Just about to head up to Sonoma county for this evening’s World Premiere of Cindy Cox’s new quartet Patagón, we’re all looking forward to sharing this exciting event with Santa Rosa Junior College’s SOLD OUT house.
I had a chance to discuss the process on “Curtain Call with Charles Sepos” to be broadcast live today at KRCB.org FM 90.9 from 12:15-12:45. Click here to stream it live and to find the links to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes!
What is so touching about this premiere is that the composer herself is so joyful. Cindy recently exclaimed: “yes – that’s just what I imagined – it works!” That might not seem so surprising considering her extraordinary expertise and dedication, but after so many months of dedicated and solitary work — she has to trust in four guys to dispatch it in just under 30 minutes! In fact it’s a hell of a responsibility, but one that pumps its own kind of adrenaline. It’s a little like the high you’d expect a tightrope walker without the safety net to experience. It’s unnecessarily risky — after all, no one required us to commission a new piece — there are lots of “old” ones that we’ve yet to learn, or we could have dug out an old favorite. But being part of the creative process of “midwifing” a new work into the repertoire is something special. “Delivery” is everything, and our audience is ready to receive it. We believe the work is both charming and engaging on many fronts — and it’s spectacular to observe for it’s unusual techniques and sonic textures that are spell-binding (if wretchedly difficult to execute), so much so, that the time flies by. Performing the piece recently in an unofficial “Preview,” we were amazed that what was supposed to be 27 minutes felt like about 15 or less! We were so preoccupied with the process that it was over before we realized. Evidently our listeners felt pretty much the same, and the response was thrilling!
Take a listen to the penultimate movement from Patagón, from the live preview performance:
Tonight in the best tradition, we’ll surround the new work by established chestnuts – beginning with Beethoven’s Serioso op. 95 from 1809 and finishing with Shostakovich’s 4th from 1949.
— Sandy Wilson
Curtain Call airs live Fridays, 12:00 noon to 1:00 PM, Pacific Time, on NPR affiliate KRCB FM Radio 91.1 FM and 90.9 FM in Western and Northern Sonoma County, airs live on Bay Area Comcast Cable channel 961, streams live at krcb.org, and podcasts at www.krcb.org/curtain-call and on iTunes.