Distinguished Concerts International New York (DCINY) presents Constantinides New Music Ensemble in Review
Louisiana State University College of Music & Dramatic Arts
Ensemble Members: Jenna Grissom, soprano; Chris Ludwig, flute/piccolo; Javier Elizondo, clarinet; MK Guthrie, violin; Hayoung Cho, violin; Catherine Chen, viola; Meghan Rhoades, piano; Luis Bernardo Castro, cello; Eduard Teregulov, cello; Rosalinda Ramirez, percussion; Jake Ellzey, percussion
Composers: Faculty: Stephen David Beck, Mara Gibson; Alumni: Niloufar Iravani, Thomas Kim, Mikeila McQueston, Thomas Wilson; Current Students: Rodrigo Camargo, Jeremi Edwards, Jake Ellzey, Austin Franklin, Aarón Gonzalez, Treya Nash, Cassidy O’Connell, Hannah Rice, Dan Schultz
Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, New York, NY
April 8, 2022
This concert was originally scheduled for October 2020, but was derailed due to you-know-what. Since that time, the ensemble’s namesake and creator, Dinos Constantinides, died on July 20, 2021. (I have had the pleasure of reviewing several concerts of his own works in these pages: 2015, 2018, 2019.) Now, his legacy of more than fifty years of service through pedagogy and philosophical leadership lives on in the Constantinides New Music Ensemble, under the direction of Mara Gibson.
Fifteen composers, ranging in age from 22 to 75, displayed fifteen distinct compositional voices, with delightful variations on a palette using mainly flute, clarinet, piano trio, string quartet, and percussion figurations. All the student performers are at the top of their respective games vis-à-vis their instruments and their abilities not only to decipher but to breathe life into these challenging new works.
There must have been some time criterion for works on this generous program, for the pieces ranged from three to eight minutes. Two themes occurred more than once: 1) Pierrot (influence of the seminal Schoenberg work, and responses to it), and 2) Greek mythology (the Constantinides influence: Maze with its Phrygian mode, Minotaur, and Persephone).
I can only fleetingly mention some of the highlights. The duo work of the two wind players: Chris Ludwig on flute (doubling piccolo) and Javier Elizondo (clarinet) were delightful in their closely tuned ensemble playing, especially in three of Stephen David Beck’s Pierrot Etudes. Pianist Meghan Rhoades, playing from an iPad, was stunning in her ability to conjure myriad colors regardless of the demands of the score (even playing ‘inside’ the piano). She was in eight of the fifteen works, a mammoth job, well done. Violinist Hayoung Cho had an even larger share of the evening, in ten of the fifteen works.
Nearly all the composers were present to acknowledge their richly deserved applause. It is one thing to get a piece performed the first time—it is quite another to have your work enter ‘the repertoire’ in any meaningful way. Only time will tell, but they are all off to a great start. Two things they all had in common were: the ability to create striking effects of togetherness (due in no small measure to the performers), and the ‘sense of an ending.’
Hannah Rice’s Prog for Pierrot taught me a new word: prog, as well as introducing me to sounds of ‘metal’ music fused with the traditional Pierrot ensemble. Three of Stephen David Beck’s five Pierrot Etudes were precisely and delightfully realized by the aforementioned flute/piccolo and clarinet duo. Rodrigo Camargo’s Sextet was a very successful fusion of rock, western classical, and Brazilian musical gestures. Jake Ellzey, heard elsewhere on the program as percussionist, composed Departure as a response to a surrealist painting. Its string quartet instrumentation utilized progressive techniques such as striking the wood of the instruments themselves (gently of course). This piece created a haunting tableau. Mikeila McQueston’s The Minotaur, inspired by poetry, posits a post-labyrinth life for the mythical beast. The work rose to shattering climaxes of near chaos before subsiding in most effective fashion, featuring a difficult soprano part, which Jenna Grissom projected as well as she could over the tumult. One issue with percussion being brought into the chamber music realm is that it can quickly overwhelm the instrumental balance.
The following list is for the sake of completeness and in no way does any omission of detailed discussion imply a lack of value: Cassidy O’Connell’s The Abduction of Persephone; Treya Nash’s Nothing Motorized; Mara Gibson’s Blackbird I; Thomas Wilson’s Fighting the Mischievous Imp (based on video game music, with performance length determined by the ensemble); Jeremi Edward’s Beneath the Veil (art vs. machine); Austin Franklin’s Lanterns II; Dan Schultz’s Pyramids; Niloufar Iravani’s The Maze; Thomas Kim’s Destin; and Aarón Gonzalez’s Pierrot Microbusero (loosely translated “Pierrot on the Microbus”).
Congratulations to everyone for making this the best possible, if inadvertent, memorial service for Maestro Constantinides.
