Rocking the Rite in the Back of Beyond

I turn my focus to a concert I had the pleasure to attend in the Hawkswell Theatre, Sligo. Just over two weeks ago, The Bad Plus performed – to a house of less than 30 – music which each time it is performed, betrays the dependence of so much of western art music on the figure of Igor. Stravisnky, of course, penned the Rite of Spring for a large-sized orchestra with a swollen horn section and The Bad Plus are (just?) a lowly jazz trio. A super small canvas for an expansive work with iconic timbral hallmarks.  The ultra-high bassoon opening was tackled by the sustain-deficient piano, perhaps marking the territory of this arrangement - impactful, and attack-heavy. Drummer Dave King seemed to create a world of his own, filling the gaps between the (already metrically heady) beats with illogical and virtuosic digressions. In toto, however, bass and piano reined in the beast and delivered a compelling slice of 1913 to the backwaters of Ireland, in the backwaters of Europe. 

I missed the rip-roaring horns and the plaintive bassoon, though. I wonder when we’ll hear them in Sligo, for real…