In Sunday’s (3/14) Plain Dealer (Cleveland), Zachary Lewis writes, “As the Cleveland Orchestra’s principal trumpet, Michael Sachs is used to being in the spotlight. He’s not, however, used to standing front and center. Never mind that Sachs has been a soloist before. When he steps away from his usual seat at the rear of the ensemble to give the world premiere of Michael Hersch’s ‘Night Pieces,’ he plans not only to work hard but also to relish a rare opportunity. ‘To have all of that sound coming at you, I’m always humbled, impressed and overwhelmed,’ said Sachs. … With Sachs in spirit will be Hersch himself, a longtime fan of the trumpeter who wrote ‘Night Pieces’ with him in mind. Him, and the memory of a close friend, who passed away from cancer at a young age in 2009. It was at her funeral, in fact, that Hersch was moved to write a piece for trumpet, an instrument he’d explored at length as a student but whose ‘deeply human, expressive’ sound he hadn’t deployed for some 20 years. … ‘Showcase’ may be the perfect word to describe ‘Night Pieces.’ Sachs and [conductor Giancarlo] Guerrero said the concerto, a five-movement work steeped in the reflective aura of a poem by William Butler Yeats, tests the boundaries of both the trumpet and the artist playing it.”
Posted March 14, 2012
