imani winds – quasi-faust

Imani Winds
Southern Theatre
Columbus, OH
February 19, 2022

Coleman: Umoja
Nathalie Joachim: Seen
Crawford Seeger: Suite for Wind Quintet
León: De Memorias
Esmail: The Light is the Same
Coleman: Afro-Cuban Concerto

Chamber Music Columbus’ first program of 2022 brought the dynamic Imani Winds to the Southern Theatre in a diverse, wide-ranging program, with all works by women composers. Valerie Coleman’s Umoja made for a bright and joyous opening. Coleman was the founder and former flutist of Imani, and Umoja has become her signature piece; transcriptions exist for a variety of other ensembles in addition to this original incarnation for wind quintet.

Imani Winds, L-R: Mark Dover, Brandon Patrick George, Monica Ellis, Kevin Newton, and Toyin Spellman-Diaz, photo credit Shervin Lainez

Haitian-American composer Nathalie Joachim wrote Seen as part of Imani’s Legacy Commissioning Project, an initiative which has produced a wealth of new music. A recent work, premiered just last year, Seen is comprised of five short movements, one for each member of the quintet, depicting their colorful, distinctive personalities in charming vignettes. Each of their respective instruments were emphasized in turn, with the other members present but relegated to the background; in the second selection I was especially struck by the expressive range of the busy bassoon (Monica Ellis).

The first half closed with the Suite for Wind Quintet by Ruth Crawford Seeger (stepmother to folk singer Pete Seeger), a major force in twentieth century American music who likely never realized her full potential owing to the gender barriers of the time. The 1952 work employs a serialist language, sophisticated but without sounding dryly academic, and Imani handled the considerable technical challenges with grace and precision. The whirlwind finale made for an imposing close, and the taut coordination between flute (Brandon Patrick George) and bassoon was a standout.

Tania León’s De Memorias was a piquant and evocative reflection of her childhood in Cuba, contrasting a pulsating ostinato with more free-sounding, rhapsodic material. Reena Esmail’s The Light is the Same is featured on Imani’s Grammy-nominated album Bruits. It’s a remarkable amalgamation of Western and Hindustani musical traditions, with a sinewy oboe line (Toyin Spellman-Diaz) introducing the raga on which it is based. A piccolo passage, gently floating above the rest of the ensemble, made for a strikingly ethereal moment, and one was quite taken by the rhythmic complexities of the dance-inflected finale.

The program closed with another piece by Coleman, the Afro-Cuban Concerto, dating from 2001. As the title indicated, the quintet took on a larger than life role, effectively functioning as a mini orchestra. The recurring 6/8 rhythmic gestures were given an energetic workout in the opening “Afro” movement, while the central “Vocalise” proved just as lyrical and songful as the moniker suggested. The closing “Danza” was spirited and played with aplomb, replete with a gleaming horn solo (Kevin Newton) as well as some intricate passagework from the clarinet (Mark Dover).

Stephen Hough, piano
Imani Winds
Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse
Lincoln Center
New York, NY
August 10, 2018

Debussy: Clair de lune from Suite bergamasque
Mozart: Quintet in E-flat major for Piano and Winds, K452
Poulenc: Sextet for Piano and Wind Quintet, FP 100

Encore:
Poulenc, arr. Hough: No. 1 from Trois mouvements perpétuels, FP 14

Right on the heels of the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra’s concluding performance of the summer season, one had a late-night opportunity to see pianist Stephen Hough in a much more intimate setting: a remarkable chamber music performance with the Imani Winds at the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse, part of the festival’s A Little Night Music series. Hough opened the program sans winds in a luminous, shimmering account of Debussy’s Clair de lune. Debussy is a composer to whom Hough has recently turned ample attention, releasing a very fine all-Debussy album at the beginning of the year (although one would need to look to his French Album for a recording of the present work). The acoustics in the Penthouse were a bit dry, but the striking setting of flickering candlelight and the Manhattan skyline made it a small price to pay, an atmospheric complement to the rapturous beauty of Hough’s pianism.

hough_pic46_large — Stephen Hough, photo credit Sim Canetty-Clarke

The remainder of the brief program was devoted to sterling examples of chamber works for piano and winds by Mozart and Poulenc. Hough noted that these disparate composers had little in common musically save for their wry sense of humor. A stately introduction opened the former’s Quintet (K452), giving way to a jaunty primary theme which beautifully melded Hough’s elegant keyboard playing with the graceful winds – a harmonious blend of diverse timbres. The Larghetto was sweet and dulcet in its delicate trills and ornaments, and an almost sinfully sumptuous melody was passed through the winds. The finale was a jovial affair yet in no apparent hurry with a lyrical subject at its core.

Poulenc’s Sextet, dating from the early 1930s, added the flute to the forces onstage. The commanding opening brought to life a scene bustling with coloristic contrasts and manic syncopations evoking American ragtime. A searching monologue in the bassoon (Monica Ellis) and impressionistic writing from the piano offered some introspection, only for the movement to conclude in a dramatic flourish. An underlying melancholy – perhaps another parallel to Mozart – was palpable in the central divertissement with some especially fine playing from oboist Toyin Spellman-Diaz. More frenzied contrast was manifest in due course, with a rambunctious and perky finale leading inexorably to a bright and brilliant end.

A lone encore continued the ensemble’s exploration of Poulenc, namely Hough’s own transcription for the sextet of the first of the Mouvements perpétuels (originally a work for solo piano). Hough was certainly apt in remarking it had “not a bit of angst”, and the seamless performance closed the evening in pure delight.

IMANI_WINDS_7_25_16_1022 — Imani Winds, photo credit Matt Murphy

quasi-faust

Tag: imani winds

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