On March 1, I attended a clarinet and piano concert at Barnett Hall featuring two UBC professors, Jane Coop on the piano, and Jose Franch-Ballester playing clarinet. Because I had not heard the pieces being performed beforehand, the evening was full of wonderful musical surprises. The two instruments present were able to present a full breadth of musical emotion from upbeat energetic melodies, to pleasant moderate tunes, to somber reflective pieces, and finally to perfectly used moments of silence.
The concert started with Three Intermezzi, Op. 13, by Stanford which was a cheerful way to begin the evening. I don’t know if the term “Intermezzi” used here in the title bears any relation to the intermezzi that would take place between acts in opera seria, but there was definitely a light-hearted feeling associated with these pieces which leads me to suspect there may be some connection. For me, the stand-out moments in this first piece were the moments of call-and-response between the piano and clarinet. One might even call it imitative polyphany, but only between two instruments, and as they imitated each other, the musicians were clearly playing off each other’s energies.
The second piece was the Grand Dup, Op. 48, by Weber which featured some simply incredible virtuosic playing by both musicians. What made this piece so enjoyable was that it was crafted to give each instrument it’s time to shine while also having moments where they both locked in together and flowed as a team. The overall feeling of the piece was a bright, enthusiastic mood especially embodied by Franch-Ballester who played his clarinet with a passion I have rarely seen before.
After the intermission we heard Four Pieces, Op. 5, by Alan Berg which, especially in comparison to the pieces heard before the intermission, was full of dissonance and discord with a somber mood. The two musicians captured the feelings conveyed by the music perfectly and one couldn’t help but picture a world of colour slowly fading to black and white. The silences in this piece were pronounced and kept me on the edge of my seat never knowing what to expect next.
Everything wrapped up with Brahm’s Sonata No. 1, Op. 120, No. 1, which is a piece full of emotion. Since it’s in a minor key, it had a darker feeling to it, but in the midst of that had a sense of peace and life that is hard to quantify. The tempo in this piece was always changing which allowed it to go to many different places, often flowing directly from a slow, dark moment to a faster light moment and then back again, but never in a way that felt unnatural. This was a piece of music that somehow felt both organic and perfectly composed at the same time.
It was great to hear two professors from UBC playing alongside each other, and to see the talent that exists right here in this school. Both were stunningly good at their respective instruments; Jane Coop was composed and elegant on the piano, and Jose Franch-Ballester was exuberant and passionate as he played the clarinet. Together they brought the music to life, a life full of both joys and sorrows, and everything in between: a life that felt real.