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The Five Sacred Trees


Joe Brausam

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This afternoon the Philharmonic Quartet of New York gave a masterclass to the woodwind quintet at my college and then performed a full concert for us and the general public this evening.

The quartet is a woodwind quartet made up of members of the New York Philharmonic and included:

Robert Langevin, flute

Sherry Sylar, oboe

Mark Nuccio, clarinet

Judith LeClair, bassoon

Erik Ralske, horn

I have to say I have never heard a more spirited live performance by ANYONE - it was a truly amazing experience. The repertoire included:

Trois Pieces Breves by Jacques Ibert

Quintet for Piano and Winds in Eb Major K. 452 by Mozart

Quintet No. 3 for Winds by David Maslanka (This is a truly wonderful piece and everyone would do themselves good to find a recording of it!)

They also played no less than THREE encore pieces. It was an awesome concert, the sort that makes you think to yourself "THIS is why I love music".

The players are all great friends and are EXTREMELY friendly and approachable, they were all even willing to sign my program and the programs of other students and community members as well.

Some of you may recognize LeClair's name - that is because she is the bassoonist that Williams wrote his bassoon concerto The Five Sacred Trees for and recorded it with her in 1996 with the London Symphony. I spoke to her briefly about it after the concert, she said that she really loves the concerto and enjoyed performing and recording it. I had forgotten to bring my liner notes from the CD with me, so she was even kind enough to give me her home address to send her the booklet to sign!

So here is the signed program, just note that I censored LeClair's address on this scan to protect her privacy.

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I'll be sure to post a photo of the signed booklet once I get it returned as well! She's really a sweet woman and an amazing player, as all of them are. I am so glad to have had the opportunity to hear and meet each of these performers - it was probably the single greatest performance I have ever witnessed.

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Yes, it was such a great experience - apparently they don't have a CD out yet, but one is/has been in the works. It really was an excellent group! What is so great about them is that they are out there having fun - and you can TELL. I gives the performance such an energy and excitement that you'll never find on any recording. And their virtuosic performances just absolutely shine - there is no weak link in this group.

And I cannot more highly recommend that Maslanka piece!

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