We’ve all been there ““ found ourselves truly enjoying a great classical concert, but as the four-hour marathon concert continued, our musical appreciation dwindled.
The UCLA music department had just this problem in mind when it scheduled its series of student-run chamber music concerts. Rather than one lengthy program, two concise, shorter performances allow listeners to enjoy classical chamber music in manageable time frames, without an acoustic overload.
Wojciech Kardewicz, a third-year graduate student and teaching assistant for the music department reorganized the chamber concerts.
“This is the first year with a concert like this. Before we had one long concert; now we can play the (unabridged) works and the concerts are shorter,” Kardewicz said.
The shorter concerts allow music department students of mixed experience levels to show their talent. With ensembles that mix undergraduate and graduate students performing Beethoven, Schubert and Brahms, the program is filled with passion for performance. The students’ commitment is evident in the heavy breathing between movements and the slight drop of glistening sweat on their foreheads after a number.
The students and faculty collaborate in choosing the ensembles and the pieces performed at the beginning of the quarter. Friday’s program includes three string quartets, a cello quintet and the final “Horn Trio,” a rare piece arranged for a piano, horn and violin, rather than a string ensemble. Brahms’ inspiration ranges from landscape to his mother’s death; these influences are reflected in the music as it moves from grandiose to slow and morose, and back to fast and dramatic. Three doctoral students will perform the trio set.
“I love this piece. In my opinion, it is one of the most romantic pieces ever written. I absolutely look forward to performing it,” said Daniel Fritzen, a doctorate student in the music department and pianist in the trio.
The chamber concerts allow undergraduate students to gain performance experience along with their doctorate student colleagues. And besides the restructuring of the event, programmers hope the free admission will promise to bring in new audiences.