The first set, “Three Virtues,” composed in 2003, had three movements, Simplicity, Enthusiasm, and Serenity; played in that order. This set was composed for Charles Guy who was playing the tuba, a bass range brass instrument that changes pitch by means of valves. Heinick, as mentioned before, accompanied Guy on the piano. Both performers dressed formally in all black attire and played on center stage blissfully. Having the tuba accompanied by the piano was something I have never heard before, so I found this set to be very interesting. Both instruments switched back and forth with the varying tempo, so while one would play adagio, the other would play allegro, producing a very harmonic sound with a polyphonic textu

The third set, “Trio for Violin, Cello, and Piano,” composed in 2003, had three movements, Pentagrams, Sarabande and Doubles, and Jubilee. John Lindsey, an older gentleman, probably late fifties early sixties, played the violin, the highest-ranged member of the bowed-string instrument family. Mathias Wexler, a middle-aged man, played the cello, a middle-ranged member of the bowed-string instrument family. Again, these performers were accompanied by Heinick on the piano. These performers were also dressed professionally in all black clothing. In this set, everyone was sitting down in a chair, Lindsey with the violin to his neck sat to the left side of center, while Wexler, with the cello in front of him, legs bracing the sides of his instrument, sat to the right side of center. Heinick was at the backside of center, but still clearly visible to the audience.

Dynamically this set started out mezzo forte, with a repetitious pattern of notes. As the music developed and notes became more disjunct the tempo ranged from moderato to vivace, meaning the title, Poco allegro, was very fitting. The dynamics also varied in this movement, from mezzo piano to forte. This aptly named movement made me think of a car chase scene in a movie. With the moments of action occurring simultaneously with high ranged and fast tempo notes. I did not really get closure on this scene however, because the movement ended awkwardly on an eerily high pitched note. The performers in this set took only three distinguishable breaks, making it difficult to identify each movement individually. The only movement that I am sure of its length is the first one, because of the abrupt ending it had. I think part of this confusion was due to the fact that Cadenza was the second movement and not closer to the end of the set. Cadenza by definition is, “Virtuosic solo passage in the manner of an improvisation, performed near the end of an aria or a movement of a concerto.” While McAllister showed great technical ability in this movement, it was not an improvisation, because in the program notes, it was said that Heinick was the compo

Some topics in this essay:
Potsdam Dynamically, Mathias Wexler, Flickering Phantom, Charles Guy, David Heinick, Amazon Despite, John Lindsey, Music Review, McAllister McAllister, Tarantella Andante, alto saxophone, wide range, heinick piano, bowed-string instrument family, piano forte, piano performers, program notes, performers dressed, composed piece, abrupt cadence, composed 2003 movements, piano performers dressed, bowed-string instrument,