Pieces:
- Unsuk Chin-Gougalon
- Poul Ruders-Oboe Concerto
- Anders hillborg-Vaporized Tivoli
- Yann Robin-Backdraft
Venue: New York Philharmonic
performers:
- Alan Gilbert-Conductor and Host
- Liang Wang-Oboe
- Christopher Rouse-Host
The program called “Contact”, which is performed by New York Philharmonic, symphony space, includes four pieces.The four pieces contains a variety of different elements since the four composers are from different cultures and have different experience. I have gone to the concert already on April 6. The four performed pieces does not have much in common, but I think the common thing is “sound” because I could hardly find rhythm or melody. However, I do feel that the composers use the sounds to express their feeling of specific experiences. According to “The New York Times”, the conductor Alan Gilbert mentioned that “this program does not have a theme.” Since all of the four composers are living, so they had a chance to come and introduce about the pieces.
Gougalon: Scenes from a Street Theater
I believe that living in Berlin gives the Korean Unsuk Chin great inspirations since she can touch the classical music closely in Berlin. However, The piece Gougalon: Scenses from a Street Theater, “was inspired by Ms Chin’s visit to China where the neighborhoods remind her of her native South Korea”(Anthony Tommasini). Ms Chin actually talked about her experience to Honkong, China, “a city which has modern buildings and also old neighborhoods”(Unsuk Chin). Amateur performers performed songs to the residence to earn a living. Some of the performance are amazing, but some are “ridiculous”. Amateur use all the skills they have to perform. After Unsuk went back to Berlin, she wrote this 6-Movement-piece to describe what she saw and feel in the street theater.
In this piece, Unsuk Chin has employed or introduced special instruments. They are bottles and cans. however, the different sized and textured bottles and cans creates amazing sounds. According to the “Notes on the Program” by James M.Keller, Chin explains that the title Gougalon derives from an Old High German verb that encompasses such meanings as to hoodwink, to make ridiculous movements. So, the using of cans and bottles are just connected closely to the title. I guess the reason why Unsuk Chin is so confident to introduce cans and bottles into a piece is because that she has actually won so many awards and prizes which made her very confident about her inspirations.
Although she introduced about the piece right before the piece is performed, I still hope I could have a chance to do some research about the motivation of her composition of the piece. I could understand the piece better if I have tried to find some videos about the Chinese street theaters to get some ideas about how they look like.
Oboe Concerto-Poul Ruders
Poul Ruders is “one of the most widely performed of modern Danish composers”(James M.Keller). The names of the four movements are : Lake of Dreams, Ocean of Storms, Sea of Tranquility, Lake of Death. According to Poul Ruders, he got the idea while he was reading a novel.
This is a concerto in which the oboe player Liang Wang sometimes compete against the strings and sometimes plays together with the strings. The part played by the Oboe is not not melodic. Sometimes there is only one note in a section. The long stretches requires the player’s good control “for long stretches he had to play hushed, high sustained tones, and his ability to hold the pitches true, with haunting beauty and eerie calm, was astonishing” (Anthony Tommasini).
I could not tell whether or not the first three movements fit the titles, but I do feel the deep, slow fourth movement. I was impressed while listening to the concert. The deep and slow movement express a sense of death which made me feel cold while listening.
Backdraft-Yann Robin
It is interesting to know how Yann Robin created this piece. According to Yann Robin’s introduction, there were some sounds in his mind for several days and he couldn’t get rid of them. Those sounds are more like beats or rhythms, not specific. So he had to compose it to free his mind.
Yann Robin is very creative since he studies both Jazz and composition, “Yann Robin pursued studies in both jazz and composition at the CNR” (James M. Keller). Robin has been honored with the First Prize of the concours International de Composition Frederic Mompou in Bacelona early in his career. He is very talent. Christopher Rouse use the word “fire” to describe Yann Robin’s composition Style. His compositions are always full of passion. I haven’t heard his other pieces, however, I can clearly feel the “fire” in this piece.
This piece is very special. He uses some rare notes in very low and uncomfortable pitch which is barely used. Cello and violins took turns to play the notes in very low pitch. However, those notes show me the image about how struggling and eager he was to get those sounds out of his mind.
Sources
Anthony Tommasini, The New York Time, “Contact, Withou Connection” Apr 7 2013, Apr 8 2013
James M, Keller, “Notes on the Program”