In musical performance, skill, talent and innovation don’t always coexist. But Time for Three, or Tf3, magically converge the tried, the true and the new.
Violinists Zach De Pue and Nicolas Kendall, along with Ranaan Meyer on the double-bass, rocked a full house at Boulder’s Chautauqua Auditorium on Thursday with their distinctive delivery of technical virtuosity, spirited improvisation and amalgamation of musical styles.
In Chris Brubeck’s Colorado premiere of “Travels in Time for Three,” the atypical instrumentation of the youngish trio lay bare the physical and conceptual interplay among work’s jazz idioms.
The ensemble was easily at home in the ambitious, four-movement piece, coolly navigating its swing, funk, bebop and tango effects. Like dancers who differ from one another, yet closely understand, anticipate and rely on one another, they exhibited individual and complementary flavors of music-making.
As if in vertical realities, each member of the group expressed his own personal musical approach and observations, yet never lost connection or camaraderie with the trio as a whole.
With music director Michael Christie and the dependably refined playing of the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra in accompaniment, the lush third movement highlighted the trio’s more thoughtful side in extended and unhurried musical thoughts and phrases. Meyer’s playing, especially, illuminated a range of rich, soulful sonorities – my only wish was to hear his sound more fully projected.
In the final movement, Kendall’s kinetic showmanship stole the show – fingers on fire, he led the work’s last crescendoing sweep with power and gusto.
Upon rousing ovations, also for the composer who was in attendance, Tf3 then proceeded with a revival of a Hungarian dance (Johannes Brahms) delivered with a generous measure of flair, fun, trickery and unabashed schmaltz.
The orchestral program opened with the warm timbres of Brubeck’s mellow and mellifluous “Convergence” and continued after intermission with more American classics: Ferde Grofé’s atmospheric “Grand Canyon Suite” and George Gershwin’s charming and sophisticated “An American in Paris.”
As usual, Christie – in his 10th season at the helm of the CMF – demonstrated a keen grasp of complex rhythms and meters throughout the program. And among the many fine solos of several orchestra members, principal violinist Calin Lupanu was superb in his delivery of the opening passages of “On the Trail” in Grofé’s suite.
The entertaining show repeats tonight, and Tf3 returns to Colorado on Aug. 9 to perform a recital at the Aspen Music Festival.
