Concert Report of LTCA Janus Trio

Concert Report of LTCA Janus Trio

For the first time in my life, I attended the concert, “LTCA Janus Trio”, at 7:30 pm on Thursday, January 17, 2013, at Howard Auditorium at Louisiana Tech University. The concert lasted for about one and half hour. The auditorium was not crowded as I expected because it was the first concert of the quarter. Throughout the concert, there were two ladies, Nuiko Wadden and Beth Meyers, one playing Harp and other playing viola on the stage. Also, there was another lady, Amanda Baker, standing with flute in her hand. They all wore black dresses and were professional musicians.

The concert started with the introductory piece, “Eisteddfod”. This music was from the second half of the twentieth century. The composer of this piece was Jan Bach. In this music, a set of theme and variations were based on the Welsh folk tune Ymadawiad y Brenin. In this brilliantly composed piece, each player demonstrated individual virtuosity in the variations and cadenzas. This was done by culminating in the dramatic presentation of the theme, which was uniquely placed at the end of the piece. The texture of the music was polyphonic with somewhere homophonic in the middle. Similarly, the performance mediums of this piece were flute, viola and harp. I feel that this piece gave really great start to the concert. After this piece, the flute player greeted the audiences and explained briefly about the next piece, “Keymaster”.

This piece is also from second half of the twentieth century. The composer of this piece was Caleb Burhans. It was composed in 2005 and premiered in 2006. This piece referred both DJ laptop compositions one could find in a techno hall as it does the minimalist concert music in New York City’s downtown sound. Therefore, basically, the piece was the music of New York City downtown. The performance mediums were flute, alto-flute, viola, and harp. In this piece, the ensemble type can work for two to six players. In addition to this, the texture was dominantly polyphonic throughout the piece. This was really mind blowing piece of music. The concert was then continued with another piece of beautiful piece, “Formas de Arena”.

The composer of this music was Martin Matalon and it was also from the second half of the twentieth century. It consists of four different types of linked movements. The first, which is elaborated round the alto flute and is made up of an ethereal web of great transparency. The musical material in this piece is attributed to the flute, which gives rise to rapid comings-and-goings. The instruments give themselves over to constant, mutual reinterpretation, which goes from literal imitation and echo to the freest allusion and the play of a distorting mirror. This reflection is muddled by the innumerable color changes. The conception of the second movement was simpler. 

The overhead viola-the score is marked ‘saturated sound’-apears in a clanking noise. Once the ‘kinetic’ energy is dissipated, the rhythmic influx is harnessed in the following movement by the three beats. Of a more ethereal nature, the final movement I feel that it showed the harp off to advantage, establishing a gentle, haunting rocking while forming very free, evanescent figures. After this piece, there was intermission of about 10 minutes. Then, the concert proceeded with the last two amazing pieces, “Gossamer Albatross” and “Sonata pour flute, ato et harpe”. The first one is from the second half of the twentieth century, whose composer was Cameron Britt. In this piece flute and viola lines emerged from the motoric harp part as the piece begins and then the melodic lines were taken on lives of their own. Also instrumental roles shift as the piece steers its way through different sections, finally receding from the view. The other one was from the Romantic period and its composer was Claude Debussy. This piece is the unique combination of something blown, something bowed and something plucked. The performance medium of both of these pieces are flute, alto flute, viola and harp.

I enjoyed the concert and was really surprised at how smoothly the organization and the performance took place. “The LTCA Janus Trio” concert for was an enjoyable evening full of great music and intellectually stimulating experiences of music that I would not have listened to if not for this assignment. Diversification is an important lesson to learn when viewing music because all music has roots from another genre and recognizing this makes you more diversified as an individual.