Author Archives: AzizYuldashev

On March 15, 2019, I had a chance to listen to the UBC Symphony Orchestra performance at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts. This was the first concert I attended at the Chan Centre, so I was looking forward to the performance. The two music pieces A Northern Suite by John Luther Adams and La Mer by Claude Debussy were composed to depict exciting characteristics of the wild nature. Clarinet Concerto by Jean Francaix, on the other hand, showcased something more abstract and complex.

John Adams is known for his compositions focused on the love of nature. A Northern Suite consists of five movements, each depicts a particular scene in nature. The main theme of these five movements painted a picture of a ride through the mountains full of exciting natural sounds. The first and third movements were imitating the bird voices through higher range instruments that were supported by bass instruments. The second, third, and fifth movements had a more solid sound; I believe to describe the density of earth layers in the mountains. I could not follow steady rhythm patterns throughout the performance; my guess is that the author did that to recreate an unpredictable character of nature.

Clarinet Concerto by Jean Francaix performed by Carlos Savall-Guardiola (clarinet) was a very technically complex piece. It consisted of four movements Allegro, Scherzando, Andantino, and Allegrissimo. The beginning of the first movement was quite cheerful. The flute played the main theme, which is then imitated by clarinet, and then by the full orchestra. Later on, the complexity of this composition increased; Carlos played quick legatos exceptionally well, showing his mastery in playing the clarinet. The second movement was in triple meter and was perfect for the waltz dance. The clarinet introduced the main theme and repeated parts of it throughout the performance adding technically complex arpeggios. The second movement was quite playful and at times abrupt. The third movement started with clarinet playing scales in a minor mode. The tempo of this movement was much slower compared to the previous movements. Clarinet Concerto is an exceptional piece, which requires high technical ability due to quick passages throughout the piece.

Since his childhood, Claude Debussy was interested in sailing and exploring seas. La Mer describes three distinct portraits of the sea, using the full potential of an orchestra to imitate its sound. The first movement From Dawn to Noon on the Sea started very slowly and increased in its tempo and intensity closer to the middle and the end. I think he wanted to describe a calm sea at the dawn, which get disturbed and becomes wavier by noon. The second movement Play of the waves was quite upbeat, which perfectly represented playful waves of the sea. I noticed that Debussy continuously used the percussion instruments in order to imitate the waves’ movements. The third movement Dialogue of the Wind and the Sea started off slowly to increase in its intensity as if the wind and the sea had a lively conversation with each other.

On March 1, 2019, I had a chance to attend one of the Music on Point concerts performed by Jose Franch-Ballester (clarinet) and Jane Coop (piano). Right from the beginning of the concert Jose Franch-Ballester wanted to create an exciting atmosphere and intrigue the audience by describing the pieces they were about to perform. You could clearly see his enjoyment of being on the main stage and sharing his passion for music with the audience. On the other hand, Jane Coop seemed to be more reserved and did not show many emotions, until the moment when they were about to start playing. She sat down, put her hands on the piano, and soon realized that she forgot her glasses! At the moment when she told this to the spectators, the whole auditorium had a good laugh with the performers. Jane Coop soon returned with her glasses on and they started this wonderful concert.

Charles Stanford wrote Three Intermezzi in 1879 and clearly intended the work for the clarinet to be played along piano, but his publisher insisted on arranging this piece for cello and violin instruments as well. After listening to this piece at this concert, I can’t imagine it being performed without clarinet. Its sound adds such a warm and hearty feeling to all three movements, while the piano provides a solid accompaniment. The first intermezzo Andante espressivo is very light and dreamy at the beginning and the end with a quite upbeat middle section. The second intermezzo Allegro agitato starts off with a galloping sound of piano and clarinet adds its playful sound. This intermezzo is quite similar to the music played during the Tarantella dances in Italy. The third intermezzo again starts off very playfully and closer to the middle section it slows down and provides a more relaxing sound. The end part is quite similar to the beginning. I feel these three intermezzi provided an interesting contrast between cheerful and more serious character, just like Jose’s and Jane’s performing styles.

Sonata No.1 in F minor for clarinet and piano, Op. 120, No 1. by Johannes Brahms concluded the concert. It consists of four movements; each movement complemented each other and added a unique sound. The first movement is in a sonata form, which begins with a solo piano introduction, then the clarinet enters the scene. Brahms did not want the piano to be a sole accompaniment and with use of multiple harmonies provided an equal relationship between the piano and clarinet. The fourth movement starts off with bright piano and slows down by the time clarinet starts playing multiple arpeggios. Throughout the fourth movement, Jose played quick solo arpeggios and showed his abilities with this instrument.

Overall, the concert was very well performed and created a great atmosphere. I think everyone in the audience could feel Jane’s and Jose’s passion for their work. Jane and Jose even performed an additional instrumental piece by one of the Spanish authors. Unfortunately, I could not get the name of the piece. As with other pieces performed that night, this piece was perfect to conclude the whole concert.

On March 29, 2019, I attended the Symphonic Wind Ensemble Concert, which was divided into two parts and performed by different bands. The first part of the concert was performed by the UBC Concert Winds (consisted only from wind instruments) and conducted by graduate assistant conductors Jacob Pope and Lauren Visel. After the intermission, the performers rearranged the stage and added additional instruments (harp, cellos, string bass) to form the UBC Symphonic Wind Ensemble conducted by Robert Taylor.

“Scenes from the Louvre” by Norman Dello Joio set a solid beginning for the concert. It consists of five movements, although the UBC Concert Winds decided to skip the fourth movement in their performance. The first movement “The Portals” used multiple percussion instruments followed by multiple wind instruments in the beginning. During the first 30-40 seconds, the wind instruments were accompanied by a steady beat of drums, which stopped closer to the middle part of the movement. The first movement created an exciting and grandiose atmosphere. The second movement “Children’s Gallery” was rather light-hearted. The beginning was calm and performed by higher octave instruments; later on, the bass instruments entered the scene to conclude the introduction. After that, the whole piece was very warm and bouncy, perfectly depicting the children’s character. I could imagine this movement being used in the Disney cartoons from the 20^th century. The fourth movement “The Nativity Paintings” was in a slower tempo graciously developing throughout the performance. The wind instruments were accompanied with percussions, imitating light bell sounds, similar to the ones used in some Christmas spirit compositions. The fifth movement “Finale” was similar in its nature to the first movement in the way that it had a loud and solid sound. At the end of the piece, the ensemble played a chord three times to conclude the whole performance on a high note.

As a fan of thrillers and mystic movies, I really liked “Toledo” by Bruce Carlson. The composition is quite long, where the beginning is quite slow and builds up the tension, increasing the tempo closer to the middle, and getting back to a more calm ending. This was one of the compositions that actually kept me focused during the whole performance like some thriller movies do.

“Hereafter Calls” by Michael Martin was performed by the UBC Symphonic Wind Ensemble. The beginning of the piece uses the bass instruments as a drone on top of which the higher octave instruments play their melody. The interesting feature of this performance was that the ensemble on the main stage had additional members on the upper-level stage, each located in the middle and on the side of the stage. These positions added a better acoustic sound of those member’s instruments and created a better listening experience for the audience. By the end of the performance, each member started getting further to the side of the upper stage adding some echo sound to their playing.

The highlight of the concert was “La Fiesta Mexicana” by H. Owen Reed consisting of three movements, Prelude and Aztec Dance, Mass, Carnival. From the title I expected this composition to be very lively and energetic. However, my expectations were wrong and the first two movements were quite slow and mellow. The last movement, on the other hand, was very bright and interesting. During the performance of the third movement, a separate band consisting of 4 members with wind instruments was changing its location. First, the band started playing a separate melody in the right back of the auditorium, where the spectators were sitting. Then, closer to the end, the band moved to the backstage and waited for its part. The members of the band went out from the backstage and started playing a typical Mexican motive. They were all dressed in traditional Mexican costumes for the carnivals with huge sombreros. It was a very interesting twist, which I am sure not many people expected, and added a festive atmosphere to conclude the whole concert.

On February 25, 2019, I had an opportunity to attend the UBC Composers’ Concert performed by the students of the UBC School of Music. It was one of the first concerts I have ever attended at the UBC and it was an interesting experience to see a live performance.

The students performed three musical pieces:

1) Growing Pains by Greg Andersen

2) Cascadilla by John Stetch

3) Misplaced Dream – For Solo Flute by Ivan Salazar Gonzalez

The first piece, “Growing Pains” was performed by three violins, viola and two cellos. The structure of “Growing Pains” reminded me of “Israel in Egypt, HWV 54 (excerpts) – Part I: He sent a thick darkness over all the land (Chorus)” by George Frederic Handel we listened to in the class. The composition started with a calm and steady bass performed by two cellos and created a mysterious yet exciting atmosphere. Just like the Handel’s music piece, I felt as if I was walking somewhere in the full darkness and the further the “Growing Pains” was developing, the more light I could see at the end of my journey. Its structure was clear homophony, where the violins entered the scene straight after cellos and performed multiple imitations to create a more solid accompaniment and the leading part was performed by the viola. The sound was developing throughout the performance and the tempo was increasing until they reached the climax. At the climax point, the viola performed a solo consisted of several quick arpeggios. Following the solo, the accompaniment came to its initial point and the performance ended with the same feeling of darkness as at the beginning of the piece. In my opinion, this piece was well developed but lacked a solid conclusion.

The second piece, “Cascadilla” was written for a solo piano performance. It was much more conceptual and even more mysterious compared to the “Growing Pains”. The piece started off abruptly with solo parts consisted mainly of very quick and virtuosic arpeggios. The music included complex timing and odd meters to transfer various melodies that imitated the sound of nature. John Stetch used a weird technique to imitate various sounds of nature, where he played some notes using the piano keyboard and some notes he executed by pressing down the strings inside of the piano. Also, at some point of the performance, he used percussion drum sticks and hammered the strings inside of the piano as if it was a Xylophone. I have never seen anything like this before, and it surely added some unique melodies to his performance. By the end of the performance to conclude the whole piece, he detuned the lowest string on the piano to hit the lowest octave possible.

The third piece, “Misplaced Dream” was performed by solo flute and consisted of three parts. I did not like the performance as it was messy, and the composition did not have a clear development. The composition consisted of three movements that were not connected to each other, I could not follow the reason for dividing the performance into three pieces with moments of silence in between each of them.

Overall, it was a pleasure to listen to completely different music pieces. “Growing Pains” was a great introduction to the concert, whereas “Cascadilla”, in my opinion, was a highlight of the concert with its virtuosic technique executing all the possible notes from the piano.

I attended the UBC Symphony Orchestra performance on April 6, 2019. The whole performance consisted of three musical pieces:

1) Igor Stravinsky – “Funeral Song”, Op. 5

2) Benjamin Britten – “Les Illuminations” featuring a member of the UBC Opera Ensemble, D’Arcy Blunston

3) Hector Berlioz – “Symphonie Fantastique” (until Songe d’une nuit du sabbat)

Igor Stravinsky wrote “Funeral Song” in 1908 before his famous “The Rite of Spring” piece. Johnathan Girard (conductor) provided a quick introduction to the concert and explained some interesting details about this piece. Stravinsky wrote this piece before his other famous compositions and himself considered “Funeral Song” as the best of his works before “The Firebird”. The piece was lost during the Russian Revolution and was found in 2015. I can understand why Stravinsky considered this piece as one of his best works. It kept me focused throughout the performance with its interesting transitions and enjoyable sound. The composition starts off with upbeat string accompaniment, where the performers quickly moved their bows in a special manner to sound more distant than the other instruments. The sound of the strings is similar to the one in Harry Potter’s theme soundtrack. After a few seconds, the wind instruments entered and played the chords in a descending order to suit the line of the string instruments. Later on, the instruments changed the way they played and moved to ascending chord progression, where the sound increased in its intensity and the pitch. As the title suggests, this piece was written to represent the funeral procession, where the performers on the stage paid tribute to the composer. The tempo of the piece and its intensity varied throughout the performance to imitate the agony and pain of the people mourning the death of the composer. The ending of this piece was quite similar to its introduction, but in this case, the string and wind instruments changed their order and the wind instruments ended the performance with one chord played five times.

“Les Illuminations” by Benjamin Britten is an exciting piece describing the artist’s observation about human life. It is structured as a song cycle and has 9 separate pieces following one after the other. The performance started with a single sentence “I alone have the key to this save parade”. According to the author’s idea, the “savage parade” describes human life. The performance was accompanied by a string quartet. The position of the instruments was reallocated specifically for this performance. D’Arcy Blunston performed this piece very well and showed a wide range of her voice and emotions throughout the performance. This piece is quite emotional and depicts the best and worst features of humanity.

“Symphonie Fantastique” by Hector Berlioz concluded the concert. It is widely thought that Berlioz wrote this piece under the influence of opium. The fifth movement describes his nightmare about the witches’ sabbath, where the main character is in the middle of this chaotic and vulgar event. The beginning is similar to the one in Stravinsky’s “Funeral Song” with quick string bow movements. You can even imagine the witches flying around during this introduction.

Overall, the concert was very well performed, and the audience was very pleased with it, shouting “Bravo” at the end of the performance.