All I know about music is that not many people ever really hear it. And even then, on the rare occasions when something opens within, and the music enters, what we mainly hear, or hear corroborated, are personal, private, vanishing evocations.
– James Baldwin
I’m so excited about this concert! Two fantastic pieces, both first time performances for me. First, Piezas de Bolsillo (Pocket Pieces) by the Cuban composer Keyla Orozco. It’s a wonderful set of four pieces based upon Cuban and Venezuelan folk forms for viola and piano. I first heard Keyla’s work on a concert by the Portland Youth Philharmonic New Music Festival last fall, and her sound immediately caught my ear. I looked to see what she’d written for string quartet, and forwarded the results to my Pyxis Quartet colleague Ron Blessinger. A few months later, he texted me to tell me that Keyla had a piece for viola and piano, and that it would be perfect for me and the fabulous pianist Maria Garcia to learn and perform on our Friday evening streaming series. I checked out a performance on YouTube, bought the music, and the rest is history!
The other piece on this program is Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s brilliant and sprawling Clarinet Quintet. What a piece! I was totally unprepared for how much I would love and respect this piece. It really ought to be much more of a repertory staple than it currently is – it’s played a long in the UK and Europe – but it remains a neglected piece here in America. Hopefully, that will not remain the case for much longer! It was also a joy and a privilege to get to play it with James Shields, Emily Cole, Greg Ewer, and Marilyn DeOliveira – their playing and friendship lift me up!!
The concert was captured at The Glass Factory, a stunning creative office space in the Inner Eastside. In the photo above, you can see the loft level where we rehearsed and recorded. Thanks so much to SKB for making this space available to 45th Parallel Universe!
Please join me for this virtual concert Friday, February 5th at 6PM Pacific. It’s free, and viewable either live or on demand on the 45th Parallel Universe YouTube Channel.