Ashton Martin

Live Music Analyses

Jae Eun Baek - DMA1 Piano Recital 12/1/2017

Jae Eun Baek did a beautiful job playing her DMA recital last Friday. I loved her bright red gown and I
think she did a stunning job with the Bach, Haydn, and Schumann pieces she chose. She played so
effortlessly and was memorized might I add. I am a particular fan of Schumann, so I loved the last piece
even though it is quite lengthy. I appreciated the different time periods she chose from in her pieces and
she did a wonderful job playing them too. These pieces are so soothing for me to hear. The melodies are
clear, tonal and the overall structure between the layers of sound are never jarring to me. Its amazing
what great sound can come out of a grand piano alone and although I love the way larger ensembles are
able to create the collaborative magnitude of sound that they are, there is something intimate and
lovely about solo piano pieces. It draws the listener in. The piano is a percussive instrument, able to
release one type of sound on impact whereas a violist can control the sound as one note is played, so
because of that, it is amazing to me how musical one can be still with each note. Ms. Baek did an
incredible job with the musicality of these difficult pieces and I really enjoyed listening to her play.

New Music Ensemble 12/1/2017

I really enjoyed the sound of the New Music Ensemble and especially appreciated the first piece as it
was written by a UT PhD student. It was perfectly structured to fit the exact amount of strings, wind
players, percussionists and pianist instruments that this ensemble had. Although I feel that I wasnt as
moved as I have been in the past by particular performances, I enjoy the thoughtfulness put into early
music. The conductor at the beginning of the concert said that the second piece, Come Round by Jacob
Druckman is one of his favorites and although I appreciate the exactness of the music I am not moved by
it. There were many eerie lines played by the wind instruments throughout and it made me think more
than feel. Such might be the aim of the composer, to make the audience think or picture a particular
story, but for me it was missing the emotion that comes from the drawing on the hearers experiences
and connects directly to the listener. I am so used to very harmonic music from choral pieces or melodic
lines as I am a soprano that the different disjunct sounding pieces are jarring and somewhat unpleasant.
Perhaps that is the downfall of the singers bias. The last piece played, Paul Moravecs Chamber
Symphony, was similar in its seemingly eerie and disjunct structure. Each instrument played its own line
and although they are all in time and together, it is still as though the independence of each instrument
trumps the hierarchy of sound that comes from being in a group. The music is constantly changing and
listening to it felt like tip toeing through a maze or going on some interesting journey. The musicianship
was phenomenal, but it isnt my favorite kind of music to listen to.

Wind Symphony 12/3/2017

I thought the wind symphony was fantastic and I loved the pieces that were chosen. My particular
favorite was the Colonial Song by Percy Grainger. Wind instruments are so beautiful because the sound
blend that comes from them are quite clear and pure. The melodies from the Colonial Song were really
my favorite and although I enjoyed the Carl Orff piece, Carmina Burana, I much preferred the lighter
more lovely tones and sounds from the Grainger piece. Pieces like that make me picture fond memories
of mine from my childhood and are pleasant recalling to mind a retelling of old stories. It truly is
incredible how music causes us to think and ponder the way that it does. Memories and feelings that
would otherwise never resurface are called to our hearts simply by the way a composer has fashioned
some odd number or measures with some particular instrumentation. I have always been a fan of wind
instruments and I think the wind symphony did a fantastic job with their musicality and following the
conductor in creating a wonderful sound and tone quality that isnt easily achieved. I am also
appreciative of the pieces chosen because as I am a spoiled singer with the ability to create music with
words, sometimes music that lacks words can have a difficult time keeping me engaged, but the wind
symphony with great repertoire did not have that effect on me. It has a great combination of lovely
instruments with beautiful melodic lines as well as jolting percussive sections that balance and kept me
and the rest of the audience captivated.