Last night’s live stream from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) took place in the Sol Joseph Recital Hall in the 50 Oak Street building. The performance was by the New Music Ensemble under Director Nicole Paiement. This was a relatively brief program consisting of only four selections. One of these, “Urban Cityscapes” was composed by Jason Hainsworth, Executive Director of Roots, Jazz, and American Music and Jazz Saxophone teacher. The other three works were all by SFCM alumni: Nicolás Lell Benavides, Sarah Wald, and Yangfan Xu.
I have to confess to a certain pleasure in revisiting a work by a composer that I had known as an SFCM student. Benavides composed his Cool Grey City for the Nomad Session octet, which consists of four woodwinds (flute, oboe, clarinet, and bassoon) and four brass instruments (horn, trumpet, trombone, and tuba). (As may be guessed, much of the repertoire is the result of commissions.) Last night an octet of SFCM students played the first movement of this suite, entitled “Gardens;” and it turned out to be one of my more satisfying trips down memory lane.
screen shot from last night’s performance
Diversity of instrumentation seems to have been the “underlying theme” of last night’s program. “Urban Cityscapes” was scored for marimba and vibraphone. Wald’s “Adagio” coupled a piano with a trio of flute, viola, and cello. (It also explored tempo domains beyond the limitation of its title.) Xu’s “Shan Gui” required the largest number of resources: flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano, and two percussionists. As can be seen above, the diversity of percussion resources outnumber those of the instruments, making for an exciting journey through imaginative sonorities.
In spite of its brevity, the program was well organized by Paiement. The attentive listener did not have to contend with an overabundance of novelty. Rather, each creative effort “made its case” without overstatement. The result was a satisfying encounter with four compositions worthy of further attention.
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