Viva L'Arte! Sospiro Winds perform at Someday Lounge

by CMNW guest blogger Lars Campbell

For those of you reading this, I’m going to assume you’re already aware of CMNW’s latest concert series that presents young(ish) professional artists in less conventional venues, so I’ll dispense with any further program synopsis and move along to my take on the concert experience itself—the experience of hearing ensembles who rehearse together all the time, and the difference that makes in a performance.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the many great artists CMNW brings to Portland year-round, but sometimes the short duration of the festival necessitates that artists fly in, rehearse for a couple of days, and on with the show. As a professional musician, I understand this is often the name of the game, and that the ability to perform and play well together on little rehearsal time is a valued commodity. But the magic that comes from hearing an ensemble that lives the music together is something different. What is that difference, you may ask? Are great musicians just great musicians, regardless of how much time they get to play together? Not necessarily.

Sunday at the Someday Lounge, Sospiro Winds gave a concert spanning a good portion of the 20th century wind quintet repertoire to an enthusiastic crowd, everyone enjoying the old adage “not a bad seat in the house.” (Leather couches and the entire audience within one hundred feet of the stage will do that for you.) The group emceed the concert from the stage with each member of the quintet introducing one piece from the concert.

The first piece on the program was “Quintet for Winds” by Pavel Haas, a piece that, reminiscent of Janacek in its soundscape, utilizes the colors of the winds brilliantly. A piece like this really lends itself well to the luxury of endless rehearsal time that pre-established ensembles enjoy! The blend and careful preparation of even the smallest melodic ideas clearly shone through the young quintet’s performance. The only detraction from a truly beautiful performance was the overbalancing of the horn in the mix. (Through some sneaky investigation, I discovered the ensemble had felt the horn was buried in the sound check, and thus asked the sound engineer put up a box to reflect the sound back out to the audience—they overcompensated a bit.)

Next up on the program was Samuel Barber’s “Summer Music,” a beautiful work that Barber wrote for the Chamber Music Society of Detroit in 1953. Again, the subtle clarity achieved through careful preparation is evident, as the dramatic moments for which they aimed were arrived at stunningly, demonstrating thoughtful care for the music itself, highlighting particular passages while giving sheen and color to others. Perhaps the technical finesse of a seasoned professional was slightly lacking in the quick moving triplets near the end, but the feel of the performance trumped these small details.

The last piece on the first half, Elliott Carter’s “Quintet for Woodwinds,” was the highlight of the concert. During its introduction, the Sospiros told the audience it was the first piece they’d performed together as a group, and it certainly showed. The care they granted the passing of themes between instruments was flawless, always an exact balance of the melodic and accompanimental material presented. Moments of the music that required technique felt easy and comfortable, like they’d been playing this work for quite some time.

The second half consisted of two works: György Kurtag’s “Quintet for Winds” and Paquito D’Rivera’s Aires Tropicales. The Kurtag was introduced as a piece about space. I tried to pick up on that vibe while listening, but I didn’t find it. The sonorities were interesting and the playing was quite good, but I didn’t find space. The instrumental control however, was beautiful. One particular moment which stuck out to me was a trill shared by the flute, clarinet and oboe, which was so brilliantly crafted, it created a brand new color—I’ll call it the flariboe.

The final piece of the evening, Aires Tropicales, based on Latin American dances, was written by a jazz saxophonist/clarinetist. Requiring experience in jazz articulations and groove, here the “youth” of the ensemble—and by youth I talk not of the ensemble’s age, but rather its room for growth—revealed itself. The playing of the piece was actually lovely, but the urge to get up and dance never really hit, as it should with properly executed Latin music. The highlight of this work came during the habanera, in a moment of oboe melody over a beautifully balanced bassoon-clarinet accompaniment, in which the lilt of the dance’s rhythm (made most famously known by an aria in Bizet's “Carmen”) was well-achieved. The oboe just floated above, with a striking sense of melody and direction.

The palpable magic of preformed ensembles is one of the benefits of CMNW's new Protege Project, with a vast sense of musicianship on display that’s highly enjoyable. The reflection and precision Sospiro Winds—and Jasper Quartet and Atria Ensemble —can develop and implement through long-term togetherness is something special, and not to be missed.