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Tuesday, April 15, 2003

Arts & Entertainment writers offer capsule comments on this, that and the other thing ...

Imani Winds

Imani is Swahili for "faith," and you'd better believe Imani Winds is like nothing you've seen before.

Not because the members of this woodwind quintet are of African-American and Latin-American heritage, but because of how they present and program classical music.

Appearing at a sold-out Frick Art Museum auditorium, the musicians -- including former local standout Monica Ellis playing the bassoon -- began by playing an arrangement of "Afro Blue" by Mongo Santamaria. That in itself would be a noteworthy innovation, but Imani did it standing up and involved the audience in call-and-response chanting.

The rest of the concert featured a mix of 20th-century luminaries such as Elliot Carter (Quintet), Luciano Berio ("Opus Number Zoo") and Heitor Villa-Lobos ("Quintette en Forme de Choros") along with jazz-infused numbers (Lalo Schifren's "La Nouvelle Orleans"). Again, this alone would be diversity greatly needed in classical circles, but they enhanced it by talking in a relaxed manner about the works to the audience. Imani's showmanship was not showboating -- it was adding the much needed "E" to A&E, an approach many classical groups could adopt.

And when it came down to the music itself, there was no letdown. The details of Carter's Quintet were precise, and the whole was uncommonly vivacious. If this ensemble can continue to perform with virtuosity and flair, there's no telling how far it will go or how much it could transform the stuffy traditions that often hinder classical music.

-- Review by Andrew Druckenbrod, Post-Gazette Classical Music Critic

Crosby, Stills & Nash

Without Neil Young, Crosby, Stills & Nash softens into a gentle old hippie folk trio.

Wrong.

After a pair of spirited tours with the fiery Young, CSN is keeping the decibel level up. The band arrived on the Palumbo stage Saturday with three guitars blazing for "Carry On," which has become a statement of purpose.

Over the next three hours (minus a 15-minute break), the three warhorses covered every aspect of their game, from the hard-rock "Woodstock" to the heavenly harmony of "Helplessly Hoping."

At one point, David Crosby summed up the trio, saying, "Stills' job is to write the rock 'n' roll; Nash's job is to write the anthems; my job is to write the weird [stuff]." With that, the white-haired Crosby detuned and plunged into "Deja Vu," still one of the most compelling songs in the canon.

In fact, Crosby, the one we came closest to losing, remains the most potent of the trio. He only seems to get stronger vocally, whether belting out "Almost Cut My Hair" or delivering a stunning "Guinnevere."

Too bad Crosby got such a small portion of the set list. "Long Time Gone" or "Eight Miles High" would have been more welcome than the efforts by Graham Nash ("Dirty Little Secret") and Stephen Stills ("Feed the People" -- gag) to keep things fresh.

That said, Nash had his great moments: the impassioned "Cathedral" and the always-sweet "Our House" among them. Stills communicates better with his guitar these days than with his voice, which struggles with melody. With help from his friends, though, that old howl can still power through a bluesy "Southern Cross" and a rousing "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes."

Early in the set, Nash showed his cards by introducing "Military Madness," saying they were "sick of playing it." The "No More War" chant didn't really take hold with their middle-aged fans, here or probably elsewhere. That might explain why CSN chose to send its fans home with a surprise anthem: "My Country 'Tis of Thee."

-- Review by Scott Mervis, Post-Gazette Weekend Editor

'Premieres II'

The success of the Playhouse Dance Company's laudable "Premieres" from last season necessitated a part "II," which had its premiere last weekend at the Pittsburgh Playhouse.

This has all the earmarks of an annual event. And it should be, given the wonderful opportunities for the Point Park students to generate their own movement and use live music.

Toni Pimble's Renaissance-inspired "Silk and Steel" had so much going on -- flags and acrobatic feats, pantaloons and May poles -- that the choreography, busy as it seemed, was obscured in this Pittsburgh premiere.

A much more simple and highly effective dance was Robert Battle's "Circle Line Square." Packed with Battle's pungent energy, this geometric exercise had a primitive air about it in its communal rites. The "Circle" erupted with shouts and yodels, the dancers lashing to a rhythmic drum beat. Vittorio Luciano was a modern-day medicine man, dancing to the death with a human "Line" pounding the earth behind him. The Western sensibility was then carried over into a "Square" dance, inexplicably but charmingly set to John Denver's "Thank God I'm a Country Boy."

Doug Bentz, on the other hand, chose the serenity of Faure's "Requiem," performed with a respectful touch by the Point Park Singers and the orchestra from Pittsburgh High School for the Creative and Performing Arts. Titled "Ghost Dances," it was a bleak portrait of death accented by lifeless trees, drab clothing and a covering of leaves always rustling beneath the dancers' feet. However, it featured some wonderful unison dancing, particularly by the men, and an overall choreographic skill that was soulfully rendered.

-- Review by Jane Vranish, Post-Gazette Dance Critic

Bach Choir

The Bach Choir presented a concert of pre-eminent French choral music Sunday at East Liberty Presbyterian Church: Faure's "Requiem," along with his "Cantique de Jean Racine," and Durufle's "Requiem," with his "Four Motets on Gregorian Themes."

Accompanied by organist Neil Stahurski and a pick-up orchestra not listed in the program, the 125-voice choir didn't overpower the music's refinement and finesse. Attacks, cut-offs and dynamics changes were precise under the baton of music director Brady Allred.

Featured soloists were soprano Carol Ann Allred, mezzo-soprano Jeanne Wentworth and baritone Guenko Guechev.

Allred's voice floated effortlessly through the Faure "Pie Jesu." Wentworth expressed the plaintiveness of Durufle's "Pie Jesu." In his various solo passages, Guechev dramatically vented or shaded his Met-sized voice to the nuances of text and score.

The concert repeats at 8 p.m. Friday at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Upper St. Clair.

-- Review by Eric Haines, for the Post-Gazette