Concert Review
The concert review below was written as a critical and technical assessment of a recital that took place on Tuesday, November 14, 2006. It featured the music of composition student Jon Woods. Below I have provided my reaction to five of the pieces performed at the concert.
Wind and Water This was a piece written for a woodwind trio consisting of a flute, clarinet, and soprano saxophone, accompanied by piano. The general melodic contour of the music was in a legato style with few large intervallic leaps. The harmonic form of the music varied between moments of 12 tone serialism in the vain of Schoenberg and functionally tonal harmonies in the style of Richard Struass and other late romantic composers. Each instramental line was soloistic, yet supplemental to the music intertwining with it. This was due in part to some ingenious contrapuntal voice writing. The overall soundscape of the piece was extremely beautiful. The flute and clarinet melodies were especially helpful in making the music sing gorgeously. The soprano saxophonist had some trouble with her parts which in turn jepordized some of the beautiful music making that was happening amongst the group. The piano part was fairly simple and sparsely written though nevertheless expressive and musically effective. Some points of the music had repeated thematic ideas that created a trancelike musical atmosphere and completely relaxed the audience almost into a nirvana of sorts. Overall the piece was extremely well writen and performed equally as competently. The choice of instrumentation for this piece was perfect and captured the artistic intent of the composer effectively.
Shade From A Lone Tree This was an improvisatory piece of music in which the performer, an electric guitarist, was to look at a piece of graphic notation (ie. pictures) and play the feelings that each picture provoked. The sound of the guitar was then manipulated electronically by a computer program and redistributed through one of four speakers set up in each of the coners of the recital hall. The style the guitarist used to display his emotional interpretations of the graphic notation was primarily in a blues style with heavy use of a metal slide, quarter-tone bends, and minor pentatonic scale runs. The interaction between the guitarist and the computer manipulated sound was one of call and response with the manipulated sound serving as the response to the intial thematic statement made by the guitar. This music was very interesting to listen to, though a little challenging at times. The improv session lasted way too long and quickly became tedious after the 7 minute mark. Overall, I thought that this was an interesting venture into the realm of electronic music, though it was aurally overbearing and much too long.
Tough Love Tough Love is a Russian influenced unaccompanied viola solo in the vain of Shotakovich, Prokofiev and other early 20th century Russian composers. This piece was by far the most traditional piece on the program, both in harmony and form. The solo lines were very lyrical and the tempo was around an andante with lots of rubato and accelerandos. Large intervallic leaps and heavy vibrato were other characteristics that made the music sing like an operatic tenor voice. The performance itself was moderately successful. A few out of tune notes did detract from the overall quality of the performance though the dynamic contrasts and phrasing were excellent. The expressiveness of the music came out beautifully and Jon's choice of writing these melodies for solo viola was a good one. Despite a few minor technical difficulties I was able to deduce that this was a well written piece of music and it was quite enjoyable to listen to.
Around Around was inspired by a ceramic artist who convinced Jon to write a piece of music that involved pre-recorded tape sounds interacting with the process of throwing a pot. The goal of the piece is to have the actions of the ceramicist line-up and be reflected on the tape. This was a very interesting concept and was very effective. It was mesmerizing to see just how closely the sounds of the tape lined up with the actions of the ceramicist. The sound of trickling water and the turning of a wheel corresponded very closely to the ceramistic wetting his hands in a bowl of water and turning the wheel at different speeds. I found this to be a fascinating piece that effecticely mixed visual art with music.
Growth of a Glass Plate This piece was written for three percussionists making use of timpani, marimba, and vibraphone. The dynamic of the music was very soft and stayed soft throughout the entirety of the piece. Musically this piece displayed overt indeterminate thematic ideas much in the vain of composers like George Crumb and John Cage. The timapni was used as the time keeping instrument of the ensemble and played basic rhythmic patterns underneath the vibraphone and marimba. The melodic material of the marimba and vibraphone consisted of short indefinate phrases that employed heavy use of acro (bowing the bars with a cello or double bass bow). Musically I found this piece difficult to follow and the thematic material to be abrupt and disjoined. Ultimately the poorly thought out indeterminacy of the phrasing and choppy melodic material made the piece unsuccessful in stirring any sort of interest for myself or the audience.
CONCLUSION:
Overall I felt that this recital was very good. Jon had a lot of different musical ideas and styles incorporated into his compositions. He effectively displayed his ability to write music in many different mediums as well as solidify the fact that he has gift for writing gorgeous melodies and wide musical soudscapes. Out of all the pieces that were performed that night, I felt that there was truly only one bad piece and that was Growth of a Glass Plate. Mr. Woods' other compositions were of par excellence and provided a variety of musical experiences that pleasured as well as challenged the auditory senses of the listener. This was a good concert. As his style grows and becomes more personalized, I believe that Jon Woods will have a successful future in music.
Wind and Water This was a piece written for a woodwind trio consisting of a flute, clarinet, and soprano saxophone, accompanied by piano. The general melodic contour of the music was in a legato style with few large intervallic leaps. The harmonic form of the music varied between moments of 12 tone serialism in the vain of Schoenberg and functionally tonal harmonies in the style of Richard Struass and other late romantic composers. Each instramental line was soloistic, yet supplemental to the music intertwining with it. This was due in part to some ingenious contrapuntal voice writing. The overall soundscape of the piece was extremely beautiful. The flute and clarinet melodies were especially helpful in making the music sing gorgeously. The soprano saxophonist had some trouble with her parts which in turn jepordized some of the beautiful music making that was happening amongst the group. The piano part was fairly simple and sparsely written though nevertheless expressive and musically effective. Some points of the music had repeated thematic ideas that created a trancelike musical atmosphere and completely relaxed the audience almost into a nirvana of sorts. Overall the piece was extremely well writen and performed equally as competently. The choice of instrumentation for this piece was perfect and captured the artistic intent of the composer effectively.
Shade From A Lone Tree This was an improvisatory piece of music in which the performer, an electric guitarist, was to look at a piece of graphic notation (ie. pictures) and play the feelings that each picture provoked. The sound of the guitar was then manipulated electronically by a computer program and redistributed through one of four speakers set up in each of the coners of the recital hall. The style the guitarist used to display his emotional interpretations of the graphic notation was primarily in a blues style with heavy use of a metal slide, quarter-tone bends, and minor pentatonic scale runs. The interaction between the guitarist and the computer manipulated sound was one of call and response with the manipulated sound serving as the response to the intial thematic statement made by the guitar. This music was very interesting to listen to, though a little challenging at times. The improv session lasted way too long and quickly became tedious after the 7 minute mark. Overall, I thought that this was an interesting venture into the realm of electronic music, though it was aurally overbearing and much too long.
Tough Love Tough Love is a Russian influenced unaccompanied viola solo in the vain of Shotakovich, Prokofiev and other early 20th century Russian composers. This piece was by far the most traditional piece on the program, both in harmony and form. The solo lines were very lyrical and the tempo was around an andante with lots of rubato and accelerandos. Large intervallic leaps and heavy vibrato were other characteristics that made the music sing like an operatic tenor voice. The performance itself was moderately successful. A few out of tune notes did detract from the overall quality of the performance though the dynamic contrasts and phrasing were excellent. The expressiveness of the music came out beautifully and Jon's choice of writing these melodies for solo viola was a good one. Despite a few minor technical difficulties I was able to deduce that this was a well written piece of music and it was quite enjoyable to listen to.
Around Around was inspired by a ceramic artist who convinced Jon to write a piece of music that involved pre-recorded tape sounds interacting with the process of throwing a pot. The goal of the piece is to have the actions of the ceramicist line-up and be reflected on the tape. This was a very interesting concept and was very effective. It was mesmerizing to see just how closely the sounds of the tape lined up with the actions of the ceramicist. The sound of trickling water and the turning of a wheel corresponded very closely to the ceramistic wetting his hands in a bowl of water and turning the wheel at different speeds. I found this to be a fascinating piece that effecticely mixed visual art with music.
Growth of a Glass Plate This piece was written for three percussionists making use of timpani, marimba, and vibraphone. The dynamic of the music was very soft and stayed soft throughout the entirety of the piece. Musically this piece displayed overt indeterminate thematic ideas much in the vain of composers like George Crumb and John Cage. The timapni was used as the time keeping instrument of the ensemble and played basic rhythmic patterns underneath the vibraphone and marimba. The melodic material of the marimba and vibraphone consisted of short indefinate phrases that employed heavy use of acro (bowing the bars with a cello or double bass bow). Musically I found this piece difficult to follow and the thematic material to be abrupt and disjoined. Ultimately the poorly thought out indeterminacy of the phrasing and choppy melodic material made the piece unsuccessful in stirring any sort of interest for myself or the audience.
CONCLUSION:
Overall I felt that this recital was very good. Jon had a lot of different musical ideas and styles incorporated into his compositions. He effectively displayed his ability to write music in many different mediums as well as solidify the fact that he has gift for writing gorgeous melodies and wide musical soudscapes. Out of all the pieces that were performed that night, I felt that there was truly only one bad piece and that was Growth of a Glass Plate. Mr. Woods' other compositions were of par excellence and provided a variety of musical experiences that pleasured as well as challenged the auditory senses of the listener. This was a good concert. As his style grows and becomes more personalized, I believe that Jon Woods will have a successful future in music.
posted by Child of Darkness at 6:25 PM
2 Comments:
By reading your review and mine you can tell who has a much greater music knowledge. Nice Review.
Thanks
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