There are three vital components to Thursday’s end-of-the-year concert by UCLA Philharmonia: history, surrealism and reputation.
The three musical pieces that comprise the orchestra’s repertoire hit on each of these seemingly contrasting, yet subtly intertwining concepts to produce what will likely be an unprecedented concertgoing experience for anyone willing to shell out $7 ““ or $3 with a student ID ““ for the opportunity to be aurally seduced by the school’s renowned orchestral ensemble.
“I like to experiment with different kinds of formats because, for me, the concert experience should be like a theater experience,” said music director and orchestra conductor Professor Neal Stulberg. “By the time you finish with an evening at a concert, you should feel like you’ve gone through an integrated experience, as if you’ve been taken from point A to point F in the theater. I hope that’s what we’re going to accomplish with this show.”
Thursday’s concert may end up flowing just like that. Starting at 7 p.m. in Schoenberg Hall, there will be a preconcert recital titled “Bach and Forth,” which will feature five musical works by either Johann Sebastian Bach or composers playing off his work.
Of course, composer name-dropping alone doesn’t whet many appetites these days, especially where classical music is involved. But name-dropping isn’t the only thing the show is offering. For example, one of the Bach suites for solo cello will be performed with the added sounds of an electric cello and a tuba, whereas a subsequent Bach flute sonata will incorporate the unusual voices of marimba and vibraphone as well.
The preconcert recital closes with the “Schleptet,” a humorous piece by the famous, yet fictional, Baroque composer P. D. Q. Bach. Created as a satire of the concert-music scene by American musician Peter Schickele,
P. D. Q.’s piece melds slapstick with skill and ultimately creates an entertaining contrast to what most people believe a night of orchestral music should be like.
“I don’t want to give too much away,” Stulberg said, earnestly trying to create interest in the show without divulging too many of its surprises. “But let’s say that part of it involves people holding notes so long that they fall off their chairs.”
Bending the rules of convention, “Bach and Forth” seems a veritable teaser for the rest of the evening. Following this tantalizingly humorous act will be the two pieces that will make up the first half: Bach’s “Orchestral Suite No. 4 in D” and Lukas Foss’ 1967 work, “Baroque Variations.”
Bach’s suite, written in 1717, will be performed with nearly 300-year-old techniques and a musical venture into historical re-creation.
Guest instructor Elisabeth Le Guin, a specialist in Baroque cello, has been teaching the orchestra how to hold, play and work with their instruments in a manner loyal to traditional Baroque methods.
“It has a lot to do with sort of letting the instruments resonate more freely; letting gestures ““ literally physical gestures but also kind of sonic gestures ““ letting them go out into the air a little bit more,” Le Guin said of the characteristically lighter, more dance-like sounds produced by Baroque performance procedures. For example, with the cello, the endpin is removed, thus forcing performers to suspend the instrument between their legs, effectively preventing the floor from resonating along with the cello. The result: “a freer, more relaxed, kind of a sound,” according to Le Guin.
As for Foss, himself a conductor of UCLA Philharmonia from 1953 to 1963, his piece tackles something different altogether. Stulberg described the Foss piece with words like “dreamscape,” “hallucinogenic” and “musical surrealism.” Le Guin described it as “experimental” and “modernist.” Foss himself once characterized it as “a creative act of destruction.”
“I’ve never played anything like it,” said Christina Schin, a first-year biology student and a violinist in the orchestra. “(Foss) takes a Baroque piece, and he rewrites it in a way no one would really expect. I’m pretty excited.”
After this psychedelic homage to Baroque music, an intermission and quick bathroom break, the monumental second half is scheduled to feature an old favorite: Sergei Rachmaninoff’s “Piano Concerto No. 3, Op. 30.” Performing this piece will be the 2007 winner of the Atwater Kent Piano Concerto Competition, Ruby Cheng.
Cheng, in her final year as a Design | Media Arts student, won the opportunity to perform this piece with a full orchestra behind her.
“I’m practicing as much as I can,” Cheng said. “The piece itself represents a personal milestone for me because, in the music world, at least in piano, everyone knows this is “˜the’ piece.”
A plethora of notes, cascades of melodies, and roughly 40 minutes of continuous music are what have earned the “Rach 3″ its reputation as one of the most difficult piano pieces in existence.
“I try not to think too much about that but I do go through certain types of practice where I really pay attention to what’s happening,” Cheng said. “I’m going to try to enjoy it because it’s such a rare opportunity and the piece is so amazing. There’s nothing like Rachmaninoff. He was a great pianist, and it really comes out in the way he writes his pieces.”
Feared by some pianists, completely avoided by others, and adored by others still, this tremendous work has even managed to break into Hollywood, being the life-giving miracle of the 1997 film, “Shine.” Affectionately dubbed “the war horse” by Cheng, the “Rach 3″ in all its structured and elaborate glory, will be the singular end to the Philharmonia concert.
“This program (will be) a very stimulating one for anyone who has never been to an orchestra concert,” Stulberg said. “They’re going to see and hear music from very, very different traditions, all of which is quite gripping and emotionally involving.
“I’d like to invite people to come to this show, particularly at bargain prices, who might not think of taking in a concert like this, because they’re going to see something that they couldn’t get anywhere else.”