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The sunlight that filtered through the stained glass and impressive skylight to flicker on the sumptuous wood-lined nave of Southminster Presbyterian Church on Sunday afternoon was a fitting match to the Lawrence Woodwind Quintet’s jovial recital of old and new dances.  The small audience was treated to concert versions of partner dances spanning musical history from Handel to composers of the Paris Conservatoire to obscure Eastern European composers of the twentieth century.

Andrejs Jansons’ Suite of Old Lettish Dances, Blas Maria de Colomer’s Menuet, and Shostakovich’s Polka from the Golden Age were the most successful of the twelve selections performed.  Yes, you read that correctly; the LWQ performed twelve different pieces.  Though not as polished as I would have hoped, these short selections were a wonderful introduction to dance forms as interpreted by these composers.  Helping matters were the charming program notes delivered by the ensemble’s horn player Stuart Levine.  Hearing him discuss these dances with his experiences in amateur ballroom was akin to being regaled by a loquacious grandfather with deliciously delightful anecdotes from the “Good Ole Days.”  For the multiple movement pieces (Jansons’ Suite and Denes Agay’s Hollywood-esque Five Easy Dances) I would have preferred the entire note to be given at the start of the piece instead of before each movement, as it broke the musical continuity of the work.

The LWQ members brought a mottled patchwork of musical backgrounds to the ensemble. With degrees in music education and electrical engineering, flutist Sharon Learned's tone was restrained and sweet and with exceedingly tasteful vibrato and good intonation.  I felt the Shostakovich and Levine’s arrangement of the Zanoni Gallop should have had more edge.  A KU master’s student, oboist Evelyn Garren had the most expressive dynamics of the group and probably the most dexterity. However, I found her tone too present in the overall timbre of the group.  Retired civil engineer and dance band musician, clarinetist Paul Jordan, had a warm chalumeau register but intonation troubles plagued his throat tone register.  Levine, a former KU professor, was relegated to back beats and accompaniment for most of the pieces.  His cantabile melody at the start of Agay’s “Waltz” was robust, but his pitch focus waned in the lower registers.  Former military bassoonist-by-way-of-trombone David Ruhlen was solid on the arpeggios of his own arrangement of the early eighteenth-century French carol Masters in this Hall, but his sound was overpowering in the lowest registers. 

As a pleasant, educational concert, the Lawrence Woodwind Quartet delivered, even through the occasional intonation flubs, timbral inconsistencies, and blend issues. The temptation to watch some ballroom videos afterwards was high, so, mission accomplished.

REVIEW:
Southminster Concert Series
Lawrence Woodwind Quintet
Dances: Old and New
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Southminster Presbyterian Church
6306 Roe Ave., Prairie Village, KS
For more information visit http://www.southminsterpres.com/#/music/special-events

By Lee Hartman

Editor-in-Chief; Traditional and New Classical Contributor

Lee Hartman holds degrees from the University of Missouri-Kansas City (D.M.A., M.M.) and the University of Delaware (B.M.). At the University of Delaware, he received a Dean's Scholar position enabling him to pursue an individually designed academic program combining music education and composition. At the University of Missouri-Kansas City he served for three years as the Assistant Director to Musica Nova, the conservatory's new music ensemble, while teaching a variety of composition classes.

In 2007 he was invited to both the Iceland Academy of the Arts in Reykjavík, Iceland and the Sichuan Conservatory in Chengdu, China to give lectures and master classes in composition. In the summer of 2009, Hartman served as an orchestra manager for the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble and Aspen Opera Theater Center for various performances. He serves on the National Executive Committee of the Society of Composers, Inc. as Submissions Coordinator. His primary composition instructors include James Mobberley, Chen Yi, Zhou Long, Paul Rudy, John Beall, and Jennifer Margaret Barker. He currently teaches music theory at the University of Central Missouri and general music classes at Park University having previously taught at UD (2007–08) and UMKC (2006–07).

His compositions can be found at http://www.leehartmanmusic.com