As I went home after the concert, I passed by the Tiger Stadium site on the corner of Michigan and Trumbull. Quite a few people had gathered around to witness the end of that historic sports arena. At the moment, I couldn't pat myself on the back for this having turned out to be so well-timed. I just felt the sadness over something that could have been prevented, something that so many people worked so hard to prevent, and in the end it came down to politics.
There was other music on the concert besides Monica's piece. I think Keith Buckner's Prentis Street Sonata, played by clarinet and string quartet rather than trumpet and string quartet made a much stronger impression. It helps that the clarinet has an easier time blending with a string chamber ensemble. To play Keith's piece with trumpet would perhaps benefit from using a string orchestra rather than a string quartet. The double bass part could be pretty much the cello part with a few strategic deletions.
As for my piece, the String Quartet in A major, the players dialed down some of my excessive quadruple stops, but still left in a lot of the vigorous slash energy. The end is not meant to be victorious in the sense that would be traditionally expected in going from A minor to A major, and I worried that this ambivalence would confuse the Audience even more than the players. I was surprised by the applause, to be honest with you.
It was good to see Prof. Augustus Hill and Dr. Robert Perkins, DDS, two pillars of the community, in the Audience, which numbered about 70 persons not counting players. I had told Ellen I was expecting about 50 people, but it was necessary to add some seats just prior to the concert.
