New compositions for string trio and for sax quartet by
Dan Plonsey.
Performers: Masha Albrecht, violin; Sarah Willner, viola; Mary Artmann, cello; Randy McKean, Josh Smith,
Cory Wright, and
Dan Plonsey, saxophones.
The String Trios were written expressly for this ensemble. As all three musicians and the composer have common roots as approx. 1/2 Century old Russian/Polish Jews, the music is intended to (loosely, and admittedly after-the-fact) reflect that period of time from when our families were first deciding to leave what is now the "old country" to their arrival in the US. Optimism, anxiety, and nostalgia combine with a heightened sense of uncertainty about the nature of reality.
The saxophone set is dominated by one large six-part piece which is the first of a series of pieces I'll be writing in which the music is composed from: chorale settings of meandering melodies, rhythmically notated microtonal passages, fast flurries of repeated notes, and improvised duets.
Also at this concert, a new edition of PlonseyCards (baseball cards, but more melancholic, agitated, disastrous) will be available for purchase, as will recent Plonsey CDs: Hockey Season, New Monsters: First Appearances, If I Were a Person Who, and Football Season.
Cost: $10