleveland Repertory Orchestra’s program on November 2.

The Cultural Arts Center at Disciples Christian Church hosted the season-opening concert, titled “Reflection and Revelations.” The venue’s dry acoustic helped the textures remain clear in Clyne’s piece, a somber and meditative seven minutes. [Read on…]

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