Note: Mike Greenburg of the San Antonio Express-News also named this concert one of the year’s best classical concerts in San Antonio for 2006 in his year-end list (see below).
San Antonio Express-News
11/25/2006
Mike Greenberg
Express-News Senior Critic
The greatest pleasures in last Saturday's concert by the Composers Alliance of San Antonio, in Ruth Taylor Recital Hall, were superb reconsiderations of works first heard in the 1990s.
David Heuser's "Deep Blue Spiral" for alto sax and electronic tape is a jazzy, nervous, high-energy piece in which the solo line is beautifully integrated with the electronics. It would make a great ballet score.
The piece had made a splendid impression in a 1999 concert, but Todd Oxford's crisp, convicted, virtuosic performance on Saturday brought it into even finer focus. Formerly with the famed Pittel Saxophone Quartet, Oxford now teaches at Texas State University.
Timothy Kramer wrote his "Colors for a Changing Sky," a sort of tone poem that evokes a storm, for the 1994 San Antonio International Piano Competition.
Pianist Kristin Roach's splendid timing and snappy execution made the rain sting and the hail cut. Her clear sense of direction fully revealed the composer's meticulous craft.
Flutist Tallon Sterling Perkes made an excellent case for Elisenda Fábregas' concise, rhythmically active Sonata for Flute and Piano (with Roach) and S. Beth May's spare "Dreamsong," an attractive mix of traditional and alternative techniques — stage-whispering across the mouthpiece — on a modal scale.
Two works had first hearings on Saturday.
In "Beautiful Dreamer: A Reverie on a Serenade by Stephen Foster," William James Ross first wove the familiar melody, played on oboe by Mark Ackerman, through a serpentine wraith of chromatic scales on piano (Ross), then drew the oboe line into the ghostly field, subtly stretched the meter and brought the piece to a mysterious close.
Ross' contributions gave a new context to the Foster song while treating it with respect, and the structure was admirably efficient.
Charles Goodhue, who turned to composition after a career in the life sciences, was represented by "Bouquet: Three Piano Pieces on Flowers by Van Gogh."
The idiom is tonal, spiked by some nice harmonic color, though all three pieces wanted editing and a clearer structure.
The promised projection of Van Gogh paintings misfired, but the pianist, Terresa Stallworth, had the foresight to wear a floral-print skirt and carry a bouquet with her onstage.
San Antonio Express-News
The Best of 2006 — Classical music
Express-News Senior Critic
December 30, 2006
Composers Alliance of San Antonio, Nov. 18: An excellent showcase for varied locally based composers culminated in David Heuser's jazzy, nervous, high-energy "Deep Blue Spiral" for alto sax and electronic sounds, with Todd Oxford the superb, inspired soloist.