Open

You can take the listener anywhere, you just have to be sure you’ve given him something to hold onto. I don’t know who first said that, or in what context. And it might be one of those “somethings” that’s different for everyone and that you only recognize when you hear it. Robert Carl’s Open for string trio does it for me, though. At the outset I have no idea where the path is leading, but throughout the three sections (played more or less straight through with only the briefest pauses) there seems to be a sonic banister under my left hand that assures I won’t get lost or left behind along the way. His writing fits in my ear, even when it surprises me. And in spite of the work’s title and the expansive glissandi that are especially pronounced in the opening section, there’s something big and emotional that wraps itself around and creates a shelter in which to listen.

–MS