About a week-and-a-half ago, the music faculty presented their biannual showcase concert in Cummings’ Evans Hall. Classical guitar, violin and harp, and clarinet and bass were featured, and faculty members performed chamber music together under the baton of Prof. Mark Seto, who’s always fun to watch.
The majority of the music was composed in the first half or so of the twentieth century, and represented works from Spain, France, England, and the United States. Prof. Jim McNeish started the concert, with a couple of classical guitar works composed just before the turn of the last century by Spanish guitarist and composer Francisco Tárrega (1852-1909): the pensive, beautiful reverie “Recuerdos de la’ Alhambra,” and “Marieta” (presumably named for his daughter), a short mazurka, A mazurka a piece written to accompany the lively country dance of the same name that originated in Poland. The performance was a nice opportunity to hear a rather esoteric instrument performed very well, and an introduction to some wonderful new repertoire (that I highly recommend researching).
From Spain, we moved north-west to France and Camille Saint-Saëns’ (1835-1921) “Fantasie for Violin and Harp, Op. 124,” which was composed in 1907. Two faculty members, violinist Theodore Arm and harpist Megan Sesma, performed. The “Fantasie” is an absolutely gorgeous piece (at times reminding me of a film score) with a violin part that, while quick in sections, always returns to a lyrical and achingly beautiful line. It’s that line, which, as I think about it more, just might make the piece my favorite on the concert. Jesse Guterman, ‘16 agrees that are “always going to be a couple of pieces from each faculty concert that just stick with you.” This time, “the Saint-Seans piece [kept] playing in my head.” Throughout the piece, Sesma accompanied Arm beautifully; the timbres of the two instruments, which I hadn’t considered in combination before, complement each other nicely.
Next, we crossed the English Channel to reach England and Benjamin Britten (1913-1976). A chamber orchestra comprised of faculty members and other musicians, with flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, French horn, two violins, a viola, cello and bass, played Britten’s “Sinfonietta, Op. 1,” published in 1935. The three-movement work started fast, then had a lyrical central movement, and ended with a spirited tarantella (a fast piece meant to accompany the dance of the same name). The entire fabulous piece was written in three weeks. There was some demanding technical work for the entire orchestra, but the best instrument in the entire performance for my money was the French horn, played by Jaime Thorne. The gorgeous timbre of the horn took over the entire hall at times. It was glorious. Good horn is heavenly.
Following an intermission, clarinetist Tom Labadorf and bassist Mark McCormick played American composer Morton Gould’s (1913-1996) fun and jazzy “Benny’s Gig.” It was composed for the jazz clarinetist Benny Goodman to perform on his 1962 tour of Soviet Russia, at a time when the style wasn’t fully appreciated in the U.S.S.R. The eight short, vignette-like movements (seven written for the tour plus an additional one composed in 1979) alternate between slow, and fast, jaunty tempi. Looking past the political implications of Goodman visiting Soviet Russia, the piece is notable in its own right for its instrumentation: The combination of clarinet and bass is rather unusual. I can’t think of a time that it occurs in classical music; and in a combo (that is, a small jazz ensemble), clarinet and bass do play together, but a piano is usually present as well. Despite its uncommonness, the combo was wonderful, with each musician supporting the other well. In a stylistic note, in a nod to Goodman and jazz, Labadorf added significant vibrato to his tone, a rarity among classical clarinetists.
To end the program, the applied music faculty plus a couple of other musicians remained in the United States, performing Samuel Barber’s (1910-1981) “Knoxville: Summer of 1915, Op. 124” (composed in 1947). It’s a piece featuring soprano (Jurate Svedaite-Waller sang stunningly) and a chamber orchestra of flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, two French horns, trumpet, harp, two violins, viola, cello and bass. The work is a setting of American novelist, screenwriter, journalist, poet, and film critic James Agee’s (1909-1955) “Knoxville, Summer of 1915.” The prose-poem is a nostalgic remembrance a summer evening in the poet’s childhood in Knoxville, Tennessee. The soprano narrator is a child, but sounds almost like the voice of a child who is living on in the memory of an adult. In a wonderful reflection of narrator-memory, Barber’s piece is, while sad, at times tense as well. Jurate Svedaite-Waller’s musical line floated lyrically over this alternately sad and tense orchestration throughout the entire piece absolutely beautifully.
All in all, the concert was a wonderful mix of programming, covering a wide range of styles and instruments – all performed so enjoyably well. In Guterman’s words, “[Faculty performances are] a great way to get inspired as a musician, and I’m grateful to have such a talented and personable music faculty that can move you in that way.”
