Cleveland Classical | Mike Telin  |  October 27, 2012

Review: No Exit at Spaces Gallery (October 19)

On Friday, October 19, No Exit, the always inventive new music ensemble, opened their first series of concerts for the 2012-13 season at Spaces Gallery. We last heard No Exit in the spring when they presented their outstanding commissioning project celebrating the jazz legacy of Eric Dolphy. However, for these concerts the ensemble made the wise decision not to try to top themselves, and returned to the group's core mission of presenting newly composed works in venues throughout Greater Cleveland. The concert included three world premieres as well a standard work by Bartók, and was performed by No Exit's core group, violinist Cara Tweed, violinist Tom Bowling, cellist Nick Diodore and pianist Nicholas Underhill. And as we have come to expect from this fine ensemble, the performance was first-rate from start to finish.

Spaces is a pleasant place to hear music. It has a welcoming feel and surprisingly warm and intimate acoustics. It also gives audiences a chance to be close to the music making. The capacity crowd was first treated to a superb performance of Bela Bartók's Out of Doors (1926). Performing this programmatic five movement work is demanding on a performer. It is technically challenging and requires physical endurance from the player, and pianist Nichoals Underhill accepted the challenge with aplomb. Establishing that Wow! factor from the start, Underhill achieved crisp and clear articulations that provided the needed percussive quality for With Drums and Pipes, the work's opening movement. He kept the left hand line moving steadily during the Barcarolla and tossed off the final Chase with ease. Underhill clearly has a deep understanding of this complicated work and his performance sounded second-nature, even during the most brutal passages.

The first of the three world premieres, Sirius (2012), for violin, viola, cello and piano by New York-based composer David Glaser, is the second in a series of compositions for string combinations and piano. The work reflects the composer's recent interest in the fantasy, a genre of Elizabethan viol consort music that alternates polyphonic passages with homophonic sections. A single movement work, Sirius is a sonic collection of colors that at times sounds other-worldly, especially during the muted violin and viola passages. Special effects such as the plucking of the piano strings and loud pizzicatos can sound gratuitous in the hands of less skilled composers, however Glaser uses them all with purpose. The ensemble effortlessly and beautifully passed the lines of vivid tonal colors back and forth and each had an opportunity to share the conducting responsibilities.

Reflections (2012) for viola and cello by Dorian Neuendorf was an enjoyable addition to the program. Neuendorf, who is currently pursuing her Bachelor's degree in composition and bassoon at Cleveland State University told us that the two-movement work is a musical commentary on feelings. Deluge represents the flood of thoughts occupying one's head, and Serenity represents the calm we are trying to feel. Neuendorf is a talented composer who has a clear understanding of structure and form. The work is full of musical conversations between the two instruments and violinist Tom Bowling, and cellist Nick Diodore were fine interpreters of the piece.

Christopher Auerbach-Brown's Piano Quartet (2012) is a powerful two-movement work. The long driving chords in Embattlements, are reminiscent of Bartók's Romanian Folk Dances. And while things never quite relax, Auerbach-Brown skillfully develops enough melodic material over those chords to keep things interesting. Binary Chaconne is in duple meter, unlike a traditional chaconne. As one would expect in a Chaconne the bass line is repetitive, but again Auerbach-Brown keeps building the melodic lines, placing one on top of the other until a full sound palette has been created. The musicians of No Exit performed with amazing blend and keen attention to dynamics, pitch and rhythm.

The series continues on Saturday, October 27 at Heights Arts and Monday, October 29 at Cleveland States University's Drinko Hall.

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