Saturday night presented another opportunity to say bravo to our good friend and great composer Bernard Rands, who dedicated his newest piece to us ("us" being my husband Benjamin Barber and me.) Commissioned by Prism Quartet, and premiered at Symphony Space, it was such a pleasure and an honor and utterly cool to hear music that on some level derived its flavor from our relationship.
Prism Quartet is a chamber ensemble of four saxaphone virtuosos. True champions of new music, they commission works, both classical and jazz, by composers of Bernard's caliber to help them push the envelope of their instruments' capabilities.
Bernard's Memo series, initiated 30 years ago, is a series of works for solo instruments. The pieces contain qualities that are always deeply embedded in his large orchestral works -- his boyish fascination and delight in an instrument's possibilities of sound, its voice; affection for and trust in the musician's ability to bring a resonating mix of humanity and technical brilliance to music making; lyricism and historical context.
"Our" piece, Prism (Memo 6b) is a "transformation and transcription" of a previous work, Memo 6 (for saxophone). "This" can become "that" says Bernard in his inimitable way, using a simple idea as a starting point for elaboration into profound levels of depth and complexity.
Like friendship. Bravo B.
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