In April, I went to enjoy the concert by UBC Symphony Orchestra in the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts. I want to take a moment to appreciate how lucky we are to have such a high-standard and beautiful venue on campus, allowing us to appreciate music in an accessible way. I still remember the first-ever concert I went back in my first year when I just started my abroad study journey. Being a music lover, being able to attend music concert concerts every month (sometimes every weekend) provided me with a place to destress myself and discover the music world more with high-quality performances.
The concert started with ‘Funeral Song’ by Igor Stravinsky. This was a special piece because it was only re-discovered in 2015, as it had been lost during the Russian Revolution. Stravinsky experienced both World War I and II and spent most of his life abroad. There were changes in the characteristic of his music work throughout different phases in his life, and the ‘Funeral Song’ is one of his earliest published work. It started with a low rumble, as of coming from the underground. Followed by high wind instrument and horn solo, it conveyed heavy and dark feelings. Next, brass and strings joined, but I found it’s hard to find the main theme, there was a long development section, and in general, I found it was a little depressed.
The second piece, ‘Les Illumination’, is a song cycle by English composer Benjamin Britten. The beautiful soprano sang by D’Arcy Blunston, who is the winner of the 2019 UBC Concerto competition, perfectly demonstrated the piece. There were 10 scenes in total, and although the lyric lines were showed on the screen, I still found it’s difficult to follow the contents and the singing. What I did instead was just sit back and enjoyed the whole concert, and genuinely appreciated the superb singing skill brought by Blunston.
After the intermission, the third piece played was Symphonie Fantastique by Hector Berlioz. It was the most elegant and imaginative piece I have ever heard, and I absolutely loved it. I also researched online after the concert, to find out the story wrote by Berlioz behind each movement as it was not printed in the program.
The first movement, Rêveries (passions) was easy to listen to, and there was a simplicity to it. The second movement, Un bal (a ball), is a beautiful and gentle little waltz.
The third movement was the most special. Scène aux champs (Scene in the fields), it started with a cor anglais and offstage oboe asking and answering back and forth. The main theme in this movement was by solo flute and violins. As the conductor mentioned before the piece, the idée fixe returned in the middle of the movement. In my opinion, it served the movement very well, by depicting a vivid image of loneliness and sadness.
The fourth movement, Marche au supplice (march to the scaffolds), there were timpani throughout the background keeping a tempo, like some kinds of march. In the last movement, Songe d’une nuit du sabbat (dream of a night of the sabbath), the idée fixe appears more frequently in lots of forms as if it went out of control.
This concert was overall impressive, especially the Symphonie Fantastique by Berlioz, it opened my mind and made me wanted to explore more masterpiece by Berlioz, no wonder it’s one of the most famous Romantic works!