Seven years to create landscapes for the ears

New York

ON Sunday afternoon, the composer Lei Liang looked on silently as the ensemble Loadbang made its second pass through his Lakescape V. For seven years, a commission from the busy Liang had been on a wish list kept by the group, an unusual quartet consisting of trumpet, trombone, bass clarinet and baritone voice. It became a fixed point on the calendar nearly three years ago, when a concert of Liang's music was scheduled for Thursday, part of the Miller Theater's Composer Portrait series.

But the musicians received their parts only several weeks ago, and the coaching by the composer gave them just five days to close the distance between written page and performance…