Reviewer: Connor S. Rousseau
Venue: First Presbyterian Church
First Presbyterian Church hosted the Trillium Wind Quintet Sunday afternoon. A beautiful church for musical venues, the acoustics were perfect for the musical talent on display.
The musicians themselves come from many backgrounds and promote not only the performance of excellent music, but also the sharing of their passion with the community. Jordan Smith played the flute and piccolo, Asako Furuoya played the oboe, Ethan Hicks on clarinet, Annie Chapman on the French horn, and Andre Januario on the bassoon. Most of the musicians are teachers themselves and have spent time in public schools to promote music education. Their outreach to younger individuals is commendable and will shape the younger generations in a way that helps them appreciate the art of music.
The musicians themselves boast a diversity of musical talents and international backgrounds from Japan, Brazil, Canada, and the United States. The quintet has spent time working with college level institutions and is currently collaborating with Saginaw Valley State University among other universities to promote the arts and share their experiences with other young men and women seeking music careers and to develop skills in higher education.
The program states that the group believes that chamber music is something that shouldn’t just be reserved for a music hall but be included in every aspect of our lives, and I find this to be a great musical philosophy. Such an outlook makes music more approachable to the common man. It allows people to learn about music without it feeling too elitist or higher-class. It is something everyone can learn to appreciate, relate to, and truly enjoy regardless of background. After all, music is a universal language of the human race, and it is best enjoyed when we can enjoy it together however we find best.
This was the Trillium Wind Quintet’s first performance at First Presbyterian Church. Since the group travels a lot, it was great to see many people in attendance, but I certainly believe with more promotion and outreach, these concerts will fill the pews. I know there are people out there who would love to attend a concert like this, but more often than not they simply don’t hear about it. There is so much musical talent being shared in the Great Lakes Bay Region, but too often people miss out simply because they didn’t know.
Between each movement, the musicians took time to clean the spit from their instruments. It’s a gross necessity when playing wind instruments, but it demonstrates that the musicians have great respect for their instruments and want to ensure they stay nice for the long term. Great music requires great care. They also took this time for water breaks, reminding me that these performances take a great deal of stamina. They may be sitting, but their bodies are doing a great deal of work.
The musicians also did an excellent job watching each other’s movements and breaths so they could begin and finish together. In every case the beginning and ending notes were in great unison, so much so that you may think they were united as a single instrument.
One of the pieces, Wind Quintet, Op. 79, by August Klughardt, has four energetic movements that had the flute, oboe, French horn, clarinet, and bassoon bouncing notes off one another as they passed the melodies like hot potato. This requires great timekeeping, awareness, and rhythmic recognition skills. There was a plethora of notes shooting off in rapid succession, in many cases without being slurred, which forces the mouth to do a lot of work to keep the notes from merging together or being skipped over in the rush of it all. They were certainly on the same wavelength, and the quintet showcased their mastery of the music by maintaining a steady tempo and getting every single note out with fidelity.
The musicians’ articulation was also something quite special. Sonata Sopra La Monica by Phillipe Friedrich Boddecker featured a bassoon solo played by Andre Januario. His articulation ensured every note received its split-second of fame as the composer intended. So many notes at such a rapid pace would surely fool any audience if a note were missed, but Januario did a phenomenal job as his fingers moved as fast as someone typing on a computer.
Altogether, the concert was a spectacle easily missed. It is so important for more people in the Saginaw area to hear about these concerts. Saginaw possesses so much musical talent, and if word spreads, people will realize the kind of talent First Presbyterian Church attracts.