In Transit

Great musicians, it is said, lift the notes off the page and bring them to life. According to this theory, McAllister and Goodson are Olympic powerlifters; they can take some pretty heavy music and toss it off nonchalantly with their nimble fingers. Similarly, skilled drivers can make a Hyundai seem like a Ferrari; poetry in motion. In Transit is not your average sax and piano recital; it is a manic drive through some of the tricky chicanes with plenty of opportunities to crash and burn along the way (which they never do BTW).

Five composers have designed the musical obstacle courses: Etezady’s Streetlegal does for sax and piano what NASCAR might do around a small Italian town; a blazing thrill ride on the edge of considerable danger. Albright and Babbitt live up to their pro status; Wanamaker takes the sax into uncharted mechanical terrain and Zupko’s “In Transit” takes a pop song written by his grandfather in the 40s to new extremes.

This is chamber music on Red Bull. Timothy McAllister is (at least) one quarter of the renowned PRISM Quartet. Kathryn Goodson is (not just) a Michigan pianist and teacher. Together they have played from Paris to Peru.