Black is the colour...
(omaggio a Berio)
“ICE delivers startling new music from Europe”, Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune. 27.05.12
"The most disarming work on the program took a radically different approach. As its title suggests, Patricia Alessandrini's "Omaggio a Berio" paid tribute to the Italian composer Luciano Berio, specifically his "Folk Songs." But the melodic ingenuity and ethereal character of Alessandrini's piece were testament to her ear for the softest imaginable colors and tones. The work positioned several musicians around a grand piano, some reaching inside it to delicately pluck its strings, others playing into the instrument to generate additional overtones. Meanwhile, a nearly imperceptible vocal chant whispered along. All of this opened at barely pianissimo level and remained quite hushed, so that when a single pitch resounded fully, it amounted to a startling effect. The ICE musicians – on flute, voice, clarinet, viola, cello, percussion and piano – achieved extraordinarily diaphanous sound in a beguiling piece Alessandrini had updated for this Chicago premiere.”
“ICE closes with mixed musical postcards from Paris”, Lawrence A. Johnson, Chicago Classical Review. 27.05.12
“The clear audience favorite was Patricia Alessandrini’s Omaggio a Berio, an ICE commission heard in its world premiere. Scored for six players (flute, clarinet, viola, cello, percussion and piano), Omaggio is an intimate theatrical piece as much as a musical work. In the opening bars pianist Cory Smythe and flutist Claire Chase create a barely audible rustling sound by playing the inside of the prepared piano, set against hushed notes by the cellist on the bridge of his instrument. Chase sings quietly into her flute and soon the violist stands up and walks over to join the other two at the piano, as does the clarinetist in a collaborative coaxing of refined, crystalline hues with a strange, otherworldly expression. Alessandrini studied at IRCAM and her homage to Berio is enigmatic and haunting, showing a distinctive and imaginative compositional voice.”
