People Are Talking: UMS presents Sabine Meyer and The Trio Di Clarone at Rackham Auditorium
Posted: 2/4/12 -- 8:00 am
by Rachelle Lesko
Tell us what you thought! This is the place to comment on the performance and talk to other people about what you saw and heard. Don’t forget to click the option to be notified when new comments are posted.
Rachelle is the UMS Development Administrative Assistant and has just started her fourth season at UMS. She likes to spend her free time running, knitting, reading, and going to concerts. She also has a weakness for cupcakes—her favorite dessert!
5/20/13 at 2:27 pm 
They are fantastic but the programme’s way too short!
Clair Talbothays
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Clearly the basset horn is more versatile and agile instrument than the alpenhorn and it has a more pleasing tone than the kazoo. (I prefer to make positive comments.) I note that there was not the usual standing ovation for the performers.
rick
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I thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of the concert, especially being introduced to a “new” instrument. However, I’m deeply troubled by the apparently widespread notion that if there is no standing ovation a concert is a failure!
Bob Whitman
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Indeed. Standing ovations should be reserved for truly outstanding performances — no more than ten percent at most, in my opinion. Just because I don’t stand doesn’t mean the performance was a failure, but when I do stand it really means something.
CMSMW
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Ms. Meyer and company were quite excellent in their playing, and the performance was well worth the price of admission (especially from my half-price student ticket). The performance, however, lacked the flourish and excitement of, for instance, last week’s performance by Mr. Steger. They were very artful, but not quite so energetic and showy as I would have preferred for at least one piece. I think a lot of us would have also liked to hear the headliner perform in a solo piece rather than Mr. Meyer, not that he was at all disappointing.
Mike
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I agree that the performance felt a little flat, but in part I guess that’s the nature of the instrument. I loved the J.S. Bach – I think basset horns lend themselves so well to his music – they sound like a living organ – and the clarinet works (Poulenc, Stravinsky) were a treat. While it was a good programming idea to start with and end with the Mozart arias to add some flair, they fell short because I just thought the basset horns lacked the brilliance and dynamic range to make the most of those operatic gems.
Scott
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I was hoping to hear Ms. Meyer play the clarinet! Too much bassset horn!
Jerry Thornton
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I enjoyed the performance more than the others here, apparently — in fact, more than Maurice Steger and Les Violons du Roy last week. (For me a little Baroque noodling goes a long way.) I thought the program was nicely assembled, and I had always wanted to hear a basset clarinet in person, since I’ve heard so much about how Mozart loved it.
I’m certainly more interested overall in string quartets and piano trios, etc., but I’m glad to have this in my portfolio of performances attended.
CMSMW
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I am a clarinetist and visited from Pittsburgh, PA to see this performance and was pleased! So rarely do we hear such an all-clarinet program of such stellar quality! All three performers offered a well-prepared program of warm clarinet tone and sound technique. Their basset horns, even just as instruments themselves, were beautiful – fine craftsmanship. These musicians are some of the finest for the instrument. Not every professional can play this instrument as well and with such good taste.
I was pleased to hear the beautiful, often humorous, Poulenc piece, as well as the wild and fun Stravinsky. Perhaps only clarinetists can fully appreciate the Stravinsky?
Not sure. For those that did not like.. at least it is short! 
Many thanks to UMS for arranging for them to appear in their series! Your hall is beautiful and I am glad this recital was so well attended. Keep up the good work.
Alison
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