text: A bit of jazz, and even some rock crept onto saxophonist Gabriel Piqué’s program at Christ Church Episcopal in Hudson on October 31. Although he stuck to mostly classical repertoire in his Music From The Western Reserve recital, those occasional flashes of other genres didn’t seem out of place.
  It was all part of a virtuosic whole, and the technical skills at work in one style — flying fingers, a carefully crafted sound — translated to every other genre.
  [Read more…]
  Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: Casey Dierlam Tse, Christ Church Episcopal, Gabriel Pique, Music From The Western Reserve
  Saxophonist Gabriel Piqué makes Music From The Western Reserve debut
  October 26, 2021 by Mike Telin
  by Mike Telin
  It’s always interesting to hear how musicians come to choose their instruments. Some want to follow in the footsteps of a family member, while others prefer to chart their own path. “What drew me to the saxophone to begin with was my grandma,” Gabriel Piqué said during a recent telephone conversation. “It’s something you never want to hear your grandma say, but I brought one home and she said ‘Gabe, that instrument is sexy.’ I think I was in the 6th grade, and that’s when I decided that I didn’t want to play clarinet or flute, I wanted to play the saxophone.”
  On Sunday, October 31 at 5:00 pm at Christ Episcopal Church in Hudson, Gabriel Piqué and pianist Casey Dierlam Tse will perform a diverse selection of works as part of the Music From The Western Reserve series. Tickets are available online.
  Piqué, who is the Assistant Professor of Saxophone and Jazz Studies at Baldwin Wallace Conservatory, will begin his program with Fernande Decruck’s Sonata in c-sharp.
  “Decruck is probably best known in the saxophone community and this is her most famous piece,” Piqué said. “I played it on my masters’ recital and the piece provided a transformational moment for me. When I was an undergrad I was primarily a button pusher — a technician if you will. I had great technique but didn’t understand what music was about. My teacher at Eastman was the one who said, ‘You have emotions — you should try them.’ He was rather blunt. But this piece is the perfect vehicle for that. It doesn’t work if you’re not in-tune with your emotions.”
  [Read more…]
  Filed Under: Previews Tagged With: Casey Dierlam Tse, Christ Episcopal Church, Gabriel Pique, Music From The Western Reserve
  Re•Views
  BlueWater Chamber Orchestra: “Exploration CLE” at the Breen (Nov. 20)
  by Daniel Hathaway
  One of the latest instrumental ensembles to announce a new season of concerts, BlueWater Chamber Orchestra began 2021-2022 with an imaginative program on November 20 at the Breen Center at St. Ignatius High School in Ohio City. The time was unusual — Saturday afternoon at 3:00 pm.
  Music director and conductor Daniel Meyer built his playlist around Cleveland themes and scenes. “Exploration CLE” made use of engaging selections from the classical canon and beyond that celebrated “what makes Cleveland so special.” Happily, he and his musicians avoided constructing a visual slide show, choosing to let the music speak for itself. [Read on…]
  Music From The Western Reserve: pianists Antonio Pompa-Baldi and Emanuela Friscioni (Nov. 14)
  by Peter Feher
  Even the best pianists only share a keyboard in performance with someone they trust. Fortunately for Cleveland audiences, the bond between two players doesn’t get much deeper than the duo of Antonio Pompa-Baldi and Emanuela Friscioni.
  The husband-and-wife piano team gave a spectacular four-hands recital at Christ Church Episcopal in Hudson on November 14, part of Music From The Western Reserve’s 2021–2022 concert series.
  You could see the relationship at work on a practical level. Repertoire for two players at the same piano requires a certain choreography. There’s just one of each pedal to share, and the hand crossings left and right — which can be so fun to watch a soloist pull off — get more complicated when another person’s involved. At times, Pompa-Baldi drew a hand away from the keyboard and into his body, making room for Friscioni, and at the close of a few delicate phrases, the two were crouched together over the same final notes at one end of the instrument. [Read on…]
  Cleveland Pops: “A Salute to John Williams” (Nov. 12)
  by Peter Feher
  “And now for the two notes that changed the course of music history.” Conductor Carl Topilow was half-joking in his introduction to the “Shark Theme” from Jaws, just one of many recognizable movie moments from the Cleveland Pops Orchestra’s “Salute to John Williams” on November 12.
  But he was also hinting at the composer’s influential, all-too-easy-to-imitate style, and piece after piece proved this true, immersing the audience at Severance Music Center in Williams’ sometimes repetitive but always satisfying musical world.
  The signature sounds of these famous film scores are not so much John Williams’ invention as allusions to other classical pieces. The foreboding half-step from Jaws, growing more and more furious in the cellos and basses, shares something with Dvořák’s “New World” Symphony and Bartok’s Miraculous Mandarin. [Read on…]