“Good musicians know how to improvise. So do good music organizations,” writes James C. Taylor in Wednesday’s (8/18) Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ; subscription required). “Tuesday night at the Newark Museum … the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra wrapped up its first season of ‘Arts in the Garden’ … outdoor, chamber concerts…. This event, titled ‘Who We Are With DBR,’ was originally scheduled for last week, but was postponed due to a seven-day shut-down following COVID-19 protocols…. The ‘DBR’ named in the title—otherwise known as Daniel Bernard Roumain—could no longer be in attendance due to a scheduling conflict. And so the 10 members of the NJSO on hand improvised without DBR, the company’s Resident Artistic Catalyst, just as they did when the wind picked up mid-concert and threatened to blow away sheet music and knock over instruments…. The hour-long concert [included] ‘Joy Boy,’ an audacious piece by the late Julius Eastman [in a] shortened arrangement for flute, oboe, clarinet and horn…. ‘Klap Ur Handz,’ a DBR piece … got the audience’s toes tapping…. The four-minute ‘Hip Hop Study & Etude in G-minor’ sounded like it was freshly improvised on the spot.” Also on the program was music by Paola Prestini, Yaz Lancaster, and Schubert.
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