Former U.S. poet laureate Billy Collins wore the grin of a proud father as he stood back and watched the saxophonist Ashu light into Pierre Jalbert's musical take on Collins' poem "The Invention of the Saxophone."
Collins seemed a bit nervous; he'd never faced an audience of chamber music fans, nor had he ever done a reading of his poetry to the backdrop of music written to express the poem's heartbeat.
But in a performance that closed the second concert of the 16th annual Tucson Winter Chamber Music Festival on Tuesday, Collins was in a good company of firsts. He shared the stage with Ashu, who was making his first festival appearance with an instrument that is making its first festival appearance. And he shared the night with Jorge Osorio, the first Mexican pianist to play at the festival sponsored by the Arizona Friends of Chamber Music.
It was not, however, the first time the Friends have programmed Jalbert's piece, commissioned for Ashu by Chicago's Music in the Loft, which champions young artists. The Friends and Ashu performed it in 2005 in Ashu's first Tucson concert, with University of Arizona theater arts professor Harold Dixon narrating.
By all accounts of that performance, Dixon was superb. But for the 550 nearly filling the Leo Rich Theatre, hearing Collins read his own words in his soothing baritone, crisply intoning the story of the night Adolph Sax finished crafting his remarkable instrument added new relevance to the piece.
Jalbert's score is sublime, with virtuosic turns for the saxophone, which assumes the lead voice with the piano. It's a colorful work that pulsates with dramatic exclamations from the saxophone and comforting support from the piano, wonderfully played by Australian Bernadette Balkus.
Jalbert has you all but forget your notions about the sax's dominant role in jazz. He redefines the instrument as a powerful voice in classical music, with superbly controlled phrases that don't wander into jazz's improvisational waters. But Jalbert doesn't rob the sax of its sex appeal, a point Ashu underscored with a passionate performance.
Ashu, one of the dominant saxophonists on the classical music scene, produced alternately silky and buttery tones. His sax sounded more like a voice than an instrument, reciting its own version of Collins' poetry. And that version was irresistible, sublimely beautiful and mesmerizing, wrapped in a confident stage presence that demanded your attention and convinced you that the saxophone had every right to share the stage with instruments that predate it by centuries.
Tuesday's program also included Rossini's Quartet No. 3 in C major, performed by violinists Ani Kavafian and Joseph Lin, cellist Antonio Lysy and bass player Volkan Orhon. The piece illustrated the beauty of festivals like Tucson's, where you can see superbly talented musicians share the stage and perform together with the kind of intuition and trust that feels like years in the making instead of the few days they have spent together.
The piece puts the spotlight on the first violin, performed by Kavafian, who showed off pristine technical prowess and a dominant voice throughout. Lin, a regular on the festival stage in recent years, got a chance to answer with a frenzied and crisp passage in the final movement.
Lysy had a bigger role in the second-half opener, Brahms' Trio for Clarinet, Cello and Piano in A minor with Mexican pianist Osorio and clarinetist Richard Hawkins. Violist Paul Coletti returned to the festival after a three-year absence to perform Bloch's darkly toned Suite for Viola and Piano with Balkus.
The festival continues tonight when the Grammy-winning Pacifica Quartet performs Mendelssohn's Capriccio for String Quartet and UA piano prof John Milbauer makes his festival debut with Peter Schickele's Serenade for Three for Clarinet, Violin and Piano, which takes its lead from P.D.Q. Bach.
If you go
16th annual Tucson Winter Chamber Music Festival
• Featuring: Pacifica Quartet.
• When: Now through Sunday.
• Where: Leo Rich Theatre, 260 S. Church Ave., Downtown.
• Tickets: $25, $10 for students, per concert. $150 for gala dinner and concert Saturday at Arizona Inn.
• Details: 577-3769.
• Musicians who will appear or have appeared: Violinists Simin Ganatra, Sibbi Bernhardsson, Ani Kavafian and Joseph Lin; violists Masumi Per Rostad, Paul Coletti; cellists Brandon Vamos, Antonio Lysy and Peter Rejto; pianists Bernadette Balkus, Jorge Osorio and John Milbauer; trumpeter Ed Reid; clarinetist Richard Hawkins; bassist Volkan Orhon; saxophonist Ashu; percussionist Gary Cook.
• Schedule: (All concerts begin at 8 p.m. except Sunday, which begins at 3 p.m. The gala dinner begins at 6 p.m.: Today — Mendelssohn's "Capriccio"; Mustonen's Nonette II Strings; P. Schickele's "Serenade for Three" for Clarinet, Violin, Piano; Brahms's Piano Quintet in F minor. Saturday — Gala dinner and concert, Arizona Inn. Sunday — Schuttenhelm's Duo for Violin and Bass, "Lyric Serenade" (world premiere); Messiaen's "Quartet for the End of Time"; Golijov's "The Last Round" String Nonet; Saint-Saëns' Septet for Trumpet, String Quartet, Bass and Piano.
• Et cetera: Today's dress rehearsal from 9 a.m. to noon is open to the public.
