HSO plays at Levering
The concert began with a flute quintet, which played two songs. The first was introduced as a Spanish love song, which became more obvious to me as the piece progressed. The use of the soft, high-pitched flute timbre really conveyed the gentle and light scene that would most likely be present during the courting process of a relationship. I also noticed that the piece began with a monophonic texture and then transitioned into a polyphonic one to accentuate the symbolism of this love song. There were also some sections where two of the flutes would play a phrase and two of the other flutes would answer, almost implying the dialogue that would also be present in this situation. I really enjoyed both pieces because of their rich melodic themes.
The next ensemble consisted of a clarinet quintet known as the Barneby Clarinet Quintet, which was invited by the HSO to play in the concert. The quintet consisted of four clarinets and a bass clarinet. They performed several pieces, beginning with Brahms' Sacred Lullaby Op. 91, no. 1 and then a suite titled "Charlie Is My Darling." The Brahms composition was the only one they played from the classical era; everything else seemed to fall in the time period of late 1800s to early 1900s. The "Charlie Is My Darling" suite was particularly interesting because the suite had three movements in it, but each one was played in a different style, from a march to a rumba.
Next, they performed a piece called "The Royal Garden Blues," which was written in the 1920s to be played at jazz clubs during that time. Finally, they played a composition by John Philip Sousa, "The Liberty Bell." Apparently, this work was composed in 1893 to be played during the Liberty Bell's arrival in Chicago when it used to travel around the United States. The grandiose, patriotic feel of the procession could definitely be interpreted easily when listening to the piece.
John Stanmore, a violinist for the HSO, played three movements of an unaccompanied solo sonata composed by Bach. The first movement began in a moderate tempo, then a slower second movement, finally ending in a climatic, frantic and quick last movement.
The next group played a rare piece written by Mozart in 1780 for a great oboe player by the name of Ramm. I felt that this particular quartet performed this composition, Quartet in F Major for Oboe and Strings, extremely well. I especially enjoyed the tone quality of the oboe player; it was very vibrant and full, without being too piercing, which is usually the tendency with high-pitched instruments.
Lastly, we heard a much larger ensemble of the HSO play a piece by Aaron Copeland that was written during the beginning of his career. This work had itself contained bits of jazz, a biting and dissonant flavor to it and also a preview of the great heroic rhetoric that become more prominent in Copeland's work later on in his life. I found this piece to be very harsh sounding and not as enjoyable to listen to due to the largely dissonant sounds heard throughout it, even though it was well played.
Overall, I found this concert to be a great blend of eclectic styles of music that really brought alive each composers' intentions. Each ensemble and chamber group did an excellent job of portraying this while putting on a great performance.