Jesse Harter

#112831943
Understanding Music
01 April 2013

Concert Report 2
For this report I attended Lisa Hughes flute recital on March 28 in Pitman Recital
Hall of Catlett Music Center. A total of five compositions were performed: a concerto, a
sonatine, a trio, a solo and lastly a sonatina. All of the pieces except the solo included a
piano, while the trio introduced an oboe as well. Far fewer people attended this than the
string quartet I previously attended. Taking place in a smaller room, the concert also felt
much more personal. The event lasted just over and hour, but it hardly seemed that long.
The first piece was a concerto, Carl Reineckes Opus 283 in D major. This piece
was composed in 1908 and consists of three movements. Despite being a concerto, there
was not an orchestra for the flute to contend with. Instead the flute contended with a
piano. Each movement was initiated by the piano and then joined by the flute, which
quickly took over the lead role and picked up the melody. The first movement is defined
as allegro molto moderato. It was joyful sounding and the pace made for a playful
tune. The second movement began with a low chord from the piano, possibly in
dissonance. It seemed to me to have a sort of ominous or drudging feel to it. The program
gives this movement as lento e mesto which I looked up and found to mean slow and
sad. The sadness imbued in the music became extremely apparent as the flute joined in.
It came across to me as sad and even sounded slightly whiny, which contrasted well with
the pianos bass notes. The final movement, given as finale, started off at a fairly quick
pace. What stood out to me most in this movement was a part when the piano and flute
chased one another up and down the scale very rapidly. Each movement of this piece was
fairly different from the other two, which made for an interesting piece when combined.

My favorite movement was the second; the fluid notes of the flute juxtaposed with the
staccato piano created something I found mysterious.
The final piece of the recital was a sonatina by Keith Gates from 1991. The
sonatina consisted of a flute and a piano. I found the first movement to be fairly
appealing, although there was no particular part that stood out to me. The notes of the
piano gave the song a sort of wandering feel and brought my mind to journeys where the
flute wove together the various events. The second movement is arioso which means
airy. I definitely felt that in the movement, which was slow with a tune that was
reminiscent of blowing wind. It reminded me in many ways of Native American flute
music I had heard before. The third movement march/rondo, took a drastic turn and
became much more lively. The piano and flute frequently crashed in dissonance in this
movement. The end of this movement was fairly chaotic, which made for a dramatic
ending. The composition was overall good, although I did not find it to be anything
amazing.
The one other piece that was performed which I would like to mention
was the solo piece. This was Fantasie in g minor by Telemann. When I tried to find
this, I found it as Fantasia number 12 of 12 by Telemann, although it was the same work.
The piece began with some fluid notes, which quickly changed to a staccato tune. This
became a theme that was repeated and varied in the piece. The switch between fluid parts
and staccato parts was commonplace in the composition. Despite being in a minor key
this piece did not come across as dark or gloomy to me. It did have an eerie feel to it at
points, although it also had some rather playful, joyous sections. Overall, I really like this
piece. I enjoyed that it was a solo so I could really focus on just the sound of the melody.

The recital was impressive; I only heard one noticeable mishap while the
musician was playing. The flute made a rather shrill whistling sound while the musician
was playing a high-pitched, fast paced part. I found it impressive that this was the only
mistake I heard and is a testament to the players ability. I also enjoyed the smaller
setting and smaller number of instruments as it made it easier to hear the music of the
main instrument. I think for my next concert I would like to attend something with
vocals. As far as music goes, I know the least about singing and the various techniques
involved so this would make for an awesome experience.