Sō Percussion at Bing Studio, April 17, 2019

Stanford University Live presents From Out a Darker Sea featuring Sō Percussion
Bing Concert Hall Studio
Stanford University, 327 Lasuen St, Stanford, CA 94305-5005 USA
7:30 PM, Wednesday, April 17, 2019

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2019 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2019 event list! ☸ On to the next event!

[7:02 PM; lights down, greetings and announcements from Chris Lorway, waiting]

1. [7:04 PM] Steve Reich (b. 1936): Music for Pieces of Wood (1973), Sō Percussion with Alex Appel
   [7:13 PM; Greetings and banter from Jason about the rest of the program]
   
   Sō Percussion: From Out a Darker Sea (2016)
2. [7:16 PM] Prelude: painting (only incidental sound)
3. [7:23 PM] Chapter One: Coal and Flower
4. [7:31 PM] Chapter Two: Four Portraits
5. [7:41 PM] Chapter Three: Harold and Sylvia
6. [7:55 PM] Chapter Four: Song for Billy
   [8:14 PM; work ends; bows, then off by 8:15 PM]

Sō Percussion

• Eric Cha-Beach: percussion, vox;
• Josh Quillen: percussion, vox;
• Adam Sliwinski: percussion, vox;
• Jason Treuting: percussion, vox;
  - with special guest -
• Alex Appel: percussion.

Reminder to self: Baggage will let you down!

After greatly enjoying the open rehearsal I attended about a week ago, I was really looking forward to hearing the next full show from Sō Percussion, but tonight's centerpiece, From Out a Darker Sea, wasn't the sort of thing that tickled my fancy. Drat!

Music for Pieces of Wood was a great opener, much more in line with my expectations for the show (which is to say, I wanted to hear percussion-centered music). Even though I've heard them do it several times, most recently at SFJAZZ, it's the sort of piece that is both satisfyingly simple and bafflingly complex. In other words, brilliant!

I think my disappointment with From Out a Darker Sea stems from the fact that it's a relatively cerebral piece, including elements of performance art (the initial, “painting” segment), documentary video, narrative, and so on – all of which conspired to diminish the impact of the musical portion of the show on my attention. In retrospect, I probably could have predicted this by making a closer read of the program description, or by reading reviews published of prior performances. But I don't think I did that before making my purchase (last spring!), and I'm positive that I didn't go looking for preview news during the weeks leading up to the performance. Mea culpa!

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2019 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2019 event list! ☸ On to the next event!