Seventeen-Tone Concert

Congrats to all participants, whether as composers or performers. This
was a tremendous concert to organize and perform, so "hats off!" to
Jacob and the other fine musicians at Rice.

I thought that the two-piano works by Thompson, Price, Johnson and
Barton to be extremely effective. They varied in mood and expression --
from tranquil and meditative to quirky and complex. These pieces did a
fine job of highlighting the various possibilities of 17-ET. Some of the
best works I've yet heard for this tuning.

For sundry reasons, I found all but one of the ensemble pieces somewhat
unconvincing. Chris Bryan's "Invocation" struck me as a serious,
successful and beautiful work for multiple instruments in a difficult
tuning -- very engaging, using the most simple and direct writing
without recourse to "special FX". IMHO, of course.

jls

> unconvincing. Chris Bryan's "Invocation" struck me as a serious,
> successful and beautiful work for multiple instruments in a difficult
> tuning -- very engaging, using the most simple and direct writing
> without recourse to "special FX". IMHO, of course.

Thanks!

I'll be continuing to develop that piece over the next couple of
years, so further iterations may surface.

Chris