Going into my first Wednesday Noon Hour Concert, I didn’t know what to expect. Despite the familiar instruments, the pieces performed were nothing like I had ever heard before. The program was musically cohesive, which each piece distinct enough to be remember individually, but also similar enough so that the entire concert portrayed a common theme. After sitting through the performances, it seemed to me that the overall feeling of the concert was one of intensity and urgency, as many of the pieces portrayed these feelings. There were total of four performers: Paolo Bortolussi (flute), Megumi Masaki (pianos), Keith Hamel (electronics), and Joe Franch-Ballester (paper).
Thought all the pieces, I noticed the use of trills to build intensity and a sense of urgency in the music. A number of the pieces also used unique methods of producing sound that I had never witnessed before. The flautist utilized the sounds of the keys beings pressed down as part of the music, while the pianist reached into the grand piano to create sounds in addition to traditionally pressing down onto the keys to produce sound. The first performance by the flautist also produced wind-line sounds in addition to musical notes, which created a unique airiness in some segments of the music. As the music was so dramatic and tense, the music reminded me of something I wound hear in the background of a movie during a critical scene. It also sounded as if much of the music performed did not contain meter, as the music was not being played in time with any particular beat.
One of my favourite aspects of the concert was how the music was combined with multimedia. The solo piano piece utilized a short film, which helped further emphasis the feeling of the music. The pianist alternated between moments of serenity and intensity, creating a strong juxtaposition between the two through both music and the video. During the serene moments, the music was slow, soft, and almost still and suspended sounding. In comparison, the musing during the intense parts was loud, and fervent.
The flute and clarinet duet also utilized multimedia in their performance. In the video, the flute was represented by a red spark while the clarinet was represented by the blue. Personally, this was my favourite piece performed as I loved how the music mimicked the behaviour and movement of the sparks relative to each other. The flautist and clarinetist perfectly captured the way the sparks moved across the screen, by embodying their energy and brightness. I also thought the small detail of the flautist and clarinetist dressing in the colour of their respective spark’s colour was a thoughtful touch.
Overall, this concert was a brand new experience to me and has opened me up to a whole new type of music. The concerts that I have attended in the past were typically of classical music or of the jazz genre, so this was definitely an eye-opening experience. The use of unconventional sounds and the incorporation of multimedia into the musical performance intrigued me. I’m interested in exposing myself to new genres through these concerts put on by the music department.