Classical Music Review: Faculty Chamber Music Concert

Introduction to the Faculty Chamber Music Concert

On Tuesday, November 12th, I attended the Faculty Chamber Music Concert, which consisted of pieces from four influential music composers. This concert took place in the Sykes Chapel and Center for Faith and Values. This location was ideal for this performance because it sets the perfect tone for the music that was performed. There were three performers: Barbara Prescott, Maurizio Venturini, and Grigorios Zamparas, as well as three instruments that were played during this performance. Barbara played the flute, Maurizio played the bassoon, and Grigorios played the piano. Having listened to these pieces performed by their actual composers and then by the musicians at UT, the talent and creativity were expressed very well in all four pieces.

Johann Joachim Quantz's Trio Sonata in G Major

The first piece performed was the Trio Sonata in G major, by Johann Joachim Quantz. Quantz was a German flutist, a flute maker, and a Baroque music composer. The artist who performed most parts of the Sonata was Barbara Prescott. She played the flute beautifully, which made the entire crowd stare at her in awe. Barbara was probably my favorite performer during the entirety of the concert due to the way she was so comfortable with the music and the way it seemed to come naturally to her. The concerto opened with the flute, then followed by the bassoon, which worked beautifully with one another. The piece was divided into four movements: Adagio, Allegro, Adagio, Allegro. With each movement varied, there was a texture between the violin soloist and the harmony that was made by the other instruments. The monophony was heard by the solo violinist and then it shifted to homophony when the other instruments were added in. The tempo seemed to jump, but pretty much remained standard.

Antonio Vivaldi's Concerto for Bassoon in B-flat Major

Barbara maintained control of her solos very well and kept the pace when the other instruments joined. Overall, the piece was performed very well with every movement, along with each instrument working together to create a strong beat as well as the flute soloist. The second movement was also from a Baroque composer, Antonio Vivaldi, who was a very influential musical composer of his era. The piece performed was the Concerto for Bassoon in B-flat major. It began with the combination of all instruments, starting out forte, then getting quieter and then louder again. During the piece, you could hear the bassoon the most over the other instruments, especially during its long solo piece towards the beginning of the concerto. For the most part, all instruments worked together to make up the chorus and as the chorus became quieter, there would be one instrument that stood out the most. Because of this, it was easier to tell that there were three movements: Allegro, Largo, and Allegro. Throughout this piece, there was a lot of transparency brought about as the musicians seemed to be holding back, but at the same time, there were parts of excitement.

Carl Reinecke's Ballade for Flute and Piano Op. 288

The third movement was Ballade for Flute and Piano Op. 288 by Carl Reinecke, who was a German composer, conductor, and pianist in the middle Romantic era. This opened up with the piano playing softly, and then the flute adding into a beautiful melody. Throughout the piece, the piano and flute used homophony as well as solo pieces that were incorporated into one another. Most of it was performed in triple meter and the melody created by the piano and flute did not seem constant, but almost as though it repeated itself later on in the piece. For part of the piece, it seemed as though there was going to be an end, but then another note played by the piano would start a new part of the song, which would be accompanied by the flute. This piece was extremely unique because there were a lot of different harmonies and pitches added together to create it.

Jean Baptiste Breval's Symphonie Concertante, Op. 31 in F Major

The concert was concluded with a piece by Jean Baptiste Breval, a French cellist and composer who created mostly instrumental pieces during his life. This was Symphonie Concertante, Op. 31 in F Major. This piece opened with the bassoon playing a deep note and then becoming more and more bright with its tone color. There were three movements to this piece, and they were all pretty easily distinguishable. Maestoso was the first movement, and in this moment the bassoon worked very well by itself in the beginning, and then the flute took over and had a solo part. For the main portion of this movement, the orchestra was working together in harmony. There were also a lot of contrasts in the tempo and dynamics of the piece in this moment, the movement ended with the entire orchestra working together to create a strong final note. The next movement was in Andante, this began with the bassoon following a constant rhythm, then adding in some dark tone color as the flute began to create a steady rhythm. Both musicians worked very well with each other, demonstrating how well they know their instruments. The piece concluded with every instrument working in harmony to close softly. The last part of this piece ended in rondo, it was very fast-paced at the beginning and then slowed down to a static pace a little bit as the bassoon and flute worked together.

Conclusion and Reflections

The performers’ talent in all of the music allowed for great intensity throughout the entire concert. The entire audience was very pleased and entertained by the pieces that were played and performed very well. I think that every piece chosen worked well together, but I think that they should have opened with the last symphony because it was a lot faster-paced and more entertaining than the others. I like how the performers decided to play pieces from the Baroque period as well as the Romantic era because they worked well in complementing each other. The performance as a whole was done very well and flowed almost perfectly. Each piece was performed with enthusiasm and correctness. I was amazed at the ability of the performers to work with one another during solo pieces and also when working in homophony.

References

Quantz, J. J. (n.d.). Trio Sonata in G major.

Vivaldi, A. (n.d.). Concerto for Bassoon in B-flat major.

Reinecke, C. (n.d.). Ballade for Flute and Piano Op. 288.

Breval, J. B. (n.d.). Symphonie Concertante, Op. 31 in F Major.