Jessie Montgomery – ‘Strum’
Emma Lou Diemer – Quartet for Trumpet, Horn, Trombone and Piano
Jennifer Higdon – Book of Brass
Christopher Rouse – Rotae Passionis
As part of Carnegie Hall’s ‘United in Sound: America at 250’ festival, the audience rode an elevator up to the tenth floor of the iconic building and were greeted (happily, on this below-freezing night) by a free-food-or-drink ticket to facilitate a relaxed ambiance leading up to the concert.
A refreshing, fairly-new space (since 2014), the Resnick Education Wing offers a studio-like experience with excellent sound and more contemporary possibilities for lighting design. Audience members sit as close to the players as one would at a master class or in a recording session. Even Marin Alsop grabbed a seat in the second row to listen to the first three works before conducting the last, adding to the evening’s sense of musical intimacy. She was so accessible that several fans (myself, included) approached her for a quick selfie. Alsop more than gladly complied.
Photo: Stephanie Berger