In order to write a report on a musical performance, I searched in different websites and decided to attend a concert which was held at Glendale Community College. I found the information about this performance form the GCC’s web site, in the music department’s concert and events. (https://www.glendale.edu/academics/academic-divisions/visual-performing-arts- division/music/concerts-events). The performance, titled as “Faculty Recital”, was held at the main stage of the Auditorium, at 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 3, 2018. There was an oboist, two pianists, a violinist, and a cellist in the program. Also, a chores singer performed a chores piece with a piano accompaniment.
The musical pieces and the composers, according to the program list of the concert, included “Pretending the World isn’t on Fire” (2018) by Rachel Van Amburgh, “An die ferne Geliebte” (To the distant beloved) by Ludwig van Beethoven, “Café Music” (1986) by Paul Schoenfeld, “Ebben? Ne andro lontana from La Wally” by Alfredo Catalani, and “O Mio Babbino Caro from Gianni Schicchi” by Giacomo Puccini. The concert started exactly at 12:30 p.m., as it was supposed to. The performance had a large audience. I attended this concert with two of my friends.
The stage of the performance hadn’t any embellishments. A piano was placed in the center of the stage, towards the back. This instrument was never moved during the performance, while the other instruments were brought in and out by each instrumentalist. A chair was added by the oboe player, which was the first performance, near the microphone, and then removed after the performance. For the third piece, which was the “Café Music”, a small scene of a café was made. The performers brought two chairs, a small round table and placed two cups of Starbucks coffee on it. It transferred the idea that they were playing inside a café. And at the end, they removed the chairs and the round table out.
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The concert began with an Oboe player. Dr. Rachel Van Amburgh was the composer and the instrumentalist of this musical piece named “Pretending the World Isn’t on Fire”. It was a great piece which I really enjoyed listening to it. After that, we enjoyed a piece from the masterpiece of the music, L. Van Beethoven, called “An die ferne Geliebte” (To the distant beloved). This is an example of a song cycle whose setting is for men’s voice with piano. It was performed by Tobin Sparfeld, as the baritone, and with the accompaniment of Ovanes Arakelyan as the pianist.
Then we enjoyed the Café Music by P. Schoenfeld, in a classic genre. Cafa Music is a kind of restaurant music which can also have its way into a concert hall. It is a high-class dinner music. In this piece, Gail Acosta was the violinist, Catherine Biagini, the cellist, and Peter Green the pianist. Unfortunately, we missed the last two pieces of this concert because the soprano singer of those performances, Marine Ter-Kazaryan, was absent that day. These two performances were a piece from Alfredo Catalani’s “La Wally” opera in four acts, “Ebben? Ne andro lontana”, and another musical piece called “O mio Babbino Caro from Gianni Schicchi” composed by G. Puccini. To give a brief background information about the composers of the concert, I will start with the first piece.
The composer of the first performance was the instrumentalist herself, Dr. Rachel Van Amburgh. She was born in 1989, and currently, is a resident of Echo Park, CA. The young composer plays oboe/English horn with the Downey Symphony and Eastern Sierra Symphony. She is especially devoted to chamber music. Rachel Van Amburgh is one of the major members of the chamber ensemble Switch. She has collaborated with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Bakersfield Symphony, Dream Orchestra, Los Angeles Jewish Symphony, and a few others. Also, she has her own private oboe/piano studio. I read about this composer in the following site: (http://www.rachelvanamburgh.com/bio.html)
The composer of the second performance was predominant musical figure, Ludwig van Beethoven. I already knew some main points about the king of classical music, but I searched in different websites to get more exact and detailed information about his life and work. Beethoven was born in Germany. It was interesting that in different sites it was mentioned that he was baptism was in December 17 of 1770, and because in that time a child usually got baptized a day after his birth, so it is assumed that he was born in December 16 of 1770. Beethoven was named after his grandfather, who was also a musician. He passed his talents to his son and his grandson also. Beethoven’s father was a talented musician and a teacher of piano and violin. He married with Maria Magdalene, Beethoven’s mother. L. van Beethoven was diagnosed as bipolar. He had a really aggressive temper.
Even once he committed suicide which was not successful. I read that he was always demanded a great respect for himself and his word such that he sometimes refused to perform when he was asked because of some chatty audiences. Despite all this problems, Beethoven became the best pianist and the best composer of his time. He left school at the age of 11 to help his family to survive because his father was an alcoholic. The other unfortunate happening of his life occurred when he was almost 28 years old in 1798, when he lost his hearing. After that, he never gave up, instead, he composed many of his masterpieces even more emotional. He was a famous musician in the transitional period between Classical and Romantic ages of Western music.
Beethoven’s Fifth, Sixth, and Ninth Symphonies, his Fur Elise, Moonlight Sonata, a slow and touching piece, Appassionata Piano Sonata, and his Violin Concerto are a list of masterpieces of a musician whose personal life and career is a real model for everyone. I read about Beethoven’s life and career in following sites: https://www.cmuse.org/beethoven-biography-ludwig-van-beethoven-composer-history http://www.favorite-classical-composers.com/beethoven-music.html The composer of the third performance was Paul Schoenfeld. He is an American classical composer, who is known for combining popular, folk and classical form. Schoenfeld was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1947.
He started to learn piano at the age of 6, and he wrote his first composition at the age of 7. He performed as active concert pianist, as soloist, and with a group. He has studied in Converse College, and then from the Carnegie Mellon University, in Pittsburgh, he got his D.M.A. degree at the University of Arizona. Schoenfeld recorded the complete violin and piano works from Bela Bartok. He performed his first piano concerto Four Parables with the Toledo Symphony in 1983. On the Argo CD are Vaudeville, Schoenfeld has concerto for piccolo trumpet, played by Wolfgang Basch, and Klezmer Rondos. Also he has concerto for flute, baritone and orchestra, performed by flutist Carol Wincenc. I read about this composer in the following sites: (https://www.milkenarchive.org) and (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Schoenfeld).
I also searched about the composer of the fourth piece, which was not performed on the day of the concert because of the absence of the soprano singer, and I found some information in online sources such as (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfredo_Catalani). Alfredo Catalani was born in 1854 and was an Italian composer who is best remembered for his operas Loreley (1890) and La Wally (1892). ‘Ebben? Ne andrò lontana”. The piece that we enjoyed in the concert was from La Wally. Catalani was trained at the Milan Conservatoria, and Antonio Bazzini was one of his teachers. Catalani has grown up in the 1880’s and early 1890s. During those times the Verismo style of opera was more influential.
However, Catalani composed in more traditional manner. He was influenced by an Italian opera composer, Amilcare Ponchielli. A. Catalani has had a premature death from tuberculosis. He has died in Milan and has been buried in 1893 in the Cimitero Monumentale. La Falce, Elda Turin, Dejanice, Edmea, Loreley, and La Wally are the operas composed by Catalani. His symphonic works are “Sinfonia a piena orchestra”, “Il Mattino, sinfonia romantic”, and “Ero e Leandro, poema sinfonico”. Overall, it was a great experience for me to attend a classical music concert. I enjoyed every single moment of that concert. One thing that grabbed my attention was the point that all the performers were smiling during their performance.
It seems that they are really enjoying their music and it also transferred the same feeling of enjoyment to the audience. The other point that I noticed was the fact that the male performers were all dressed formal, black suits, but the female performers were not dressed like that. One of them had a dress, and two others were with pants and shirts. Among all parts of the concert, the part which stood up for me was the last performance, “Café Music”. The stage embellishment for that piece, the roundtable placed on the stage, and the two cups of Starbucks coffee, make the audience believe that it was happening in a café.
