Lab Orchestra + Graduate Students in Orchestral Conducting: Copland, Falla, Schumann

Aaron Copland | Three Latin American Sketches

Estribillo
Paisaje Mexicano
Danza de Jalisco

Jherrard Hardeman '25 GD, conductor

Program note

Aaron Copland’s Three Latin American Sketches gives the listener three different flavors of Latin American music. The first movement’s jagged syncopations become smooth and dance-like in the middle section. The second movement turns to the more laid back and picturesque music of Copland we recognize from pieces like the Corral Nocturne from Rodeo and his music from the film “Our Town.” The third movement takes the syncopations of the first movement and combines them with the optimistic ethos of the second movement to get a joyful, vigorous dance. Copland wrote the following to describe this piece: “The tunes, the rhythms, and the temperament of the pieces are folksy, while the orchestration is bright and snappy and the music sizzles along — or at least it seems to me that it does.”
– Jherrard Hardeman

Manuel de Falla | Suite from "El Amor Brujo"

Introducción y escena
En la cueva
El aparecido
Danza del terror
El circulo mágico
A media noche
Danza ritual del fuego
Pantomima
Danza del juego de amor
Final (Las campanas del amanecer)

Timothy Ren '25 MM, conductor

Program note

Composed in 1915, Manuel de Falla’s ballet El Amor Brujo tells the tale of Candelas, a gypsy woman haunted by the ghost of her deceased husband, unable to move forward in life. After she discovers that her husband was unfaithful in their marriage, she cleverly exorcises the ghost with the help of a friend. With this nuisance behind her, she is united with her new lover Carmelo. They exchange the kiss of “perfect love” (hence the title Love, the Magician), blessed by church bells.
        With the dancers absent, different sections of the orchestra take up the dramatic roles of Falla’s musical storytelling: the melancholic oboe and English horn, the lyrical cello, and the triumphant French horn paint a compelling soundscape in this dynamic orchestral suite. Also notable is Falla’s timbral imagination. The muted trumpets in “The Magic Circle” conjure a nostalgic, pleading sentiment, while the strings execute tremolo at the bridge of their instrument to produce a nasal, metallic sound during moments of great urgency. Navigating between Flamenco, Andalusian folk songs, and European tonality, Falla shows us his eclectic gifts.         
– Timothy Ren

INTERMISSION

Robert Schumann | Symphony No. 2 in C Major, op. 61

Sostenuto assai - Allegro ma non troppo
Scherzo - Allegro vivace

     Jherrard Hardeman '25 GD, conductor

Adagio espressivo
Allegro molto vivace

     Timothy Ren '25 MM, conductor

Program note

Robert Schumann’s second symphony is truly remarkable in its efforts to bring old and new compositional ideas together. The first movement begins with a quote in the brass from the very beginning of Haydn’s London Symphony (no. 104 in D Major) i, but underneath this music is string chorale with more chromatic tendencies. This is also quite radical as the long-standing tradition was to begin symphonies with a bold and loud introduction (including Haydn’s London Symphony). Schumann, instead, waits until we’re halfway through the introduction to give us bold-sounding music. This is a dotted, or fanfare, rhythm then becomes the primary – even obsessive – motif for the rest of the movement.
        The second movement of this symphony is a scherzo in five parts. The first, third, and fifth are characterized by a persistent virtuoso sixteenth note melody in the violins. The second section (and first trio) features a more relaxed triplet tune in the woodwinds. The fourth section (second trio) then looks back to the opening of the symphony, this time with a gentle chorale that moves through the sections of the orchestra.                                                                                                  
– Jherrard Hardeman

The third movement (Adagio espressivo) is a heart-wrenching song without words. Underneath the poignant melody lies an agitated syncopation figure first heard in the violas. A fugato passage in the middle of the movement transports the audience back to the time of Bach: unadorned, hushed contrapuntal writing revealing Schumann’s most vulnerable side. The long buildup after a thematic reiteration is ushered in by the violins playing in octave unison. As they ascend in pitch and play ever more passionately, the line starts to break down, disintegrating into anxious trills, unable to move forward or resolve itself. The end of the movement brings some respite, although the recurring A-flats in the bass line add a melancholy feel. Even the C Major triads at the end of the movement sound hesitant, neither tragic nor serene.
         The finale (Allegro molto vivace) is the most compositionally complex and intellectually stimulating of the four movements. It is conventional in that all materials from the previous movements are summoned again to produce cohesion; however, what begins as “sonata form” quickly goes astray: the manic phase comes to a halt, as if run out of energy. A brief pause opens up another emotional state. The oboe quotes Beethoven’s An die ferne Geliebte (To the Distant Beloved). Nervous tension is replaced with heartfelt singing. The whole orchestra joins this ode to Biedermeier romance, and a sequential episode full of longing for the transcendental, typical of the Romantic sensibility, sets up the final homebound C Major conclusion.
– Timothy Ren

NEC Lab Orchestra

Violin 1
Mitsuru Yonezaki
Nick Hammel
Maxwell Fairman
Yeji Hwang
Kearston Gonzales

Violin 2
Jisoo Kim
Olga Kaminsky
Aidan Daniels
William Kinney
Abby Reed

Viola
Yi-Chia Chen
Elton Tai
Sophia Tseng
Po-Sung Huang

Cello
Shannon Ross
Rei Otake
Sophia Knappe
Jihyeuk Choi

Bass
Misha Bjerken
Daniel Slatch

Flute
Jeong Won Choe
Isabel Evernham
Anne Chao

Oboe
Abigail Hope-Hull
Victoria Solis Alvarado

Clarinet
Phoebe Kuan
Chasity Thompson

Bassoon
Abigail Heyrich
Julien Rollins

French horn
Grace Clarke
Noah Silverman

Trumpet
Justin Park
Alex Prokop

Trombone
Ethan Lehman
Jason Sato

Bass Trombone
Scott Odou

Timpani
Michael Rogers

Percussion
Isabella Butler

Piano
Jin Jeong