Having attended the Music Faculty Showcase last fall, I have to say that I came to this performance with very high expectations. Last semester’s performance featured a truly spectacular night of works ranging, as the title suggested, from “Bach to Stravinsky.” So if I have one gripe with this semester’s concert, it is that there was not quite enough contrast. The first two pieces, a Debussy for five string players and harp and a Tchaikovsky for six string players, bore a large resemblance to each other simply in instrumentation. These were followed by selections from a striking Messiaen song cycle for piano and voice, and the program culminated in a piece by Mexican composer Silvestre Revueltas featuring eleven performers, conducted by Professor Mark Seto.
That being said, it was a wonderful concert by an extremely talented group of faculty and guest performers. “Danses Sacrée et Profane,” the Debussy, was the first time I had ever seen our harp teacher here at Conn, and she made quite the image on stage. As she took her seat, her red dress seemed particularly striking next to the five men around her in black and white tuxedos. Right from the beginning, it was clear that she was topnotch, and having seen very few harp performances in my life, I was enthralled. The harp has a wonderful way of cutting through the rest of the texture when it wants to, and then when the violins do soar over everything else and grab our attention, it is even more exciting.
The other string piece, “Souvenir de Florence,” was saved only by the amount of contrast it was able to provide. A much fiercer piece, “Florence” is comprised of two rollicking allegro movements split by a slow adagio in the middle. The allegros were so passionate that we, as listeners, could not refrain from clapping between movements (which is usually considered terrible manners within music circles). It was fun to watch the two violinists sway together with the music. It was even more powerful when the entire ensemble started to sway during the bigger sections, almost as if the tempo were forcing their bodies to move and to live the music.
I will admit that I found the Messiaen, “Poèmes pour Mi”, the hardest to enjoy, though not for lack of talent. Both Samantha Talmadge and Patrice Newman gave wonderful performances. Talmadge’s wonderful vocal control and seemingly endless breath support had me in awe, and Newman’s interpretation of the unmetered rhythms and unconventional harmonies was really spectacular. However, there is something in this style of vocal music that can be very difficult to grasp in an emotional way.
The culmination, “Homenaje a Federico García Lorca,” is a piece written to mourn the playwright and poet named in the title – Lorca was killed by the Spanish government in 1936 during the Spanish Civil War. It encapsulates not only sadness, but also the pure joy and celebration that can characterize Spanish and Mexican cultures. Not only did the piece feature our wonderful faculty member and USCG trumpeter Tom Brown, but it also gave Professor Seto a chance to strut his stuff with a professional ensemble. After seeing this concert’s percussionist, Professor Peter Jarvis, conduct last semester it was great to see Professor Seto conducting his peers. I won’t even try and compare the two as they are very different and both excellent. Professor Seto’s sharp gestures and fun little movements allowed you to almost forget that this was a piece to honor the death of a fellow artist. It made me realize that the piece isn’t so much a lament of Lorca; it is much more of a celebration of him.
And this performance was a celebration, too – a celebration of a talented faculty at a small music department at a small liberal arts college in a small state on the Eastern Seaboard. I hope that they will continue this tradition in semesters to come, as it is wonderful to see your professors getting up and doing what they love to do.
