The Dyno Duo, Diane Heffner and Katherine Matasy, illustrated the intricacy and integrity of works employing multiple clarinets and accordion in a concert last Sunday, April 5, sponsored by the Dinosaur Annex Music Ensemble at the Community Music Center of Boston.
Consisting of music by Judith Weir, Guy Klucevsek, Joan Tower, and premieres of commissioned pieces by Lansing McLoskey and John Howell Morrison (both in attendance), this night proved to be one of the most exceptional and inspiring concerts I have ever attended.
Weir’s Sketches from a Bagpiper’s Album (1984) with Matasy on the clarinet and Yvonne Lee on the piano, was followed by Matasy performing Klucevsek’s solo accordion piece, Loosening Up the Queen (1987. Concluding the first half was a complicated piece by Tower, Fantasy (…those harbor lights) (1983), with Diane Heffner on clarinet and Lee again accompanying on the piano. They shone through their careful handling of virtuosic solo passages of “fantasy” music.
John Howell Morrison, in Ember (2009), a work for multiple clarinets and accordion commissioned by the Dinosaur Annex Music Ensemble, experiments with the use of physical space, varying combinations of instruments, and essentially static musical lines, in addition to applying concepts of the I Ching hexagram. The intimate nature of the hall coupled with the deft skill of the musicians, Matasy, Heffner, and Vivian Montgomery, made for a memorable performance.
The premiere of Lansing McLoskey’s blur (2009), another Dinosaur Annex commission, was performed by Matasy on clarinet and Heffner on basset horn. Matasy and Heffner truly listened to each other throughout this performance, ensuring that the consonant and dissonant qualities of the intervals presented were as tuned as possible, that their points of overlap were exact, and that each note was hit with accuracy. This work inspired me to be more critical when thinking about musical sonority, form and thematic development in the future. [Click title for full review.]
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