Spring Break
Wind Ensemble Plays Unique Show
John Bailey
Issue date: 10/12/07 Section: Focus
The music was interesting, to be sure. Twentieth century composing often is. Whether or not it was moving, beautiful, fiery, or any of the other adjectives commonly applied to music was up to the listeners in von der Mehden Recital Hall last night.
The UConn Wind Ensemble, conducted by Jeffrey H. Renshaw and Richard Wyman, performed pieces by Richard Rodney Bennett, Chen Yi and Dan Welcher under von der Mehden's scaffolding and grid lights. The ensemble, which featured woodwinds, brass, piano, harp and double bass, was joined by soloist Khango Lee on cello.
The concert was their first of the year, and they demonstrated impressive ability throughout. Bennett's "Morning Music," drawing its themes from a Wordsworth sonnet, presented an unassuming beginning that rapidly grew to a wall of noise. The ensemble moved through the syncopated, surprising rhythms easily, following assistant conductor Wyman through unusual shifts in meter.
The opening was the most memorable part of the piece, with lyrical lines in the flutes that remained subtly musical even as they grew in power. Some of the more complex chords, though - and there were many, with uncertain tonal centers and nuanced textures - seemed to evade the winds slightly, and in a piece with so much going on, a single off-pitch chord can have a severely resonant effect.
The piece seemed to suffer more from its own composition than any fault of the players, though, since barring the opening and a jaunty ragtime rhythm in the "Theatres" movement, there's simply too much going on to enjoy the work fully.
"I was surprised by how futuristic [Morning Music] sounded. It sounded like a movie score," said Mary Hrenko, a 3rd-semester math education major.
Chen Yi's "Suite for Cello and Chamber Winds," which used a reduced chamber wind ensemble, was quite the attention-grabber, in no small part due to the addition of Khango Lee on cello. The piece, which blended Western and Chinese sensibilities to create a unique sound, was sparse compared to the bustling noise of "Morning Music." As the first movement opened, the cello alone handled the melody, inasmuch as a melody was present at all. The central conceit could more accurately be described as a machine than a melody, with buzzing cello rhythms and unnerving pentatonic chords - a machine waiting to fall apart, but riveting to watch.
The UConn Wind Ensemble, conducted by Jeffrey H. Renshaw and Richard Wyman, performed pieces by Richard Rodney Bennett, Chen Yi and Dan Welcher under von der Mehden's scaffolding and grid lights. The ensemble, which featured woodwinds, brass, piano, harp and double bass, was joined by soloist Khango Lee on cello.
The concert was their first of the year, and they demonstrated impressive ability throughout. Bennett's "Morning Music," drawing its themes from a Wordsworth sonnet, presented an unassuming beginning that rapidly grew to a wall of noise. The ensemble moved through the syncopated, surprising rhythms easily, following assistant conductor Wyman through unusual shifts in meter.
The opening was the most memorable part of the piece, with lyrical lines in the flutes that remained subtly musical even as they grew in power. Some of the more complex chords, though - and there were many, with uncertain tonal centers and nuanced textures - seemed to evade the winds slightly, and in a piece with so much going on, a single off-pitch chord can have a severely resonant effect.
The piece seemed to suffer more from its own composition than any fault of the players, though, since barring the opening and a jaunty ragtime rhythm in the "Theatres" movement, there's simply too much going on to enjoy the work fully.
"I was surprised by how futuristic [Morning Music] sounded. It sounded like a movie score," said Mary Hrenko, a 3rd-semester math education major.
Chen Yi's "Suite for Cello and Chamber Winds," which used a reduced chamber wind ensemble, was quite the attention-grabber, in no small part due to the addition of Khango Lee on cello. The piece, which blended Western and Chinese sensibilities to create a unique sound, was sparse compared to the bustling noise of "Morning Music." As the first movement opened, the cello alone handled the melody, inasmuch as a melody was present at all. The central conceit could more accurately be described as a machine than a melody, with buzzing cello rhythms and unnerving pentatonic chords - a machine waiting to fall apart, but riveting to watch.
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