Tuesday, October 22, 1996
MUSIC:
New, smaller group of elite players makes for better sound By
Stephanie Sheh
Daily Bruin Contributor
UCLA has a new orchestra that’s not exactly new. The recently
formed Chamber Orchestra is actually composed of students from the
existing Philharmonic Orchestra. However, the Chamber Orchestra is
a separate, smaller and more selective group than its larger
counterpart.
"It’s new because they’ve broken the orchestra down to a smaller
group of the best players here. And it’s really sounding a lot
better," says Ray Nowak, a second-year music graduate student.
The new Chamber Orchestra, under conductor Jon Robertson,
performs Wednesday night in Schoenberg Hall. They will be playing
Bartok’s Rumanian Folk Dances, Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 4 and
Beethoven’s 3rd Piano Concerto which features soloist Walter Ponce,
UCLA’s new piano head.
"This is the first year and it is kind of a trial period. Not
only is the level of playing a lot higher, but it’s also a chamber
setting so there are not as many people. So it’s easier to get down
and work on passages and get things together as a section," adds
Chamber Orchestra violinist Isabelle Lee, a first-year music
graduate student.
The concert Wednesday not only introduces the Chamber Orchestra,
but it also welcomes UCLA’s new piano head, Walter Ponce. He will
be playing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.3 in C minor with the
Chamber Orchestra. Robertson says that putting together the piece
was a "collaborative adventure" between the pianist and the
students.
"(Ponce) may play a passage that the orchestra is going to play
and you attempt, when the orchestra comes in, to phrase it the same
way he does, so there is a unity of performance," Robertson
says.
Robertson not only enjoyed working with the renowned pianist,
but he also liked coaching students as they learned and perfected
the various pieces.
"It’s very different from working with professionals. There’s
more of a teaching sense, teaching them to become professionals.
There are certain things that you take for granted with
professionals that you cannot take for granted with students," he
says.
"Teaching them and encouraging them and demanding them to work
on their own, in preparation rather than using rehearsal simply as
a time to learn things is probably the greatest challenge,"
Robertson adds.
Ponce, a successful international soloist, recitalist and
chamber musician agrees that working with students is a very
exciting experience.
"I was very impressed, because they play with such enthusiasm,"
Ponce says. "They have an energy that I sometimes miss in a
professional orchestra. The enthusiasm, the commitment, the
devotion, the kind of ‘wow’ of people who are still in awe of music
… When professionals are playing for the fifteen-hundredth time
it’s more like ‘No big deal.’"
Despite the enthusiasm of these talented students, preparing for
a concert still has its difficulties. According to Robertson, the
most difficult piece in the concert is probably the
Mendelssohn.
"The Mendelssohn calls for real virtuoso playing, particularly
from the string section," Robertson says.
Lee adds that her favorite movement is the first movement to the
Mendelssohn, because she has worked on it many times for auditions.
"It’s great to finally be able to put it into context and play it
with the group," she says.
Playing the first movement probably increases the musician’s
understanding of the movement. However, most non-musicians have
little understanding about classical music.
"It’s important to try to understand a little classical music.
It’s sad that so many people aren’t able to understand it, because
it’s really the most fantastic thing that they’re missing, but it’s
not their fault," Ponce says.
"When you don’t understand something, it’s difficult to like it.
If you don’t understand a concert when you go for the first time,
you have to sort of prepare yourself and it takes a little bit of
effort, but if you begin to understand you will be discovering a
gold mine of joy and enjoyment," Ponce says.
Ponce suggests that people listen to the music before attending
concerts to get a better understanding of the pieces. Another way
to help understand classical music better is to become more exposed
to it, another reason to attend the concert.
"I think exposure is just one of the reasons one goes to
college," Robertson says. "So, I think the word ‘exposure’,
particularly in a place like UCLA when you think of the museums
when you think of the various things that are going on for …
free, I mean it’s very special."
MUSIC: The Chamber Orchestra plays Wednesday at 8 p.m. in
Schoenberg Hall. Admission is free. For more information call the
UCLA Department of Music at (310) 825-4761.