Greek-born Dinos Constantinides is the head of Composition and Music Director of the Louisiana State University. He is presently Boyd Professor, the highest academic rank at LSU. Mr. Constantinides has composed over 250 works, including six symphonies, two operas, and music for a wide variety of instruments and voices. His writing style is all-encompassing, from the simplest of forms to the ultra-complex, and from the strictly tonal to the acerbically atonal and serial. He is especially adept in his use of Greek influences, such as Greek poetry from both ancient and modern sources, and Greek modal harmony. With the help of six exceptionally talented colleagues from Louisiana State University, his audience was privy to a broad survey of his varied style, including two world premieres, in ten works.
Pianist Michael Gurt led off the evening with the Sonata for Piano, LRC 49, a work that could be described as a journey through a post-apocalyptic world. It is not for the faint of heart, and Mr. Gurt was heroic as he wended his way through the nightmares and the desolation in a riveting performance. Mr. Gurt was stalwart all evening in his work with colleagues, demonstrating fine and attentive playing as a collaborator.
The lyric playing of saxophonist Griffin Campbell, especially in the Four Songs of Epirus, LRC 264 (World Premiere), was also outstanding. Oboist Johanna Cox handled all technical obstacles with apparent ease, and when her sister, violinist Lenora Cox Leggatt, a formidable talent in her own right, joined her with Mr. Gurt in Reflections V for Violin, Oboe, and Piano, LR 108, the effect was magical. It was the highlight of the evening to this listener. Brett Dietz displayed his amazing dexterity with his stick technique in the Moto Perpetuo for Marimba Alone, LRC 263 (another World Premiere) – it was a performance worthy of Paganini! Finally, soprano Penelope Shumate closed each half with performances filled with passion, charm, and coquettishness.
There is something apt in the saying about having too much of a good thing, and I am of the opinion that it would have been judicious to have shortened the program. Mr. Constantinides is at his best in his Greek-influenced works, and a program devoted to those works would have been most effective.
At the end, Mr. Constantinides joined his colleagues on the stage to offer them his congratulations, shaking hands with each performer. All joined together for a final bow to the appreciative audience.
