Ensemble Green, March 5th 2011
This was the first chamber music performance I have seen that was not connected with the LA Phil in some way (aka Green Umbrella or RedCat), and I have to say I was quite impressed. I had never heard any of the pieces before, and the performers were spectacular. It was incredibly uplifting to see such great music performed so well by an ensemble I have never heard of (not that it is saying anything, just that it wasn't eighth blackbird or the Kronos Quartet). The Concord Sonata was absolutely stunning! It really reminded me of what a total badass Ives is. It is hard to believe someone was writing stuff like that in the nineteen-teens and twenties. Oh and lets not forget Suter's piece. All brown-nosing aside, it is the best string quartet piece I have heard live. Hands down.
All in all, there was one rather disappointing aspect of the performance, and that was the attendance. Excluding the composers, there were less than 10 people in the audience if I recall correctly. Now I know it was a small venue and it probably wasn't ever expected to sell out or anything, but I was very disappointed at the turn out. I don't want to sound Schuller-y, but this is some of the best performed chamber music I have ever heard, but where were all the people?! Is it because you have to have some sort of intelectual understanding of the music to appreciate it that everyone there had some background in musical study? Are people too lazy to care? What does this mean for me and my future career as a composer? Should I be trying to cater to bigger, broader audiences? Or do I say f**k it and write what I want? It really hits me hard to see music like this fall into the cracks...but what can we do about it?!
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