Newness

Marian Budos is a prolific composer.  I've played one of his works with Musica da Camera.  The bio lists an abundance of orchestras and others who have played his music, especially in Europe.  This concert was no different, featuring a few of his Personalities series and more and a world premiere thrown in for good measure.  They were not long and they were guitar works and this instrument defines much of its music to my ears: the interplay of chords and moving notes, perhaps the top note, that define the tune and the clipped, chipped tone of the acoustic guitar and perhaps the occasional unexpected strum.  Many of Marian's tunes covered friends so had names like Vince and Ivana, and a few were even dogs, Elza and Coco, I think.  Either way, this was expressing personality, but it didn't end there.  Marian obviously is touched by the natural world, so those dogs but also his garden and trees.  He had a quartet on trees in his garden, still with short names, Alba or Stella, and even a tune on a lost possum, Momo, which we heard as a world premiere this day, and concerns with birds and babies in a mother tree.   So interesting stories to help us picture the sources.  And a political but personal one called Ukrainian boy, about a young son put on a bus by a mother to successfully reach family in Slovakia.  Awareness all around.  And a final snippet encore exploring two loves in one song, Bach and Barcelona, Bachelona.  I hope I got the spelling right.  Whatever, some lovely playing and intriguing compositions but also an admirable awareness of the greater world out there.

Marian Budos (guitar, composer) performed at Wesley.