Spring Break
Ensemble groups show off music students' talent
Eric Nigosanti
Issue date: 4/21/09 Section: Focus
With an initial blaze of music, five trumpeters unleashed their sound on the audience at von der Mehden Recital Hall Monday night. Out of this controlled chaos emerged the unmistakable theme of Jan Bach's Fanfare.
The five trumpeters, together called the Trumpet Ensemble, comprised just one of the seven brass and woodwind chamber music or small ensembles performed by music students of the UConn's Department of Music that night.
The pieces chosen for that night ranged from older chamber music to more recent music like Alexander Arutiunian's American Scenes performed by the Brass Bonanza. The ensemble was composed of two trumpet, horn, trombone, tuba and percussion player who showed off their skill on the four-movement piece, which ranged from the brighter-toned Morning Song movement to the tribal sounding Wedding Song.
Although each ensemble played a limited number of pieces, each student musician had an opportunity to take the lead on stage.
The best example of this was with Emma Carey and Jared Chapman, who performed an oboe duet on Jean Baptiste Loeillet's "Sonata in A minor." Taking turns on the lead part, both performed very confidently on the double reed instrument.
In contrast, the largest ensemble of the night, and also one of the more unique groupings of instruments, was the Horn Ensemble, which featured eight horn players. Using the natural boldness that comes with brass instruments, the ensemble played the majestic "Grand Canyon Octet" by Eric Ewazen.
"I thought each group was really good, but one of my favorites was the Horn Ensemble," said Sarah Lauretti, a 2nd-semester allied health major. "I was also shocked to see how well they conducted themselves."
Leading off the night was the Brasstedon Brass Quintet, which played Thom Ritter George's Brass Quintet. The ensemble was made up of two trumpets, a horn, trombone and tuba player who all shined on the mournful second movement of the piece.
Combining brass and woodwind instruments was the After Five Quintet which played the Wind Quintet in Ab, op.14 by Gustav Holst. Not to be intimidated by a challenging piece the flute, oboe, clarinet, horn and bassoon player comprising the ensemble successfully found the soothing harmony needed.
One advantage in having these small ensembles is that the audience can hear individual sounds of each instrument, that which would otherwise become absorbed in a larger band. The best part about listening to each ensemble is hearing how all the individual instruments support each other to form one solid sound. An example was during the Jupiter Wind Quintet performance of Antoine-Joseph Reicha's Wind Quintet op. 88, where each of the five various wind instruments were playing very different parts, but at the same time all came together in a unique harmony.
"I thought it was wicked," said Nasreen Mastafa a 2nd-semester exploratory major. "I loved the bassoonist in the Jupiter Wind Quintet group, he was really good."
The five trumpeters, together called the Trumpet Ensemble, comprised just one of the seven brass and woodwind chamber music or small ensembles performed by music students of the UConn's Department of Music that night.
The pieces chosen for that night ranged from older chamber music to more recent music like Alexander Arutiunian's American Scenes performed by the Brass Bonanza. The ensemble was composed of two trumpet, horn, trombone, tuba and percussion player who showed off their skill on the four-movement piece, which ranged from the brighter-toned Morning Song movement to the tribal sounding Wedding Song.
Although each ensemble played a limited number of pieces, each student musician had an opportunity to take the lead on stage.
The best example of this was with Emma Carey and Jared Chapman, who performed an oboe duet on Jean Baptiste Loeillet's "Sonata in A minor." Taking turns on the lead part, both performed very confidently on the double reed instrument.
In contrast, the largest ensemble of the night, and also one of the more unique groupings of instruments, was the Horn Ensemble, which featured eight horn players. Using the natural boldness that comes with brass instruments, the ensemble played the majestic "Grand Canyon Octet" by Eric Ewazen.
"I thought each group was really good, but one of my favorites was the Horn Ensemble," said Sarah Lauretti, a 2nd-semester allied health major. "I was also shocked to see how well they conducted themselves."
Leading off the night was the Brasstedon Brass Quintet, which played Thom Ritter George's Brass Quintet. The ensemble was made up of two trumpets, a horn, trombone and tuba player who all shined on the mournful second movement of the piece.
Combining brass and woodwind instruments was the After Five Quintet which played the Wind Quintet in Ab, op.14 by Gustav Holst. Not to be intimidated by a challenging piece the flute, oboe, clarinet, horn and bassoon player comprising the ensemble successfully found the soothing harmony needed.
One advantage in having these small ensembles is that the audience can hear individual sounds of each instrument, that which would otherwise become absorbed in a larger band. The best part about listening to each ensemble is hearing how all the individual instruments support each other to form one solid sound. An example was during the Jupiter Wind Quintet performance of Antoine-Joseph Reicha's Wind Quintet op. 88, where each of the five various wind instruments were playing very different parts, but at the same time all came together in a unique harmony.
"I thought it was wicked," said Nasreen Mastafa a 2nd-semester exploratory major. "I loved the bassoonist in the Jupiter Wind Quintet group, he was really good."
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