Recital: Leigh Wilson '23 MM, Percussion
NEC's students meet one-on-one each week with a faculty artist to perfect their craft. As each one leaves NEC to make their mark in the performance world, they present a full, professional recital that is free and open to the public. It's your first look at the artists of tomorrow.
Leigh Wilson '23 MM studies Percussion with Matthew McKay.
This is an in-person event with a private stream available to the NEC community here: https://necmusic.edu/live
- Leigh Wilson '23 MM, percussion
- Mai Nguyen, flute
- Eli Reisz, percussion
- Michelle Lee, piano
- Matthew McKay, studio teacher
Caleb Fried | walk over; hot coals (2019, rev. 2022)
Program note
walk over; hot coals was originally written for the [Switch~ Ensemble] in 2019. It is inspired by the way anxiety can stretch out tiny moments into extended discomfort. In an action as simple as opening a door to a room, the three steps between you and a doorway can seem like hundreds, and the relationship between your body and your breath can become suddenly noticeable, then disruptive. This recital is the first performance of the piece in its revised form.
— Caleb FriedArtists- Mai Nguyen, flute
Johann Sebastian Bach | from Violin Sonata No. 3 in C Major, BWV 1005
II. Fuga
Program note
Fugal writing, a contrapuntal technique in which one "voice" is imitated by others at set intervals according to strict harmonic rules, may seem to conflict with music conceived for a single instrument, but Bach makes it possible with a combination of techniques. First, the subject of the fugue in the third solo violin sonata is fairly compact, making its return easily recognizable and thus allowing the listener to perceive the structure of the piece and follow the different "voices." Second, after the initial fugal exposition, Bach alternates between sections where we distinctly hear the subject and sections that function as contrasting episodes. Finally, in many of these episodes, the writing for the violin is less dense, giving it the character of a solo passage in a concerto, an ingenious way to add even more contrast and musical interest to an already rich movement.
— John MangumThe monumental Fugue in this Sonata No. 3 is full of contrapuntal tricks. First, the subject is combined with a chromatically descending line. Then it appears in stretto (statements of the subject that succeed one another ‘too rapidly’). And about halfway through the Fugue, the subject is inverted (ascending steps become descending steps, and vice versa). Afterwards, everything is combined.
— Netherlands Bach SocietyAndrew Bockman | Funeral Song for David Maslanka (2018)
Program note
Funeral Song for David Maslanka is a piece that I composed for my Master's jury at Eastman in the Spring of 2018. The piece is an homage to the passing of Maslanka, and is inspired by his Fourth Symphony in particular. I feel that this symphony had a major impact on the role of the percussion section (and the timpani) in the Wind Ensemble, and has served as an important part of my own musical upbringing. Maslanka writes in the score that the central driving force for this work "is the spontaneous rise of the impulse to shout for the joy of life." My "Funeral Song" aims to both reflect on Maslanka's passing and express the many joys that he shared through his life and music.
— Andrew BockmanDarius Milhaud | Concerto for Marimba, Vibraphone and Orchestra
Animé
Lent
VifProgram note
Darius Milhaud grew up in a Latin-Mediterranean cultural milieu that particularly valued Italian music. When a young man wrote to him about Wagner’s theories that all art “springs from suffering, unhappiness, and frustration,” he replied. “I am glad you decided to write me about your problem with Wagner’s theories; here is my point of view, if you want it. I had a marvelously happy childhood. My wife is my companion, my collaborator; we are the best of friends, and this gives me great happiness. My son is a painter who works incessantly, and he is sweet and loving to his parents. Thus I can say that I’ve had a happy life, and if I compose, it’s because I am in love with music and I wouldn’t know how to do anything else…Your Wagner quote proves to me once again that he was an idiot.”
When Milhaud stayed in Brazil as Secretary to Paul Claudel in 1917/18, he fell in love with South American music. And during his visits to the United States he heard and adored “authentic jazz in the streets of Harlem.” Jazz, he had earlier written, “is of tremendous interest and I am fascinated and intrigued by the jazz rhythmic power that was a real shock when I heard it for the first time. Jazz is the most significant thing in music today.” In the history of music we count Milhaud among a rare group of classical composers who successfully amalgamated jazz and art music in works that integrate the American style with traditional European procedures. And that includes his 1947 concerto for marimba and vibraphone, two instruments rarely heard in symphonic orchestras. Combining two like-minded mallet instruments, Milhaud discloses his preference for clear and distinct colors and sonorities. One performer, who must quickly move from one to the other to obtain the exotic contrasts the composer desired, plays both instruments. Five different types of mallets are specified to achieve varying sonorities, and a still different sonority is created by the use of the hands to strike the marimba. Relying on a traditional concerto form and structure, 2 jazzy and percussive movements frame a sidereal meditation of nocturnal beauty.
— Georg PredotaArtists- Eli Reisz, percussion
- Michelle Lee, piano