NEC Symphony + David Loebel: Britten, Liu & Sibelius
NEC Symphony, directed by David Loebel, performs two standards of the literature—Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra and the Sibelius Symphony No. 5—and gives the premiere performance of a new work by Da-Yu Liu '24 DMA, winner of a school-wide competition.
This performance is open to in-person audiences, and is also viewable via livestream.
Watch livestream from Jordan Hall:
- NEC Symphony
Benjamin Britten | A Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, op. 34
(Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Purcell)
Theme: Allegro maestoso e largamente
Variation A (flutes): Presto
Variation B (oboes): Lento
Variation C (clarinets): Moderato
Variation D (bassoons): Allegro alla marcia
Variation E (violins): Brillante - Alla polacca
Variation F (violas): Meno mosso
Variation G (cellos): [L'istesso tempo]
Variation H (basses): Comminciano lento ma poco a poco accelerando al Allegro
Variation I (harp): Maestoso
Variation J (horns): L'istesso tempo
Variation K (trumpets): Vivace
Variation L (trombones): Pomposo
Variation M (percussion): Moderato
Fugue: Allegro molto
Da-Yu Liu '24 DMA | Assimilation (2021)
Winner, NEC Composition CompetitionProgram note
In memory of my grandparents:黃昌中 (Huang Chang-Chung)黃 淑 (Huang Shu)This piece explores the clashing and fusion of Asian traditional liturgical chant with Western modalism, polytonalism and spectralism.Throughout life, we strive to find our position in society through constant dialogue between cultures, religions and individuals. Facing the realization that the world is not Utopia, we hang on to survival while hovering between the drive of existing and the drive of equilibrium. Life in this sense represents a prolonged process of alienation and assimilation; and after all the struggle, there waits the final assimilation with the earth, an end that all are bound to endure or embrace.The two pentatonic subjects, alluding to Asian liturgy and a Taiwanese popular cultural symbol in the 20th century—a re-creation of Su Shi’s Shuidiao Getou (蘇軾《水調歌頭》) by Taiwanese musicians (梁弘志、鄧麗君)—gradually develop into chromatic disarray before essentially molding into modal and spectral sonorities. Between which, recurring collages of tonality and modal progressions portray the persisting dissonance and obstruction, while several digressions with textures imitating Asian traditional liturgical chanting resemble the uncanny moments of consolation and sublimation in life and the path in search of ultimate peace. At last, the pentatonic chant is assimilated with both modal and spectral sonorities, as an entity fades into distant space and time.How the chant is reshaped and reformed into different sonorities in this piece narrates the stories of our dispersion and reconciliation; the alienation and the final assimilation of pentatonic, modal and spectral materials serve as an epitome of the relations we experience in life—to people, places and memories.--Da-Yu LiuJean Sibelius | Symphony No. 5 in E-flat Major, op. 82
Tempo molto moderato; Allegro moderato - Presto
Andante mosso, quasi allegretto
Allegro molto: MisteriosoPersonnel
First Violin
Célina Bethoux
Claire Byeol Kim
Michael Fisher
Caroline Smoak
Olga Kaminsky
Masha Lakisova
Clayton Hancock
Kitty Amaral
Kristy Chen
Tsubasa Muramatsu
Second Violin
Sydney Scarlett
Chiung-Han Tsai
Helena Hwang
Darwin Chang
Theresa Katz
Hila Dahari
Sarah Campbell
Shiyu Wang
Arun Asthagiri
Emma Boyd
Viola
Njord Fossnes
Katherine Purcell
Jowen Hsu
Nicolette Sullivan-Cozza
Peter Jablokow
ChengRong Li
Ru-Yao Van der Ploeg
Eunha Kwon
Nathan Emans
Asher Boorstin
Cello
Sarah Tindall
Pi-Wei Lin
Lillian Yim
Heechan Ku
Asher Kalfus
Miruna Eynon
Sophia Knappe
Jonah Kernis
Lily Stern
Davis You
Bass
Luke Tsuchiya
Cailin Singleton
Colby Heimburger
Isabel Atkinson
Flute
Honor Hickman^
Subee Kim*
Subin Oh‡
Anna Ridenour
Piccolo
Isabel Evernham‡
Anna Ridenour*
Oboe
Yuhsi Chang*
Corinne Foley‡
Coleton Morgan^
English horn
Coleton Morgan
Clarinet
Sarah Cho*
Xianyi Ji
Tao Ke‡
Cole Turkel^
Bass Clarinet
Xianyi Ji
Bassoon
Garrett Comrie
Seth Goldman
Kangwei Lu^
Carson Meritt*
Andrew Salaru‡
Wang Jialu
Contrabassoon
Adam Chen
French horn
Mattias Bengtsson^
Huimin Mandy Liu
Graham Lovely‡
Mauricio Martinez
Tess Reagan
Xiaoran Xu*
Trumpet
Matthew Mihalko^
Justin Park*
Alexandra Richmond
Cody York‡
Trombone
Jaehan Kim‡
Noah Korenfeld
Noah Nichilo
Alex Russell^
Kevin Smith*
Bass Trombone
Roger Dahlin^
Jason Sato*‡
Tuba
James Curto
Timpani
Doyeon Kim‡
Nga ieng Lai*
Mark Larrivee^
Percussion
Isabella Butler
Nga ieng Lai
Mark Larrivee
Eli Reisz*
Rohan Zakharia‡
Harp
Shaylen Joos
Principal players
*Liu
‡Britten
^Sibelius