Tuesday, February 2, 1999
Chamber group offers intimate serenade
MUSIC: Classical sounds in small venues promote audience’s
involvement
By Erin Beatty
Daily Bruin Contributor
#It seems rare nowadays that someone would take a moment from
his or her studies to sit with 50 other people in a small room to
enjoy a chamber music ensemble. Not that the idea has lost its
luster; it is merely that the performances don’t seem to be as
popular among today’s youths as they were, say, two or three
centuries ago.
Tonight, Marc Carlson, director of Pacific Serenades and UCLA
professor of musical theory, will bring just such a performance to
campus. Together with three other musicians, the artists will
present a program titled "A Romance in Rhapsody," open to all at
the UCLA Faculty Center.
The small program, which features Allan Vogel on oboe, Roland
Kato on viola, Joanne Pearce Martin on piano and Marc Carlson on
flute, will include examples from American Impressionism from the
early 20th century, featuring the premiere of Marc Carlson’s "Dream
Fantasies."
Chamber music is classical music created for a small number of
players and intended to be played in a relatively small room,
unlike a large, grandiose symphony orchestra.
Marc Carlson, who started the Pacific Serenades program as a
UCLA graduate student in 1982 performing in the home of one of his
professors, explains that he wanted to create something a bit
different.
"I wanted to create something that would actually support
composers from this area who were bucking the trend of classical
music from that time of writing new music that’s really difficult
to listen to and difficult to play," Carlson said.
He wanted to recognize those who were "instead, writing music
that was attractive, fun to play and fun to listen to."
He also realizes the enjoyment of playing at smaller venues,
driving the petite size of the group.
"At the time, I was actually doing a lot of performing in
people’s living rooms, and I realized that there is a special
intimacy to performing in small places," claimed Carlson.
Although the small setting of chamber music has existed for many
years, it seems less common now for students who were raised on
field trips to large symphony halls. Yet, Carlson claims great
feeling and interaction during a smaller, chamber ensemble
performance.
"Intimacy gives both the performers and the audience members a
sense of being in it together," Carlson said. "When you’re
performing for people who are so close to you, you really feel
their involvement. It is an emotional and intuitive thing."
In order to create the small feel, the performances so far have
been held in such unconventional venues as a private home and local
churches, making an intimate surrounding unavoidable.
Joanne Pearce Martin, pianist for the ensemble and performer
with Pacific Serenades for the past six years, explains that the
music and number of players requires a smaller, more intimate
setting.
"We wouldn’t want to play these performances in a gigantic hall
that was meant for a big orchestral audience," Martin said,
"because it is nice for the audience to be right in there with the
musicians, feeling them and even hearing them breathe
together."
She claims that the main difference in the performances involves
the way the musicians must work together, playing off of one
another to create cohesion.
"First of all, you wouldn’t have the volume that you would get
with 100 players on the stage," Martin explained. "That is the
difference between chamber music and orchestral music. It’s just
two or three or four people all reacting on each others’ moves
instead of 100 people following the beat of an orchestral
conductor."
Roland Kato, violist of the group, says that he prefers the
feeling of chamber music to a large symphony performance.
"Playing in smaller ensembles is something that appeals to me
more because it is more intimate and more exposed," Kato admitted.
"I feel that I am being more useful that way, since there is more
exposure and I feel more under the gun."
Conversely, in larger groups, he feels like a less integral part
of the performance itself, rather just another of the many players
on the stage.
Pacific Serenades’ use of a new piece for each performance is
another interesting aspect of the group.
This time they will perform Marc Carlson’s "Dream Fantasies,"
which is a five-part piece intended to conjure images and feelings
having to do with dreams and night in general.
Tonight offers the last opportunity to catch the group, and the
performance promises to both excite and include the entire
audience.
MUSIC: Pacific Serenades plays 8 p.m. tonight at the UCLA
Faculty Center, 405 North Hilgard Ave. Tickets are $20 but only $5
for full-time students with ID. Call 825-0877 for more
information.Marc Carlson
Chamber music ensemble Pacific Serenades will perform tonight at
the UCLA Faculty Center.
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