Yes, classicism. Listening to the Micros' exuberant performance last night at Joe's Pub was heaven. Each of them was having such a good time and the wit behind every note made for such engaged listening on the part of all assembled! It made me wish more uptown music was like that!
Not that every note was lighthearted: part of the success of the evening was the fearlessness with which intimacy sang out from individual voices, sometimes in explicit lyricism, sometimes in flashes of digression from the prevailing mood. It was supremely Haydn-esque, in fact.
The programming was excellent, the pieces and the players irresistible, and it led to some interesting morning-after insights. Perhaps Adolphe Saxe invented the saxophone out of protest against the too-clean pitches in vogue during his lifetime: the flute had become steely; clarinets and oboes, though still made of wood, were crafted to match the modern temperament. Perhaps it was time to introduce into the modern orchestra a bit of the old edge. The saxophone is all about edge.
