SYCM 2Nd International Percussion Festival by Gregory Beyer and Robert Bridge
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SYCM 2nd International Percussion Festival By Gregory Beyer and Robert Bridge he 2nd International Percussion Festival features multiple buildings containing practice Tuesday, Oct. 12 of the Shenyang Conservatory of Music room facilities, faculty offices, classrooms, dor- The next day featured a composition forum T(SYCM) took place Oct. 11–18, 2010. mitories, Cadenza Hall—an elegant new recital with Udow discussing some of his composi- Featured international guests included Michael hall—and its crown jewel, the beautiful glass- tions on the previous evening’s program. His Udow (USA), Sir Gert Mortensen (Denmark), encased Concert Hall. discussion began with thought-provoking Beverly Johnston (Canada), Lien Wei-Chen questioning, encouraging the students to exam- (Taiwan), the percussion duo NanaFormosa, Monday, Oct. 11 ine “why you choose to compose.” It was clear (Taiwan), and the authors of this article, Greg- The opening concert of the festival featured in Udow’s probing of the students that there ory Beyer (USA) and Robert Bridge (USA). the Shenyang Conservatory percussion en- was no established tradition of writing new Other Chinese percussionists in attendance semble performing works by Michael Udow, music for percussion at the Conservatory. This included Liu Guangsi (the first Western Per- who was occasionally a featured performer was a surprise to us as guests of the percussion cussion Professor in China) from the Beijing (playing the solo timpani part in “Appari- festival, as the percussion area of the conserva- Central Conservatory, Zheng Jianguo from tion,” for example) the Society of Chinese Musicians Association, and performed a solo LiuPing from the Tianjin Conservatory, and marimba work of his DuJuan from the Xian Conservatory. The fes- own, “Tennei-Ji.” Udow tival also featured two concerts of music by the had been in Shenyang Shenyang Percussion Ensemble, also known one week prior to the as the Sticks Game ensemble. The percussion official beginning of the area of the conservatory is run by a father-and- festival, working on en- son team, Lu Qingshan and Lu Zhengdao. Lu semble music with the Qingshan is the festival’s artistic director. Shenyang students. His Shenyang is one of China’s largest cities, amicable, warm, hu- with a population of approximately five million morous, sensitive and people inside its greater urban area. It is the gentlemanly personal- capital city of northeastern China’s Liaoning ity shown through his Province and enjoys a major role in China’s performances and his regional trade with neighbors Russia, North interactions with the and South Korea, and Japan. Its Conservatory students, who looked of Music has a history dating back to 1938, up to him as a great and its current main campus (it has three master of the percussive other satellite campuses around the province) art. The Concert Hall of the Shenyang Conservatory Festival Artistic Director and Percussion Professor, Lu Qingshan (right) Professor Lu Qingshan’s son and junior colleague, Lu Zhengdao with his former professor, Liu Guangsi FEBRUARY 2011 12 PERCUSSION NEWS www.pas.org previous evening. Students were interested in some of the quick texture changes from mallets to fingertips and body percussion employed in Friedman’s work. Students from the Shenyang Conservatory of Music then performed for Johnston, who offered insightful suggestions and probing questions about the students and their repertoire choices. In the Concert Hall that evening, festival participants and the public alike were witness to a spectacular concert by a formidable young percussion duo from Taipei, NanaFormosa. They began their program with a duo version of Thierry de Mey’s “Silence Must Be.” Yu- Ying Chang began in the spotlight, conducting a pattern of five in one hand and three in the other, then began articulating graceful and subtle rhythmic gestures and phrases with the left hand against the continuing meter in five. Michael Udow performing “Tennei-Ji” When this “silent” composition took a second pass, Ya-Hsin Cheng provided a percussive tory is quite advanced. Udow encouraged the Wednesday, Oct. 13 soundtrack to her silent partner’s movements students to compose new music for percussion. Johnston offered a marimba master class with a table of small percussion instruments of That evening, Beverly Johnston presented a in which she explained specific techniques wood, metal, and glass. program of solo works that revolved primarily employed in some of her repertoire from the The duo proved their synergy with a four- around the marimba. Two of the featured piec- es, “Fertility Rites” and “In the Fire of Con- flict,” were penned by her husband, Christos Hatzis, also in attendance. Johnston performed with passion and elegance. Her commanding performances of Harry Friedman’s “Bones” and Chinary Ung’s “Cinnabar Heart” were mes- merizing, the latter also revealing Johnston’s ability to sing with haunting beauty. She also performed Frederic Rzewski’s “To the Earth” on a set of gorgeous Chinese glazed pots. NanaFormosa performing Jer-Hui Chen’s “Between” Beverly Johnston performing Harry Friedman’s “Bones” www.pas.org PERCUSSION NEWS 13 FEBRUARY 2011 hand marimba arrangement of J.S. Bach’s Music” and an arrangement of the second “French Overture” (BWV831), and then a duo movement of Ravel’s “Piano Concerto in G.” version of Andy Pape’s intricate drumming The program ended with a final display of quartet, “Ca Dance.” Humor and virtuosity keyboard virtuosity in Jan Van Landeghem’s were on display in “Between,” a work by their “Concertino for Two Marimbas and Six Per- teacher in Taiwan, Jer-Hui Chen. In this piece, cussionists,” with NanaFormosa flanked by the duo “faced off ” on both sides of a single six students from the Sticks Game percussion quasi-drumset and displayed perfectly synchro- ensemble. nous passagework on cowbells, guiro, and ped- al-controlled tambourines, gourds, and drums. Thursday, Oct. 14 The duo studied the zarb together in Paris, and Rob Bridge traveled to the conservatory’s brought Jean-Pierre Drouet’s “L’attraction” in- education school campus and gave a class on termezzo to the stage with humorous and vir- marching percussion. The students were a tuosic theatricality. Their excellent zarb playing mixed group of percussionists and wind play- accompanied their own dancing and singing in ers. Rob led them through a series of exercises a joyful end to the first half of their program. designed to address the areas of technique The duo invited Lu Zhengdao to the stage necessary in today’s marching ensembles. The for performances of Thierry de Mey’s “Table students played reasonably well but had very Greg Beyer performing Alexandre Lunsqui’s “Diogenes’ Lantern” basic questions about marching technique— highlighting how new marching is to China. That afternoon, Sir Gert Mortensen of the Royal Danish Conservatory offered a class that focused on a work taken from the bedrock of his repertoire and his reputation, Per Norgard’s, “I Ching.” Gert taught about the composi- tional aspects important in movements III and IV. He worked with students showing them compositional aspects and technical points to be considered. Then he gave a stunning perfor- mance of both movements. He ended his class with a virtuosic rendering of Áskell Másson’s “Prim.” On Thursday evening, Greg Beyer’s concert showcased instruments and composers from around the world. He opened with “Temazcal” by Javier Alvarez. Next, he traded his maracas for an udu, conga, caxixi and berimbau in a performance of Alexis Bacon’s “Cowboy Song.” Sir Gert Mortensen coaching Shenyang Conservatory percussion student Jiang Zhao on Per Greg kept his berimbau, and added two more, Nørgard’s “I Ching” for “Hollow” by Jeff Herriott. The first piece on the program that did not include electronic accompaniment was Alexandre Lunsqui’s “Diogene’s Lantern” for solo marimba. This was followed by Roberto Sierra’s “Bongo-0” and then a return to the marimba for three movements of Jacob Druckman’s “Reflections on the Nature of Water.” The final composition performed was Iannis Xenakis’ “Rebonds.” Friday, Oct. 14 Beyer’s class focused on the global aspects of percussion and percussion performance. Us- ing material from his concert as a jumping-off point, he discussed practice techniques (and his use of technology), instrument specific tech- niques, his extensions of traditional techniques, historical considerations, and avenues for further study. The class ended with everyone Robert Bridge performing Steven Stucky’s “Isabelle Dances” dancing as three volunteers played berimbau FEBRUARY 2011 14 PERCUSSION NEWS www.pas.org alongside Greg as he sang a traditional Brazil- sponsibility to each work on the program. This ian song. ensemble had the ability to fill the concert hall The Friday night concert was titled “Inter- with powerful energized sound while maintain- coastal Percussion Interaction,” a reference to ing excellent tone. They also played sensitive Taiwanese, Chinese, and western percussion delicate phrases that flowed like silk threads music and musicians working together on the woven seamlessly into the fabric of fine cloth. same program. It featured students from the Director Yang Ruwen performed a solo mul- Shenyang Conservatory and soloists. The con- tiple-percussion work with great flair, utilizing cert opened dramatically with “Overture for an extremely large camphor wood temple block Six Drummers” by Ya-Wen Lien followed by that barely fit onto a padded piano bench—a Rudiger Pawassar’s “Sculpture” for three ma- deep tone that conjured up ‘the everything’ and rimbas. Professor Lu Zhengdao joined his stu- ‘the nothingness’ of existence. The ensemble’s dents as soloist for a splendid performance of well-rehearsed setup changes created smooth “Night of Moon Dances” by Eckhard Kopetzki. transitions between the works, which created a The percussion ensemble retook the stage for a sense of unity throughout the program. This is well-choreographed and virtuosic performance a group that plays with confidence, conviction Stanley Leonard of the marimba quartet “Square Dance” by and panache.” Takayoushi Yoshioke.