https://www.sfcv.org/articles/review/pandemic-reunion-program-green-umbrella-turns-celebration#
As Adams pointed out from the stage, the role of improvisation, which once played an important role in classical music, has been all but replaced by exact notation. That is not the case for composer and bassoon virtuoso Katherine Young. Her LA Phil commission Spores was initially composed in 2017, its premiere delayed until Tuesday, first by illness, then by the pandemic.
If there is such a thing as a rock-star electric bassoonist, it would have to be Young. “She’s got more foot pedals than Jimi Hendrix,” Adams quipped.
Young’s title is a reference to the reproductive units produced by mushrooms, some of which have managed to migrate around the globe. Another influence, Young said, was early electronic-music compositions. It makes for a fascinating blend — airborne “spores” in the form of electronics and phasing, plus extended sections of improvisation in which musicians are instructed to listen to what other musicians are playing and then riff on it.
Composed for electronic and acoustic bassoon, assorted brass, winds, strings, and a battery of percussion, including a pair of triangles, the piece is by turns as dense as molasses, as light as air (with the musicians encouraged to vocalize their breath), and as freewheeling as a trip down the open highway.
