Author Archives: LanHu

One of my favourite thing being in this class is more exposure to music events happening inside the UBC School of Music. Every season the School of Music have a series of concerts on selected Friday nights for Music on the Point, as a music class student, we had free access to these concert. On March. 1st, the Concerts with Personality features two UBC professors: clarinetist Jose Franch-Ballester and pianist Jane Coop. 

The concert started with 3 Intermezzi, Op.13 by Standord (1852-1924). It started simultaneously with the sound of the piano and the clarinet, and in perfect pitch, as if these two instruments talking in one form. I didn’t have exposure to clarinet concerto before, and being in the Barnett Hall allows the audience to watch the performances in an intimate distance. I was amazed by the clarinetist exquisite skills of delivering a smooth and entertaining piece. 

The second piece was Grand Duo Concertant for clarinet and piano, Op. 48 by Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826). This was truly a virtuosic work for both instrument, my favourite movement was the first movement: Andante espressivo. You can hear both instrument dance in a lively and enthusiastic manner as if they made the best team. The movement was also very well demonstrated by these two musicians, they played with enthusiasm and it influenced me as an audience as well. I once heard a conductor spoke in a concert that live music is played by two parties, the performers on the stage and the audience that is receiving the music. Together as one community, that’s how music is being received and appreciated. I felt like if I was part of the music as well, together with the rest of the audiences and the musicians. 

The third piece was Four Pieces for clarinet and piano, Op. 5 by Alban Berg. To me, the most unconventional thing about this piece was the intentional left blanks and silence. It left the audiences wonder and eager to hear the following part, and it repeated the same pattern several times later. 

The concert concluded with Sonata No.1 in F minor, OP.120 by Johannes Brahms. It was in a minor key and I felt it wasn’t as bright as the first two pieces we heard. The tempo was always changing, and each movement brought a different feeling. As described in the movements: i. Allegro appassionato, ii. Andante un poco adagio, iii. Allegretto grazioso, iv. Vivace, the last movement was the most lively and it was a gradual process which kept the audience excited and awaited. I loved the smoothness and the beautiful melodies in this piece. 

As a piano player and a violin learner, I was certain that the violin and the piano are the best combinations in Duo. After this concert, I realize that my perspective is limited because of the little exposure I had for other Duos. I am convinced that piano and clarinet are a good combination as well, and there are so many more great pieces in Duo or Trio that I can explore. 

I reserved my ticket the moment I saw La Mer by Claude Debussy was in the program. It was a great piece I have heard many times online, and I definitely wouldn’t miss the chance to hear it live. 

The first piece was called A Northern Suite, and it was John Luther Adams’ first symphonic composition. J.L. Adam is also an environmentalist, and this piece includes five movements where each movement depicts a scene in the world. The first movement, Blue Ice, Crystal Air, started with a short violin solo which imitated the sound of the bird as if the carefree bird is flying over the clean sky. The suite, in general, was very light, it contained lots of imitation of the natural scenes and sound such as birds singing, ocean waves, thunders and breezes. According to the program, the second, third and fifth movement ‘contains a dense web of overlapping rhythms across the orchestra’. I did hear different layers of sound, however, I found myself enjoy more melodic classical music more.

The second piece was a very lively clarinet concerto by Jean Françaix. I really like the composer’s description mentioned in the program notes, ‘a kind of acrobatics display for the ear, complete with loops, wing-turns, and nosedives which are fairly terrifying for the soloist, who needs to have a good stomach and several thousand flying hours under their belt’. The soloist Carlos Savall-Guardiola clearly did a great job – I never saw someone can play the clarinet so well in such difficult piece, as there were many different jumps, and it was also fast! The whole concerto had four movements, and I particularly like the third movement Andantino the best, the reason being it was comparably slower than other movements where I get to take a breath and sit back enjoying instead of worrying about the soloist making any mistakes as it was so fast in other movements!

After the intermission, we heard the last piece by Claude Debussy, La Mer. In the first movement, De l’cube à midi sur la mer (From dawn to noon on the sea), I heard the trumpet and English horn playing where it felt like the sun was gradual surfaces from the sea. In the latter part, it kinda gets louder and louder in the development section and suddenly, a majestic brass brought to the end of the first movement.

The second movement, Jeux de vagues (play of the waves), was completely different from the first movement I would say. It depicted a different scene by using lots of jumps between strings and winds. I like the harp played in between, as if the waves go up and down and finally go back to calm. The final movement, Dialogue du vent et de la mer (Dialogue of the wind and the sea), the disturbed sea came back again and led to a conversation of wind and the sea. 

I was amazed again by UBC Symphony Orchestra, the music is beautiful already itself, and the live performance always gives me another experience as if we all live near the sea in that 30 minutes. 

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!