PACO CONCERT YESTERDAY!!!

The concert was pretty good. The program opened with the Beethoven Coriolan Overture, a great opener for any concert. The drama and lyricism in that piece is amazing! I felt there could have been more dynamic layers and phrasing could have been better but it was well played and fun to play.

Oy…The Diamond wasn’t too hot. I didn’t feel we played as well as we could have, which is a pity considering we spent so much time and effort rehearsing it. I felt the tempo was slower than rehearsed so I was a bit thrown off. The adrenaline was probably pumping in everyone’s bodies while we tried to sync together the passages but it still came out a bit uneven. The second movement was far more successful, even with the jarring dissonances that start it out. In the forte section, the lush romantic sound came forth and the orchestra rode on the wave. It was a ‘moment’. The third movement was similar to the first…could’ve been better and didn’t really show what we rehearsed…hopefully we’ll get another crack at it.

The Beethoven Violin Concerto was absolutely gorgeous! This is one of the first concerts where I actually felt we were playing chamber music with the soloist rather than accompanying. Even though the tempo was a bit slow (probably lasted around 50 minutes), it was an awesome experience. Too bad probably half the audience was asleep…But no matter…At least the orchestra got a kick out of it (a lot of people didn’t believe it was a 45+ minute concerto primarily because it didn’t feel that way in performance). David Abel did a magnificent job as the soloist. Two parts of his solo playing stood out for me. The first is his rendition of the first movement Kreisler cadenza. It was probably the slowest I have ever heard, and that isn’t a bad thing. It was the first time I actually heard the lyrical aspect of the cadenza as opposed to, say, the Anne-Sophie Mutter rendition where she makes it into a virtuoso bravura piece. The second was in the second movement, where there were these 16 measures in the middle of the ‘variations’ that just made time stand still. The pianissimo was so gorgeous…one of the memories I’ll remember for a long time.

Then after, we took like...15 minutes to take the group pictures. Then some people looked at us weird because Evan and I kept singing the beginning to the Beethoven Violin Concerto (me with my falsetto voice ). By that time, ALL THE FOOD WAS GONE!!! I was SO hungry! But eh…went home…got some food, and slept…good times. =]

Just back from the Junior concert. Here's a brief overview:

I got there at 7:30 and the Juniors already finished their pre-concert rehearsal so I went backstage. There, I met Dennis, Theo, Anastasia, and Evan. We joked around and I gave Anastasia her music. I then went out and met Mark, Lisa, Cheryl, Shelly, Greg, Fanny, Arisa, and Sanami. We talked for a bit while waiting for the concert to start and then…it started! =D

The program began with the Handel Concerto Grosso No.2…Possibly one of my favorite concerto grosso after his ninth. It’s one tinged with a bit of nostalgia and satisfied elation. Theo and Kenzie played the concertante parts and led very well. I couldn’t hear Kenzie play his solo part clearly for some reason though. Overall, I felt it was well played but lacked any emotion or energy. Even in the rhythmic propulsions in the second movement, it seemed as if the orchestra members were playing without much excitement or passion. Dynamics and phrasing were also a bit linear but it’s quite possible they regarded the music as being ‘boring’ and didn’t really get into it.

Next up was the Haydn Violin Concerto No.1 played by none other than Evan Jeng. The clarity and precision with which he plays is amazing! The doublestops are even, spiccatos fully articulated, and phrasing convincing. He tossed off the cadenza as if it was another Kreutzer etude with no apparent difficulty! The second movement brought the concert to a standstill as the lullaby melody sang through Evan’s violin. It’s amazing how something seemingly so simple can be so beautiful. The third movement was a romp…everyone had a great time. Evan received a well deserved, rousing applause as I went up to present him Emily Hung’s flowers and give him a big bear hug (probably scarring him for life at the same time) =P

Nothing special happened at intermission besides the congratulatory praises for Evan. After that, we went back to our seats and awaited the last piece of the program, the Dvorak Serenade for Strings Op.22. While the whole performance was a bit undertempo, the grace and beauty of the music was not lost. As Ben said, this is a virtuosic chamber orchestra piece on par with the Tchaikovsky, so it’s quite impressive they played it as well as they did. They captured the waltz of the second movement perfectly…the phrasing was so delicate. And the last movement was just exciting. The 16^th note passage the first violins have in the first quarter of the movement was in perfect sync. The piece ended and the orchestra received a well-deserved applause.

On funny thing happened afterwards though. While everyone was applauding, Ben came back onstage to receive the applause once more, Theo stood up by himself, in tradition of professional orchestras where they stand to acknowledge the conductor. However…no one else in the orchestra knew what he was doing so he was standing by himself for a bit with a sheepish look. It was all in good fun and everyone enjoyed it.

The concert was AMAZING! This is probably the best PACO Concert I have played thus far, with the possible exclusion of the first PACO Concert last year (Grieg/Bach/Respighi). Today was also quite eventful…Here’s the breakdown.

9:00-12:30 CD Recording

It was truly a learning experience. First recording session I’ve been in with an orchestra and we learned certain tricks to avoid delays for mutes and coughs. It was tough primarily because many of the members were sick. The Tchaikovsky went very well. We ran it through twice just to warm up and get the notes in our fingers then played it with performance intensity three times. Afterwards, we had some snacks Ben brought in (nutrition bars for me since my stomach was a bit iffy to take the pizza) then recorded the Vaughan Williams. It is such a beautiful piece…one of those pieces where you wish wouldn’t end and go on forever. I personally felt in the zone when playing this piece, riding the full orchestral sound all of us put forth. Overall, a gratifying experience to participate in.

6:30-8:00 Pre-Concert Rehearsal

Since we played three complete takes each of the Vaughan Williams and Tchaikovsky during the recording session, we focused on the Mozart and Haydn for the Pre-Concert Rehearsal. The Mozart was great. Tanya is such an amazing and sensitive musician. She’s not only aware as to how she is playing, but how the orchestra is playing, and thus, adjusting herself to make the overall performance sound better. It was a pity she too had a cold and wasn’t feeling 100%. I can’t even fathom how well she would’ve played considering she was amazing already.

The Haydn was a bit less successful. Being an aria, with all the sudden changes in moods and tempo, the accompanist aspect comes more heavily into play. The sudden key changes didn’t particularly help either, the end oscillating between F Minor and E Major. I felt a bit bad for the soloist because she’s really good. So, we just crossed our fingers and hoped for the best.

8:00-10:00 Concert

As I said before, this concert was great!

The first piece was Haydn’s concert aria ‘Scena di Bernice’. The concert gods smiled upon us as we played well and everything we did wrong seemed to go right! Maybe because everyone was watching Ben like crazy. There were tons of beautiful moments in there and we capture most it perfectly (more or less)! However, something bad I didn’t hear apparently happened because Ben decided to re-record two sections again so it can be spliced into our ‘live’ recording. Audience didn’t seem to mind though…they clapped courteously once more after we finished.

The Vaughan Williams Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis is definitely now on my Top 10 Favorite Pieces. The amount of pathos in the notes is unbelievable! We needed to reorganize the orchestra because the piece was for two orchestras. After the reorganization, we began to play. My focus was a little off though…might be from playing the piece three times earlier in the day already. It was too bad this was programmed in the second half of the first half…many of the audience members probably comprehended slow=boring so they when I glanced into the audience, many of the audience members were asleep. Somewhat of a pity, but if worst did come to worst, we played for ourselves. =P Congrats to Arden for playing a fantastic solo!

Apparently I was on stage crew, much to my surprised, so during intermission, me and others moved the piano and reorganized the chairs. Intermission quickly ended and up next was the Mozart Piano Concerto No.19 in F Major. As I said before, Tanya is SO GOOD! The clarity of the runs and evenness of her trills were perfect! I think she was a little iffy about the piano (if I remember, the Gunn piano is a soft piano) but it didn’t seem to detract from her performance. It was great how the orchestra supported her so well. The fugue in the third movement was really cool. The flutist played exceptionally well tonight too.

After that piece, the stage crew moved the piano back once more (accidentally running into Takeo in transit) but things settled and we played the final piece on the program, the fourth movement to Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings. At this point, I think we all were a little tired from playing such a great concert thus far and having played this three times during the recording session. Thus, we didn’t play as well as I think our orchestra was capable to, but the last section when the theme from the first movement returned was so satisfying and the end was great.

That was my 8 hour PACO-filled day.

Sectionals today featured a video performance of the Beethoven Triple Concerto with Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, and Daniel Barenboim and a listening session of Aaron Jay Kernis’s Musica Celestis after. Then, after the great pizza Arden’s mom always cooks up, we went off to rehearsal. There, I opened my case, and became mildly distracted by something Evan said. I looked down and I realize my violin case was empty. Being so tired from the lesson and sectional I had already today, I thought I took it out already...until...I realize...I did not. Then, it dawned on me I left it at Arden's house. So I began to freak out and think up of plans to get it from Arden’s house somehow. Eventually, Takeo agreed to drive me back to pick it up, but Ben said no because that means we would lose two musicians. Jeff C. then proposed to give me his violin and he would drive back and fetch my instrument. This was the plan until we found out Enid called Arden's dad and he was bringing the violin to me. So, to conclude, thanks Mr. Fitzgerald!

Haha...In between the time I was sitting there and waiting for my instrument, the rehearsal started and Ben jokingly asked:

Ben: Come on Jeff...Where's your violin?

Me: ...Arden's house?

Ben: ...OK...Well (smirking) air it then

Me: Oh ok...

(Everyone prepares to play)

Me: Wait...Are you serious? (Me actually getting into playing position)

Ben: No!!! (Orchestra laughs)

-_______- haha

Yes…Another interesting rehearsal in my PACO life.

Concert update!!! The concert this time was really long…but full of good music.

The first piece was Handel’s Concerto Grosso No.9, my favorite concerto grosso ever! This performance felt very good…in the first movement, we got into the Baroque feeling/playing style quite quickly and the harmonies well laid out. The second movement was very exciting and Arden, as usual, played a splendid solo. It was fun to lead as the assistant principal, although I think I probably rushed…as usual =D The fourth movement fugue came out rather splendidly too…we had so much trouble getting it together and keeping it steady (again…primarily due to my rushing tendencies) but everything locked in better than usual. I must say, in the fifth movement, Ben asked the bass to pizzicato the ground bass and it was absolutely endearing. Again…another one of those times where time stands still and you can appreciate the simple beauty of the music.

The Aaron Jay Kernis ‘Musica Celestis’ wasn’t as successful. To quote Michel, the piece “sounded...interesting." it was really too bad because the piece grew onto me. On the professional recording, it’s a piece of sound textures…almost synaesthesic where you can almost see and feel the colors and swirls of textures in front of you. Takeo had this very beautiful solo and it sounded identically like it did in the recording. In the area where everything goes crazy and the orchestra breaks up into 9 parts, I got horribly lost. Sort of depressing too considering I practiced so much for it. I only caught back on about 5 measures later but those 5 measures felt like FOREVER. The Barber Adagio for Strings quote was a bit out of tune but it was so high I’m sure people couldn’t have tell.

The next piece brought our spirits back up after it crashed and burned with the Kernis. Hubert Parry’s English Suite was a boatload of fun with it memorable tunes. Parry orchestrated very well; every part was fun to play and had their own share of solo passages. The violas played really well in the second movement and the last movement was exciting! We nailed all those tugging crescendos and the quick tempo was just right.

After intermission was the main attraction for the night: the Beethoven Triple Concerto performed by the Jupiter Trio. The Jupiter Trio is a staple ensemble in PACO, having participated in the summer camp for three years now. Although often joked as a concerto for solo cello and concertante piano and violin parts, the Jupiter Trio played this, rightfully, as an equal concerto for their instruments. Julian played with a burnished, sonorous tone in his entrance in which Robert playfully repeats in his own clear, piercing sound. As in sync with the trio’s usual personalities, Aglika was dominant in her entrance and made it clear to everyone this was her little time in the spotlight, only to fade back when she begins to accompany. In essence, this is a chamber music concerto. Each part has solo passages that show off their dexterity with their instrument while blending interplay with one another as if in a piano trio. For some reason, I felt Julian’s cello sounded somewhat muted throughout the piece but that was the only aspect of the performance I felt a bit lacking. The second movement was great as Julian, in the usual Julian-esque playing style, played the opening theme, a long, expansive line of melodiousness. Then the quirky, somewhat eccentric mood of the third movement was wonderfully executed as each of the solo flirts with one another (and sometimes with the orchestra) in the interaction. Robert at one point accidentally came in early but quickly caught back on. The orchestra throughout accompanied well, keeping the dynamic level low enough when the soloists are performing while maintaining the energy. The audience obviously enjoyed the whole performance and gave a thunderous applause at the end. Another experience to remember.

As if the concert was not long enough, Ben programmed a Beethoven symphony! Beethoven’s seventh to be specific. We played exceptionally well considering how many pieces we had to rehearse and given the time constraint. The first movement went off without a hitch. The introduction was well paced and didn’t seem too slow or fast. My only qualm about the first movement was how the orchestra as a whole played the main theme. Again, we fail to play out the sixteenth note to its true note length. It comes out as a triplet and thus energy is lost. This dissatisfaction was made up later on when we played the notated accelerando passage in a very alluring fashion, almost as with flirting with the melody itself. The second movement was absolutely gorgeous…I don’t get how the viola can be happy not being able to crescendo into the second part of the melody! Granted the pianissimo brings unto itself a whole other world, but the lament is too unnatural to not express itself fully! Thank goodness I’m a second violinist =P The climax of the second movement was shoddily played but we were getting tired at this point. The third movement was…the third movement. It’s quite annoying how it goes ABABABABA that many times. We get it after ABABA…if we played the notes, the music played itself so it wasn’t that taxing to play mentally. The last movement was just fun. From the first chord and the timpani strikes, this tour de force movement just started and couldn’t stop. Granted, it was a bit of clichéd concert-ending music, it was fun to play nonetheless. We actually nailed the triple piano dynamic in the very end at concert time! Of course the ensemble deteriorated even more since the second movement, we maintained the energy and vigor up until the very end. This symphony was quite different than playing a chamber orchestra piece, for obvious reasons.

This was the day of the ‘preview’ at Stanford Shopping mall! I was scheduled to play the Vivaldi Concerto for Four Violins with Evan, Amanda, and Elizabeth but SAT II conflicted. I was trying to rush back to Stanford after taking Chemistry at Overfelt High in San Jose. I changed into my suit en route and arrived to hear Patricia performing the Vivaldi Double Concerto with Ben. The “Prelude to Spring Concert”, as it was named, is basically a one and a half hour concert featuring the Junior and Prep PACO Orchestra. Ben invited the Vivaldi Quartet to perform and we said yes, although I wouldn’t be there for the first half. Ben said that was fine and that he would play the first violin part. Apparently, they only played the first movement because Ben was sightreading the part (there are some tricky licks in it). Also, Elizabeth's music apparently flew off (there was an overhang and that produced considerable drafts) mid-performance but it was ok because we memorized the first movement. So, I waited for an hour and listened to the Juniors. After the Junior finished, Amanda, Theo, Kenzie, Elizabeth and I walked around. The former 3 went to La Baguette to get some food, and Liz Ma suddenly disappeared. So I found her in this weird shop full of...weird stuff. Then we went to Discovery Channel where I got owned in darts...And again, very disturbed by a children's book with some very interesting pop-ups.

So, we went back and Prep was performing their last piece. They ended, and we went on. Wind was picking up again, so we had some good clips that clipped the music onto the stand. While this did reduce the chances of having the wind carry away the music, it also meant harder times turning the pages. I told Ben beforehand that we wanted to play faster, playing faster than we usually played. I nearly fumbled my part in my first solo but besides that, all four of us played pretty well. It was hard to hear each other in that environment though. Despite the clips, towards the end of the first movement, Amanda's music went WHOOSH!!! Other than that, there weren’t much external factors that caused excitement. The second movement was decent but a bit out of tune. We couldn't lock in on the tempo of the Larghetto for about five bars. Evan's last page of the second movement/first page of the third somehow moved itself into the middle, so he was making up the chords towards the second movement. The third movement was probably the best. Again, I moved a lot according to Patricia and Takeo. The audience liked it very much apparently. One described me as being very "impassioned while I was playing" which I thought was hilarious.

Afterwards, Ben forgot about our "Free Milkshakes" he promised to buy all the soloists but it was fine. It was fun just to be able to perform.

The day of reckoning! DIES IRAE! Okay…maybe not that bad. But today is the day of the 2003-2004 season concerto competition winners concert. I got to Liz's house about 15 minutes early and Evan and Amanda came later. I felt a little groggy; my stomach wasn’t agreeing with me today. We ‘rehearsed’ (more like warmed up our fingers), ate a bit, and played with Liz’s broadsword. We left in Amanda's car where she had a radar detector to see if police cars were nearby. En route, I think it was Elizabeth’s mom that called and mentioned Evan forgot his music at her house so we went back to pick it up.

We arrived at Gunn and went backstage, as usual, except this time, there were some very rude people we were the stage crew for the play Gunn High School was putting on apparently. They did not allow us to put our stuff anywhere except for a designated 5x25ft area. Imagine 35 violin, viola, and cello cases fitting in that little area. Yeah…it’s pretty much impossible. So we put our cases outside, took out our violins, and started practicing.

So nothing much happened after that. We practiced some more, I took some pictures, and we listened to Emily and George rehearse.

Amanda, being a nerd and studying for AP Bio,

hurriedly went to go change during the third variation of the Rococo, and Evan and I went backstage to get our violins ready. Amanda had a very pretty blue, spaghetti strap satin dress. Similar to Liz Ma's dress except hers was a regular tank top strap with polyester material. The pre-concert rehearsal presented no big mistakes. We were ready to go.

So during the pre-concert break, we usually could talk with everyone else and have fun but the stage crew people didn't allow us to. We were told to shut up when we were not talking very loud and it got pretty irritating. Trina and I were ready to start talking back but decided against it. Then, who did I see during the break? Anastasia!!! Haven't seen her in a LONG time. I also saw a lot of V.Luo friends (namely, Lem, Jen, Jess, Keri, and Janet). It was cool to finally meet them after talking to them so much online. It was funny because they basically stalked Liz Ma, cornering Liz Ma her and stared at her dress.

Concert time soon came and my stomach began hurting more than before, possibly exacerbated by the adrenaline that began to pump. Double-edged sword since adrenaline sometimes gives the extra push to make the performance better. Before I knew it, we walked onstage and we were ready to begin.

Vivaldi Concerto for Four Violin in B Minor Op.3, No.10

Soloists: Jeff Kuo, Amanda Wong, Elizabeth Ma, Evan Jeng

I should’ve practiced in my suit beforehand…It felt very unnatural for me to play in a suit. I had to adjust my chin to my chinrest three times before we start. I started out rather aggressively but lessened the performance continued. Personally, I didn’t phrase as well as I could have but Amanda and Elizabeth phrased very well in Amanda’s first big solo (their subito piano was incredible!). The cellos got a little bit off at this point but it wasn’t anything serious. I was not too happy about my second solo with the arpeggiation. My finger got stuck in one of the fingered arpeggios so it came out weird but other than that, the first movement was very good.

Second movement, we switched positions so instead of Me, Amanda, Liz, and Evan being 1-4 violin, respectively, we changed to Evan, Liz, Amanda, and Me so everyone can get equal spotlight. After we settled down, Evan apparently was spacing out so he flipped the page to the second part of the second movement (the Larghetto). We begin and he played the first 3 notes of the Larghetto before realizing we were in the first part, the Largo. You can see him visibly surprised and thankfully, with all those rehearsals we did, remembered which notes to play. Other than that, there weren’t any noticeable errors except for this one chord that didn’t sound right. Evan’s ‘improvised’ cadenza eventually launched us into the last movement, played attaca from the second movement.

After we walked offstage the first time, the applause all but died which was quite awkward considering we needed to return to receive the flowers from or friends. I got flowers from the Nourse Family, the Wong Family, Hsia Family, and Trina! THANK YOU ALL!!!  They were all very pretty...Especially the HUGE re-usable rose from the Wongs  And thanks Christine Chon for the hug and congratulations!

Sarasate Zigeunerweisen (Gypsy Air) Op.20

Soloist: Christine Chon

A great performance with an inauspicious beginning. Once Christine and Ben walked out and they were all ready to go, Ben realized he could not find his score, so he had to go offstage to find it, leaving Christine on the solo area just standing there. The situation turned a bit awkward so props to the woodwinds who began making some tuning noises to distract the audience. Ben eventually came back on and started. From the first leap of faith, I knew Christine was going to hit everything. While certain phrases I heard Christine do so well in rehearsal weren’t brought out as much, it was still amazing this 13 year old is playing at such a high caliber. The bridge between the first and third section was very touching as she utilized her glissando very well. The major key section was very fun. Christine has a firm and sure technique and took full advantage of the quicksilver notes. The only mistake was in the harmonic section before the left hand pizzicato section. The artificial harmonics didn’t particularly sound but those are hard to sound as it so it wasn’t too damaging. Plus, she immediately made up for it with her left hand pizzicato. It was some of the most clear and articulate left hand pizzicato I’ve ever heard live. The piece ended with a fiery passion and Christine received a much deserved standing ovation.

Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations Op.30

Soloist: George Lu

A staple in every serious cellist’s repertoire, it was fitting that a virtuoso cellist such as George Lu performed it tonight, for very few cellists can do justice to this piece. The piece is a bit hodgepodge. Tchaikovsky wrote the variations individually and not in sequence, only to organize them as it is later on. Thus, a natural flow in other theme and variation pieces is lacking in the piece itself. So it takes someone that is extremely musical and understands the piece to know how to pace and make the music flow. George did just that. Whether it was the difficult trill variation, or the cadenzas, or the awesome execution of the coda, George encompassed the skills of a virtuoso. The octave statement in the coda was particularly spine-tingling and the piece ended with a bang.

During intermission, I saw more people who came to listen to the concert! Among the included were Mark from school, two of my dad's friends, Melinda's mom (without Melinda because something came up so she couldn't come ), and Nagisa (but I didn’t see her ) Thanks Melinda's mom for the pretty bouquet of flowers! Trina gave me her rose backstage...A real one. It was pretty too. It's basically the only one I can put in my case so THANKS!

We took some pictures...Albeit some weird ones in the process and were having tons of fun until the stage crew, again, told us to shut up, and made a speech about it. Nerves got a bit frayed but I think we just didn't think it was worth it to fight back.

I also saw Amy who I haven't seen since December! She was just like I remembered her, which made her easy to identify  I got a hug, took more pictures, and we went in for the last portion of the concert.

Glazunov Saxophone Concerto in Eb Major Op.109

Soloist: Emily Chin

Even before she began playing Emily entranced everyone. She had on a very pretty, white sparkling dress and received the cheers and whoops from her friends that didn't stop for like 30 seconds (later edited out on the video tape). Band people... It was pretty funny when Ben had to motion for them to calm down after it kept going.

Having never really heard this concerto before, I went in with fresh ears. I’ve only heard of the Glazunov Violin Concerto at this point and I liked it well enough so I was hoping this is another piece I would come to like. Emily’s saxophone playing brought out the beauty of the piece. I never knew a saxophone can be used to play in a classical setting! She didn’t just make me like the piece…she made me fall in love with this concerto. The fugue was particularly enjoyable and the orchestra navigated the thorny accompaniment part masterfully. As expected, from the audience’s reaction of her entering the stage, Emily received the loudest, longest, most flower-full applause of everyone. It was a truly enjoyable performance.

Haydn Symphony No.104 in D Major 'London'

PACO

Since there was no intermission, Emily had to deal with playing the symphony in her performance dress. Nothing bad of course…considering she was rather enchanting in her dress.

At this point, the orchestra was visibly tired. I believe with all the preparations and rehearsal time given to the soloists to make the accompaniment as good as possible, the symphony was under-rehearsed. The life and energy I felt from them in the other pieces were diminished as they barely moved throughout the whole symphony. There were a couple of instances where intonation was a noticeable problem and the phrasing conflicted. They began showing signs of life in the third movement and the music picked up from there. Thus, they ended on a higher level of energy and successfully conclude the last concert of their season.

The concert ended and everyone usually goes backstage to get their stuff. But, the stage crew running the play wouldn't let us in because the play was still going on. So they told us to come back in 15 minutes. It was a bit unfair because it forced everyone was walking around with their instruments and risk damage to them but what can we do? We made final rounds of thanks, ate some stuff...and that was about that. Liz Ma gave all the Vivaldi quartet members a cute little bell chain. I found out it's for cell phone, which I do not currently own, but I'll put it in my violin case! Thanks! And I got a hug too so that was cool too.

Whee! I forgot to mention I signed some autographs for some little kids. That was fun.

Here are some pictures:

Got back home...Listened to my video and sent it to Amanda. Then I went to sleep.

PACO CAMP FROM TOMORROW TILL NEXT SUNDAY! BYE!

WHOO! My best camp experience ever. I'll give a brief overview.

As usual, I didn’t get much sleep before because I was so excited for camp. I woke up bright and early and my dad drove me to camp (“for the last time” so he says haha). I arrived around 20 minutes early, and was surprised to see so many people there already. I could already feel the excitement already emitting from the people (or it was probably me being over-excited). But Ben chose some nice pieces this camp and people were excited to play learn them. So I checked in with Victoria, the camp assistant for the year, and said hi to some people. I put my stuff in the room and realized that Kenzie and Evan were in my room for the fourth year in a row. Pretty cool how my camp ends with the same two people I started camp in. Other people in the cabin were Jeff Chang, Theo, Kevin, and Ori. Then I also realized the took over Miller 4 now . PACO’s getting dominated by girls! Come on guys...We need to even this out!

Later, I found my mentee, Tom Yaron, with his dad. I gave him a brief tour of the place and him and his dad went off to look some more. Everyone began filtering in and almost everyone was accounted for when the first meeting began. All except for Amanda. I, among others, was really worried as people began speculations of car accidents and such. We found out later she was really sick but eventually made it to camp in the afternoon. She remains a shining example of a hardcore dedicated member lol.

The meeting was held where we met our coaches. I was especially nervous because I got Julian who I thought, at that time, was strict and mean. Ben assigned every group a clapping rhythm exercise thing to show "cooperation" and "teamwork". George wanted to do this complicated Bach counterpoint rhythm stuff that none of us got, so in the end, they used my idea of the opening of the last movement of the Dvorak American Quartet. Each group had their own separate thing (Robert’s group being the best with simply one slam on the downbeat and Paul’s group self-destructing as they did this complicated thing with each of the members playing something different), and we all played out own individual rhythm in unison. The overall sound was pretty cool. Then we had lunch. Oh the sandwiches…How I shall miss thee after this year.

We met with our ensembles later. Julian is one of the best coaches I have ever had the opportunity to work with. He was intense, demanding, and set a VERY high standard level for us but was SUPER nice. Completely different than the Julian I thought of. So overall, over the course of seven days, I spent around 26 hours playing the violin and around 20 hours with the metronome and grinding our movements into precision. Julian convinced us Dr. Beat is our best friend. At times, some parts of the rehearsal got so intense, Arden's (the first violinist) glasses and mine fogged up. We thought we already had a good sound at the beginning of the week, but Julian's coaching and guidance raised it, literally, twenty-fold. When we phrased beautifully, he asked us to do more. His mottos of the week were probably "It's good...It's not great...No where near" and "I'm gonna kill you guys..." His analytical coaching style was also greatly helpful, dissecting the important parts of a section, or even a measure, and rehearsing it until we got it right.

The food throughout camp has been the same as the last three year’s. I wish I taken note what they served on which day so I can see if they do it the same every year. My particular favorite is the burnt tofu dinners…I’m still not entirely sure how they burn tofu considering it should be steamed…but it was food nonetheless. I have a nagging feeling I’m going to miss camp food.

I'm also going to miss the games of Knock-Out...We had massive games at times

The beach trip was better this year considering with its dreary overcast weather, Ben actually knew the way this time =D After the ‘Let’s take the nature trail!’ idea last year, we decided to stick to the road,

cutting the time of the trip from three hours last year, to a little under 1.5 hours this year. Some of us decided to go into the water and

the water was balls-shrinking cold again but fun nonetheless. I wore the PACO England Tour shirt which took a VERY long to dry. Rolling around in the sand helped. I played some ultimate frisbee, where I think I strained my back, and saw Kelley (my ensemble coach for me second year) there. Edwin, like his brother last year, was buried in the sand and was giving anatomically incorrect features. The rest of the time was full of picture taking and random bursts of randomness:

Soon, it was time to head back. Victoria drove us back and without really asking, Evan and Jeff dove in the trunk of the car. It was pretty hilarious to see them roll out of the back and falling onto the seats because they were afraid Ben or another faculty member was going to see them in their precarious position. Theo dirtied the shower stall quite a bit by rinsing out all the sand in his clothes. It was a very relaxing day.

I met quite a number of new people this year. From the staff, I met this burly cellist Scott (gentle giant) and his musical genius/clarinetist/pianist Teddy (year younger than me…makes me feel stupid haha). Teddy is quite amazing in the sense that he is the first to give a masterclass in which I saw no one sleeping! Although I personally enjoy Paul’s masterclasses (especially his on Schumann’s Fantasie in C Major), many people fall asleep.

I also met Katherine, this violinist in training at the moment. She’s one of the coolest young kids that I’ve met and we got acquainted with each other in our whacked out game of volleyball, oddly enough =P Totally unassuming and shy, she’s quite amiable too. I also got to meet Johanna’s sister Irene and Andrew’s sister, Veronica. I got to Vivian, Andrew, Michael, and Alex better too. Twas cool.

The faculty concert on Friday was amazing. Something I will NEVER forget and that is a fact. Props to Ben for reviving this because there were two gap years. I remember hearing the Mendelssohn Octet my first year and I never forgot that either. The first piece was the Brahms Clarinet Quintet. If one were to look at the score, you would think this is a bad concert opener. Only two instruments are playing and it isn’t even that fast! But no…Ariana and Robert transcended the music. From the opening duet, a lamenting theme in thirds and then sixths, left an impression on everyone that would not be soon forgotten. Teddy gave a wonderful, sonorous tone to the music and the music ended too early. Nonetheless, the audience knew it was the beginning of something new.

Next was the Beethoven String Trio in G. It was nice to see Paul having so much fun with the chuckling phrase in the first movement. It was a nice movement juxtaposed between the others but playing three movements was a bit long and the audience lost a bit of its focus. However, it was still all in good fun.

Next was the Brahms second string sextet. I first got acquainted (and fell in love) with this piece my first year with their unofficial faculty concert. At that time, Megumi, Paula, Tom, Mike, Julian, and Michel. This time, it was Stefan, Stephanie, Hillary, Scott, and Eugene. Both were equally good and amazing. Megumi’s sweet and lyrical style and Julian’s impassioned statement of the second theme was impressed into my memory forever. This time, Scott’s equally impassioned all out playing of the second theme was equally, if not more, amazing. That guy is so musical and clearly enjoying playing the piece, it was so inspiring.

Then…The piece and performance EVERYONE loved…The Dvorak Piano Quintet. With the incredible all-star cast of Megumi, Trina, Beeri, Julian, and Aglika, they capped the concert to remember with the performance to remember. The rare side of Aglika’s gentleness was shown in the opening chords. Then Julian’s gorgeous sound he extracts from his half-Strad is almost inhuman, in the good sense. It’s so rare to see these two accomplished artist play with such delicacy. Julian made one particular slide that made me tear up. Megumi’s rendition a few octaves higher also did the same. Then the second theme…Then the heavenly bells…It was great.

These performances pumped up all the student groups. We were so inspired to play the best we could on Saturday after witnessing the life-changing experience.

Everyone played exceptionally well. I swear…this year is such a good year to end because of all the great things that happened. I was introduced to Schumann’s first string quartet, which I now love and was stupefied by the Theo/Dennis/Catherine/Emily quartet played the Beethoven Op.18, #5. I never heard a student quartet play so close to perfection!

In the end, I’m still biased towards my quartet though. =P My last performance was great. My group totally PWNED the Dvorak. It was great how Julian instilled the sense of CONSTANT ENERGY AND FOCUS into us. Every bar had a meaning and we brought it out wonderfully. There some parts in that piece that was, as us music freaks usually describe it, hella orgasmic and sexy. And I think it got across to the audience...because they gave us a rousing applause. Haha, a funny thing happened. The night before the actual concert, my group ran through the piece, and I noticed that my glasses kept slipping off my face, partly because my hair was covering skin, so there wasn't any grip, and also because I swing around so much in the last page of the last movement (page-long climax). We hoped this wouldn't happen...but it did. Halfway through, my glasses slipped to the point where it touched the strings and it made a horrible buzz. But...the real problem was I had no breaks AT ALL in the last page. It was fast and had many triplet passages. But I couldn't let the buzz go on, so, through sheer luck, I whipped off the glasses and threw it on the ground, only missing 4 triplets and at the point where the other voices has the same harmonies that I was producing. So the overall performance did not suffer. It was great though...Mike Whitson was like "Yea...Dude...I gotta start wearing glasses for the effect." Yea...It was great

Here are action shots:

Dvorak Bass Quintet, 1^st Movement

Shostakovich String Quartet No.7, 1^st Movement

Beethoven String Quartet No.7, 2^nd Movement

Mendelssohn ‘Scherzo’ from his Four Pieces for String Quartet Op.81

My Dvorak Quartet, 3^rd and 4^th Movement

In the picture: Haydn London Trio

Also performed: Vivaldi Concerto for Four Violins No.1 from L’Estro Armonico Op.3

Another one of my favorite groups, Mozart Viola Quintet No.4, 1^st Movement

Beethoven ‘Ghost’ Piano Trio, 1^st Movement

Mendelssohn String Quartet No.6, 1^st Movement

Schumann String Quartet No.1, 1^st Movement

Arriaga String Quartet No.1, 4^th Movement

Rossini String Sonata No.1, 1^st Movement

Dvorak Terzetto, 1^st and 2^nd Movement

Schubert String Quartet No.9, 2^nd and 4^th Movement (with the funny ‘rising’ climax in the second movement by Chris and Michael =D)

Schubert String Quartet No.10, 1^st Movement

The AMAZINGLY AWESOME Beethoven String Quartet No.5, 1^st Movement

The talent show happened a bit after the second portion of finished. The most enjoyable was by far the dating game and Liz Ma's Wushu stuff. The dating game started out innocently enough…then just deteriorated and became dirty =P Some of the questions/answers were:

Q: What is the last question you would ask before you take your date home?

Julian: Your place or mine?

Q: If I was a lollipop, how would you eat me?

Emily Hou: I wouldn't.

Megumi: Two licks and a bite cuz I can't wait.

Q: What's your favorite instrument?

Megumi: The digideroo because it's long, low, and hard.

Haha everyone was surprised they had such responses because of all the small kids around.

The other thing was Liz Ma’s idea of a wushu demo that engendered itself midway through the week. She worried about the choreography and flow of the demo a lot before hand but in the end, it came off pretty well. Dennis, Evan, and George spent a lot of time transcribing all the songs in Mulan into piano to fit the actions. Everyone loved Theo’s wushu battle where he “felt like a girl” and the confusion with Evan backflipping into the crowd was hilarious. It was cool that Liz included all the younger kids too.

After that, we got a group together and sightread the Mendelssohn String Octet with SEVEN cellos playing two parts and only seven violins playing four parts. It was...scary and fun at the same time haha. First time ever I heard the bass line boom so loud. Too bad we only had copies of the first two movements =( After that...I went to play a small game of Truth or Dare then up to the chapel to listen to Teddy sightread the Mozart Clarinet Quintet with Amanda, Evan, and other coaches. Melinda got VERY weird at this point when she kept asking Teddy to play whole notes on the clarinet (usually just tetrachords or a descending scale). Haha I think Melinda was really “interested” with the sound. I learned so much about the clarinet there though. It was fun.

A somewhat traditional hike up the hill to get a skyline view of the city was made for those who wanted to, mainly for the scenery and the documentation of the coming of the last day of camp.

Others participated in the less physically strenuous and warming bonfire activity.

I went to Cary and found everyone binging on food and MASH. Later, they turned off the lights and improvised a fantasy story about two flaming red eyeballs. Prior to getting there, I wanted to pull an all nighter and felt pretty good about my chances this year because I was WIDE awake at like 3. But after they started improvising a fantasy story about flaming eyeballs, I began getting drowsy. It got to the point where I couldn't take it anymore and just slept. I woke up around 6:30 and watched half of Ocean’s 11 in the meeting room in the Dining Hall, where I found many others half-asleep or conking out.

I ate the final breakfast at PACO Camp we went back to Helgesson and awaited the annual Ben’s Stick Ceremony.

First concert of my final PACO season today. It was good to all the people I haven’t seen in a long time again! I saw Vivian, Lisa, Cheryl, Mark, Shelly, Katherine, Veronica, Irene, Edwin, Judy, Alex, Christine, Hadas, Alina, and Melinda. My high school music teacher came too so that was cool.

Mozart Divertimento in F Major

I wasn’t sure if it was just me but I thought the light was brighter than usual today…and being an inside player, I got the full blast of the light. My eyes were hurting after a while =\ We played this piece standing up to give the “authentic baroque feeling.” Performance-wise it was pretty good. Not the best we’ve done in rehearsal and not the worst we’ve done so can’t complain too much. The second movement was incredible though! It’s still a bit mind blowing how Mozart composed those dissonant seconds yet they feel completely natural. The third movement was pretty good too. I felt the sudden dynamic changes we rehearsed so much in rehearsal were finally executed correctly and we maintained the same level of energy since the first movement. A funny little episode occurred beforehand though. The plan was to have us seated regularly when Ben comes onstage prior to the beginning of the performance, then having all of us stand up and raising our music stands. However, come concerto time, there will be one who forgets. And that person was Theo this time =P He sat down as he normally would in a normal concert but then realized what he forgotten. He hastily pulled up the stand, flattening the platform that carried the sheet music, causing the sheet music to fall. It was pretty funny and all in good fun. =)

Mozart Piano Concerto No.11

The performance throughout wasn’t perfect, but it wasn’t a disaster either. I felt that this year’s orchestra particularly was ideal for playing such music. The introductory march was a bit restrained, almost academic, but once the faster notes came around, we got into the music. Julie Steinberg, David Abel’s wife, was the soloist. Although I felt she played much better in rehearsal, she still played marvelously. There is so much drama in this concerto, it was quite fun to perform and bring out the harmonic nuances. Julie phrased the solo lines well and, during her own piano solos, brought out the humor in her part. I noticed some audience members sleeping in the second movement, which probably means we did a good job. It IS, after all, a lullaby =P I love Mozart’s second movements to his piano concertos. The one we played with Tanya was really pretty too. The only thing I didn’t like about this piano concerto was the third movement, which was styled in the form of a minuet rather than a concerto-ending rondo. It just didn’t have a sense of finality to it, nor the quality of the previous movement. Nonetheless, Julie still performed well.

Mozart Three Concert Arias

At this point, I think the whole orchestra, myself included, was getting a little tired of Mozart. In all honesty, I don’t particularly remember much for this performance. It was certainly a whole lot easier to play than that Haydn Scena di Bernice we played last year. My eyes were really drying up by now from the light so the music started to get blurry. Intermission was within sight though! Julie came out to play with the orchestra as an accompanist for one of the concert arias and, in general, everything was probably well played except we probably, and were, tired, both physically and mentally. I’m using probably so much because I’m not sure. Haha it could have just been me. The three pieces just sort of passed by after a while. It’s a pity I was spacing out since I’m sure the soprano soloist did a very good job.

Golijov Last Round

This is the black sheep piece of the concert. In the beginning, a lot of people, me included, hated the piece. The idiom and (seemingly) unnecessary difficulty was a big turn-off. Composed as a double quartet with a bass, it was to symbolize two boxers in a ring with the bass player as the referee, which was a bit cheesy I thought. However, after listening to the recording Theo’s dad made for us a number of times, and actually playing and learning the piece, it grew onto me. Given I still don’t think the performance was particularly successful, and least I and a few others had fun with it. Learning the new style was also very interesting, since we had to change our “bad habits” and actually play to the end of the note while crescendo-ing! A widely radical change from the days of Bach and Mozart.

So before the actual performance Ben gave a little talk about the piece. It was much watered down from the description he gave at our first rehearsal (with the limbs flailing and erotic legs and movements and such) but it gave the general idea that this piece is quite exotic and erotic. At one point he tried to tell the audience if this piece was rated it should be NC-17 but in concert time, he couldn’t remember what the rating was! So he went N…N…N… *looks at me* and I said in a confused manner “NC-17?” which he quickly confirmed. Everyone thought it was MY idea to bring that up afterwards -____- Not EVERY idea regarding the sexy, orgasmic style of the music is my idea guys lol Then in the end, Ben said how Golijov was able to “turn hot passion into pure pattern” to which my sister went “YEOW!” much to the amusement of everyone (and embarrassment to me ). The first movement was actually surprisingly good. I cranked up the tension on my bow in hopes of breaking some hairs. The part in the first movement where we played a faster version of the main theme with glisses up the string was a lot slower than rehearse…which was good considering we couldn’t play it up to tempo IF Ben told us before hand. Haha it was funny for everyone to shoot past the tempo Ben gave in concert and having to apply the brakes and adjusting to the new tempo. The ending of the first movement was exciting as everything goes crazy with each part ‘boxing’ with the other part. The slow downward glissando as we went into the second movement was pretty well done. The slow requiem for Astor Piazzolla was then played. Although slow, the unaccustomed notes and harmonies still threw off the orchestra a bit and we didn’t fully express the sadness of the whole ordeal. The first stand-ers of the first quartet played an awesome four-part chorale and the piece ending in dissonance. In the end of it all, an awesome piece. Wish we’d get another crack at it to do it justice like we did with the Diamond though.

Piazzolla Libertango

This is an encore, in purpose. Fast and octane-filled flashes of fun, I think this was the orchestra’s (and the audience’s most likely) favorite piece. The tango aspect of the piece immediately was heard from the second violins’ rhythmically propelling figure. Ben took this at a surprisingly fast speed, much to Evan’s surprise and terror. He did, after all, have an incredibly hard solo coming up. But he, also as usual, executed it perfectly. A repeated section, the first time he was asked to “scratch” and he scratched well. Then the second part where he actually played the notes, his fingers were on fire! Notes blazed from his violin and while he did seem mildly tense from the notes, he threw them out nonetheless. The audience loved it immensely and it was somewhat of a redemption for the mediocre Golijov performance =P

CONCERT REVIEW TIME! This concert could be up there in my all-time favorite performances ever. We played extremely well and all the pieces were fun to play!

Boccherini Symphony in D Minor ‘La Casa di Diavolo’

Overall it was pretty good. You can never go wrong with good ol’ Baroque! I think we really put some energy and got into the piece. I felt the first movement was a tad slow which detracted from the intensity and didn’t feed on our pre-concert adrenaline rush. Even with much rehearsal, we still didn’t get that subito piano near the end of the first movement, which was a pity because Ben’s interpretation of wanting it to be very cold at that passage was a very cool idea I thought. Second movement portrayed the precarious steps as the music flirted with the idea of entering the ‘House of the Devil.’ It was a typical Baroque second movement: not much action but with gorgeous harmonic sequences. There's only one part of it that was especially beautiful, when the harmony progressed from major into minor in descending thirds...Great stuff. Last movement was just fun as the music descended into Hell. Blazing notes and virtuosic runs! SO FUN! It was especially satisfying when we nailed the virtuoso orchestral run in the presto of the last movement! Heart-pounding, satisfying performance, the small blemishes we made up with the energy we played with.

Mozart Sinfonia Concertante

Returning soloist David Abel and conductor Ben Simon performed this piece. So, we did it sans conductor but with a very, VERY good concertmaster, Arden Fitzgerald, leading. Ben wanted to have a larger viola section because Mozart composed the viola section into two different parts (like how a regular orchestra has first and second violin parts). Jeff and I volunteer to play viola but Jeff couldn’t be there since he missed both dress rehearsals. So right after the Boccherini, I head backstage for my viola came back on and after I was settled, we played.

This is now the third time PACO has played this piece in the four years I’ve been here, the previous two times was with Ariana Kim and Michael Whitson when I was in Juniors and David Chan and Catherine Ro with the Seniors. So for the more tenured members, this piece is ingrained into us.

The first movement was uneventful. Well played by both soloist with a slight blemish from David in the cadenza. I didn’t feel the soloists matched each others playing style though. Ben’s tone and sound is very rich and sonorous whereas David’s was a bit wiry and lean. Individually they were fine but for the few passages where they played at the same time, such as the cadenza, it wasn’t thoroughly convincing. The second movement is one of the godly movements Mozart composed. A painful aria between two lovers, Ben and David traded off their painful words to one another in a bleak fashion. The accompaniment was a little shoddy, for the winds and violas were not particularly in sync with one another. But other than that, it was one of the more touching moments of the concert. The last movement was just simple fun. From the happy gallop in the beginning to the crazy mad dash up high from the soloists at the end, it was a feel good movement as we all felt good finishing the piece.

Intermission brought on the usual meeting/chatting with old friends. Among the friends I saw were Katherine, Irene, Melinda H., Melinda L., Alex, Veronica, Edwin, Hadas, Mona, Dayna, Christine, and Janet. Didn't really do much though. Intermission felt a lot shorter than usual so before we know it, we were onstage ready to perform the mammoth…

Tchaikovsky String Serenade in C Major

This piece, even with its gushing, cheesy romanticism, has grown on me over the past few weeks. The whole performance was phenomenal beyond words. From the first movement, we were already into the music. The sixteenth note runs were not as good as we have played it before but well done nonetheless. The second movement was the most fun I’ve have in a long time. Theo and I swayed with the waltz and I felt myself enjoying the music a lot more. The hard passage of trading the eighth note runs came off okay, and our ending was GREAT! We actually dimenuendoed and our pizzes were all together...One of those rare moments left up to Lady Luck =P The third movement was so moving so me. The hesitant introduction absolutely melts me heart and the second theme is just so beautiful, especially when we took it up two octaves from the original towards the middle! The mini-first-violin cadenza came and the mute added another world of sound for us. We ended the third and started the fourth movement in the same atmosphere. The cellos were amazing in their playing of the second theme! There was just such a carefree atmosphere and joy of music making it was amazing. Then...It happened.

Rewinding back, Evan, Theo and I discussed how Ben always makes a very impassioned face something like >X | face whenever we play the triplets section in the molto meno mosso (some would call it the climax of the piece). So we decide to imitate him just for fun. The past couple of times in rehearsal failed because Theo and Evan always start cracking up. So today during intermission, we got all the first violinists and seconds to agree to do the face during that passage. It was a success! Although in the middle of the run, some people like Evan's and Theo's faces went from >X | to >XD, I think Ben noticed and laughed. And after we ended (with the fastest ending EVER), Ben walked offstage during the applause and gave me a light punch. So I think he thinks it was MY idea.  Haha oh well. Everyone had tons of fun. Afterwards, Evan and Theo went up to Ben and told him “I really felt the last movement Ben! It was great!” Haha good times. Too bad I had to stay and collect the folders and music because I'm librarian. So I didn't get any of the good food. =( Meh oh well. Another concert ended…two more to go in my PACO life!

Well...I guess I should update.

Hrm...Found out I had a muscle strain last Sunday when I felt pain in my left arm for a while. I needed to rest for 2-3 weeks so it wasn't good news...meaning I couldn't practice my In Concert music, Bach Festival music, OR for my competition.  This sad...And most of all I missed playing in the concert!!!  Just when the music grew onto me. Sigh…

I went to the concert today with Joyce and Emily (thanks for the ride!!!) and got a $30 B&N gift card as a thank you for coaching the Emily’s Vivaldi Quartet Group =] Brought back memories of when Evan, Liz, Amanda and I did the piece too.

Drive there wasn't too interesting...Got lost because this is the first concert ever at this new church and Emily and Joyce in a tired/violent mood  We got there, entered, went to the balcony...I called Cheryl to see where they are and bought them tickets. I met Shally so that was cool. Up at the balcony, I stood the whole time because there were no more seats (AMAZING!!! It was FULL!!! ) So yea...Saw Judy, Veronica, Hadas, and Katherine too! The acoustics was nice and I was air playing with the orchestra on the balcony. Got a few weird stairs from Cheryl haha

Now for the review...

Bartok Romanian Folk Dances

I was a little iffy of the orchestral arrangement to begin with. I’ve played the Folk Dances in its original violin and piano format so it was a bit adjusting to this in rehearsal. Certain flavors unique to the solo violin version was hard to obtain in the orchestrated version and the sound is oftentimes too thick to hear the nuances of phrasing. These are micropieces essentially so you don’t have a whole symphony to develop the phrasing and interpretation. That being said, everything went well. Evan’s harmonics in the third movement was clear and pure…it was really cool to hear. George’s solo in the fourth was equally moving. He’s improved a lot since I met him, now being able to really dig in and produce the rounded sound. The last two movements weren’t as satisfying primarily because of the weird notes and the inability to instill the energy and drive into them. The orchestra tried to hard to be accurate and had to sacrifice musicality for precision at this point. However, it was still clean so the audience loved it.

Villa-Lobos Bachianas Brasilieras No.5

This was my absolute favorite piece on the program and I was quite depressed I could be there to play it The pizzicato in the beginning was on the quiet side so I didn’t really hear them until about a measure in. But then the alluring Brazilian melody were played and they were achingly beautiful The orchestra brought that out marvelously. The pizzicato accompaniment got off at times but I didn’t pay much attention to that after I was drawn into George's and Evan's duet. The weird section in the middle with the accelerandos and ritards didn't sound as weird or bad as when we play it. I felt most of the musicians were air-bowing this section but it wasn’t particularly damaging considering it was the same note throughout the measure. The glissandos were great! It really sounded as if a soprano was singing for some moments in there. The harmonics at the very end were a little off (some of them didn’t sound) but it was a very good performance.

Rosauro Marimba Concerto

HOLY CRAP!!! SO COOL!!! The soloist was awesome! (However, not cute like Amanda/Elizabeth/Anyone else thought though ). It's amazing how he doesn't have carpal tunnel consider he played like...literally 15 notes in one second. The mallets were a blur!!! The orchestra was a little iffy at certain parts (namely the oriental portion), but I must say, the accompaniment is tough with the complicated meters and rhythms. The second movement was great...The marimba produced a real haunting sound with the padded mallets. The result was almost like an eerie moan or something on par with a Gregorian chant. Evan's harmonics made it even more chilling, similar to the effect of the cello harmonics in the second Shosti piano trio. The third movement was my favorite. It was in the format of a minuet and had such a “Life is Beautiful” attitude to it. The violas played the falling figuration very well. The fourth movement was sort of standard. That is…until Chris Froh (soloist) busted out his little drum. Holy crap! He was jamming!!! He jumped and kicked his leg and banged that drum as if there's no tomorrow. The ending was great and the guy had to come back onstage THREE TIMES!!! Two is courtesy...meaning they're just clapping because it's custom. But three means they really like you. Impressive...

Overall...Good piece.

Intermission was ok...Got my Bach Concert music (I have a concertino part in one of them ) But yea...Otherwise nothing new. So many people asked me why I wasn't playing and I heard a variety of reasons people had said. It included me 1) breaking my arm, 2) having tendonitis, 3) burning myself, and 4) getting a muscle strain. So it was a good laugh.

Dvorak Bass Quintet Op.77 (aka the Chamber Symphony...LMAO)

First of all, I really disliked putting this piece in. The composition is SO thick with various parts going in different directions that it's really hard to put together with its original quintet version. But in the end, it was relatively successful. The beginning of the first movement, I felt, lacked the necessary weight to convey the message that "We are about to take a journey." The witty responses before the main melodic material was taken too quickly and there were some intonation problems in the middle of the first movement. However, the octaves in the first violins were heard and were pretty impressive how they got together. The portion after the repeat where the orchestra goes all out was awesome. One of the high points in the piece. Other parts I would've preferred more energy and enthusiasm but it was not a bad performance of the first movement at all.

The beginning of the second movement was FAST. While it was a scherzo, something this thick taken that fast in this performance hall made articulation and clarity almost impossible. We totally could not hear the notes after the forte chords at all. The rocking, swaying melody was very pretty. The octet for the trio, while well played, seemed too rhythmic and lacked a certain delicacy. But it was a nice breath of air without the sound of a full orchestra and the chamber music aspect of the piece returned. All the principals did particularly well. The repeat to the fine had a better tempo (meaning...slower) and consequently was more precise and clear. The ending was great.

Third movement is hard for a lot of non-classical music listeners because it's slow and carries a somnambular quality. But it's such beautiful music, especially near the end with the heartbreaking scale down in the first violins. The orchestra’s sound production and tone was tentative and scattered at times. But after he first few measures, they hit their stride and began playing with the full sonority they were capable of. The 16^th triplets were a bit messy and did not lock in with the others, but the ending was just too beautiful to hold a grudge. The proclamatory chords that marked the exit of the E Major section was just perfect...the chord rang out into the church and just saturated the area. Once they got out of the E Major section, a nostalgic sound just emitted from them, drawing the audience (or me at least), entrancing me until the very last note.

The last movement was just frolicking fun. The articulation was impressive, especially with all those grace notes. The arrival of the second theme was too fast again, leaving little room for the expansive feel that I always felt should be there. The forte-piano and pianissimo sections were very tight ensemble-wise and that was very good. Haha I could only hear Evan and Theo during the hard triplets in the upper registers, where the octaves go way up and the notes are hard to fit together. In both mini-grand pauses before the end, someone or another came early BOTH TIMES. Good thing Ben caught it early so it wasn't that obvious. However, this piece redefines the definition of a virtuoso chamber orchestra piece. All the audience members I talked to said they were very impressed and felt this was one of the best concerts they been to.

Cheryl and Shelly got Chris Froh's signature after the performance. It was…an interesting autograph. You could make out the C then it was like lines after. Sort of like…C~~~. Haha

Another funny thing was PACO made a faux pas by spelling the soloist's name wrong (Benjamin Froh...)

I’m still a little bummed I couldn't play...This is the first concert I ever missed. But I guess Bach will make up for it!

Yesterday was the final PACO Concert for me and my colleagues. The concert consisted of Handel Samson Overture, Honegger Concerto da Camera, Handel Arrival of Queen of Sheba, Harrison Cello Suites, and Schubert Symphony No.5. This concert probably had the most alumni (overall audience turnout was quite good too), I have ever seen. Among the alumni that came were Judy, Dawn, Greg, Takeo, Patricia, Clarion, David, Justin, Emily, Beeri, Victoria, Allison, and Michel. I saw tons of other PACO-ers too like Vivian, Katherine, Veronica, Kevin, Kenzie, Christine, Jackie, Aki, Hadas, Alex, Duy, and John.

Handel Samson Overture

This is a three part overture. The first part is in typical Baroque introduction, juxtaposing strict Baroque rhythms with flowing slurred triplets. The ensuing Allegro fugue was fun to play. We were sure of ourselves and it was a strong performance marked with energy and few mistakes. Although I did start noticing my shoulder rest slipping off. This happened a few times throughout the night. The third movement was totally not the same, however. It was too soft and nice a movement that people were not sure whether or not the piece ended. During one of the "winds only" sequences, one of the French horn player’s valves got stuck, so an ensuing ugly G#-A harmony was played that was the only thing that marred the performance though. It was otherwise a good start to the beginning of the last concert at Gunn.

Honegger Concerto da Camera

Although the title is a chamber concerto, it is in essence a concerto for flute and English horn. As Ben noted in the pre-piece talk, this piece infuses the compositional styles between the Swiss and French. Honegger had a particular interest in trains so many of his pieces are characterized by rootless melodies in lush harmonies with the framed rhythmic structure. The soloists were of high caliber. The flutist especially had a pure, piercing tone and through off the fast, tongued passages without much difficulty. Other than that, nothing especially exciting happened. This piece wasn’t particularly exciting to begin with. But in the third movement, Arden did a KICKASS job in a really hard solo. GOOD JOB ARDEN ON YOUR SOLO!!! =D It was GREAT!

Then intermission started. Prior to the concert, I didn't see Vivian at first when we started playing but once I got outside, I saw a Vivian-esque person with her back towards me. I wasn't sure if it was her or not because she had pigtails and was wearing a pink jacket. Now the Vivian I know would NEVER wear that but she's changed (for the better!)! Haha it was fun talking to her again...She's so open now. Before I knew it, I had to go back but not before she gave me a bear hug as promised! (She outgrew her hug phobia...lol). Then after, it was the graduation ceremony. I got my certificate and rose...with Judy going GO BEARS!!!

Handel Music to the Arrival of Queen of Sheba

...Stupidest piece EVER...I don’t know…There was just so many other pieces we could have played but instead it’s this clichéd piece. And it’s not particularly fun to play either. Nor listen, in my opinion, since this has been so exploited to the public.

Harrison Cello Suites

The orchestra was unprepared going into this concert for this piece so I guess we should be satisfied that it came out okay. The piece itself is gorgeous. The opening and closing chorale is one of the most angelic melody ever composed. For all the faster movements, there was some trouble either rhythmically or intonation-wise. We did the best we could under the circumstances. Dennis did a marvelous job on the electric piano playing vibraphone. Dahna played with a very lustrous tone and, although it seemed she was a bit unfamiliar with the music at parts, played the solo part very well. It was funny when Evan and Theo tried to carry the piano off and almost dropped it.

Schubert Symphony No.5

This was probably the best performance considering it wasn't 1) overplayed and relatively mundane like the Queen of Sheba and 2) it wasn't modern so it didn't pose any tricky problems. My shoulder rest kept falling off during critical parts, like the final run into 8th position in the end of the first movement. I’m quite fond of the outer movements primarily because I don’t think I know the piece very well yet and thus those two are the most appealing. I felt those were also the best played, since we actually attacked and led up to certain notes. The part before the first repeat where we had to decrescendo up a scale was surprisingly and ridiculously hard to pull off…but we did =D It was great to play something of classical as the concert ender for my last Gunn PACO concert. From Purcell’s Abdelazer Suite opening my first concert in Juniors to Schubert’s Symphony No.5 to end…It’s been a fun run.

Thanks everyone.

It was GREAT seeing everyone again! I felt so happy being around all my friends I made in PACO...Too bad I couldn't talk to every one of them long enough. But I got TONS of pics...So yay! =] (Except with Katherine...She refused...Grr...)

Okay...Concert Review:

Beethoven Piano Concerto No.5 in Eb Major Op.73 'Emperor'

I was actually quite surprised they started with this piece. Usually the big solo work comes later in the program, so I was a bit skeptical about how it would turn out. After a funny incident where Evan came onstage and no one followed, everyone settled down, tuned (the A was really sharp...), and awaited the soloist. The soloist? International Concert Pianist and PACO Alum Tanya Gabrielian. On paper, the Emperor Concerto is a bunch of scales, arpeggios, and restatements of the theme in various keys. Such a piece, like Beethoven's Violin Concerto or the second movement of the 7th symphony, can easily become tedious and tiresome to the ear and bore the listener. That's why it takes a consummate artist to interpret such that the music does not bore the audience. Tanya did just that. From the opening scale, Tanya played with utmost intensity, rising over the sound of the orchestral while maintaining its own individuality. Particularly impressive (and chill-worthy) were the pianissimo passages, where the right hand produces the 16th note version of the theme and the left hand played the counter theme. It was one of those rare moments where time seems to stand still as an artist expresses her innermost feelings. The only thing I did not particularly like is her trills are too obtrusive sometimes and her attempts at phrasing a particular passage was not thoroughly convincing. However, her solid conviction in her performance made up for that and it all ended well.

The second movement is the type of movements in concertos that tends to drag if the pacing is not right. And this performance falls victim to that, at times. In my opinion, I felt the movement could have moved more and used rubato a lot more often, producing more sense of urgency and relief. Other than that, it was a good performance of the movement. Tanya transitions in between notes is amazing...it seems to sound as if she's playing with a bow than hammers. Her pacing with the transition into the third movement was just perfect! Oftentimes, when I watch a performance of this, the transition into the third movement is unconvincing because it just seems abrupt because, if you think about it, it is a bit awkward how it's structured. But Tanya did a great job and launched into the ebullient polonaise.

The last movement seems to be a sonatasatz with orchestral accompaniment. Full of pyrotechnic runs and virtuosic fingerplay, it takes a master technician to pull of the fireworks and an elegant musician to prepare it well. The Dinkelspiel Auditorium is a huge hall with relatively dry acoustics. The Steinway & Sons Grand filled the hall fine but sometimes the sound interferes with one another and gets muddied. This happens a few times where the articulation was not the greatest from Tanya but we know she played every note. On the flip side, the sound from the orchestra seemed a bit dry and didn't fill the hall. The chords, especially, did not seem to resonate. Those are my only qualms...Which are incredibly few considering my last few reviews...so overall, a great job.

Selection from Bernstein's West Side Story Suite

Tunes you can hum to, neo-classicism composition, popular musical...West Side Story has been loved and cherished by music lovers for many generations. In tonight's concert, we are presented with seven movements arranged by Ben for string orchestra. I felt the first movement, I Feel Pretty was probably the worst of the seven. Don't get me wrong, it was well played, but there it just didn't have the care-free atmosphere. The Scherzo was the movement that got the piece going and continued until the end. Witty and clever, the orchestra got every twist and turns with ease and humorously snapped along. Somewhere and Balcony Scene had incredible moments, where everyone, it seemed, got into the music and produced a cohesive, orchestral sound. Sweet, longing, nostalgic at times, these were the best played of the piece. Cha-Cha is similar to Scherzo, except more snaps. I particularly liked the end, where the first violins snapped twice and looked into the audience and winked for the final snap. Chuckle rippled throughout the audience and even got a few claps. One Hand, One Heart was the ending chorale of great beauty. The harmonies were lush and expansive, having the potential to grow yet still within bounds (similar to the Barber Adagio for Strings). Although there were some minor intonation problems that hindered the overall production of the chords, the melancholic ending produced something very special and made us forget about the few errors.

Schubert Symphony No.8 in B Minor D759 'Unfinished'

Seniors and Juniors (aka Sinfonia) teamed up to end the concert, and rightfully so. The sound of a full orchestral string section filled up the hall much better than it did with the Emperor. The performance was a great success...much better than what I heard in dress rehearsal. The string section melted into one another and produced a silken sound as the oboe line risen gorgeously from the stormy tremolos. Chords were very much together and the ensemble overall was very tight. The second movement was hindered only by the pizzicato passages from the viola and cello sections, where it tend to rush and dissipates for a bit before getting back on track. Dennis did an awesome job leading the firsts, the syncopations were wonderfully accurate and together.

Although the piece ended on a morbid note, it was a surprisingly good ender to the concert. A job well done…I like how PACO is improving lately.

Here’s some pictures from today:

Senior PACO Concert today…Surprisingly few number of alumni present but it was good seeing people I haven’t seen in a long time. Concert Review!

The Bach Triple Violin Concerto showcased three of the top violinists, Evie Chen, Evan Jeng, and Theo Chao, in PACO today. One does not need to take much notice upon whether or not the technique is there...you simply accept it. Fast passages with arpeggiated/doublestopped runs were all executed perfectly by the three soloists and all three took care to be in sync with one another throughout the piece. Theo's solo with the Vivaldi Winter-esque runs brought a smile to my face as he played it as if it was easy. Evan was similar in his executions of his runs but with a more forceful nature as opposed to Theo's mellifluous playing style. Evie led her solo with much authority, utilizing her vibrato to carry the intensity throughout the phrases. The short fugue in the middle of the first movement was quite enjoyable as each soloist enters and leaves without distracting each other.

The only thing that distracted me was the three soloists had a very defined personality and style of playing. This is both good and bad to the performance. The good aspect is that each soloist can be heard and not blend into the overall harmonic fabric where their sound simply becomes another layer of sound. As a paradox, this sometimes detracted from the performance; more specifically, in areas where the soloists have the same passages in unison it does not feel convincing that they agree as to where the phrasing leads nor when to let the part with the dominant harmonic line pierce through. An example of this conflicting interpretation is in the second movement, where Bach repeats each solo part virtually three times in order to let all the soloists share the spotlight. This repetition allows for perfect comparison. The thing that stuck out the most was each person's vibrato. Evie had a very intense and narrow wrist vibrato and Evan had a wider wrist vibrato. Theo, on the other hand, had an intense and wide arm vibrato which created a whole new tone altogether. Since the repetition of the solo line three times eventually leads to another 'place' in the music, one should phrase as such. For example, if we wanted to create an increase in intensity, I would argue Evan should play first, then Theo, then Evie. However, when passages like that occur, the individual phrasing was well done but the overarching phrasing lacked. Thus, we do not have a sense of arrival into the next area but jagged steps that somewhat stumble.

However, I realize I'm being insanely picky. I'm only being like that because it was so good and there was little I can critique! Surely, as the theme of this concert, these violinists portray the best of the future of PACO.

Alicia Telford performed the second of Mozart four French horn concertos. This is typical Mozart in the sense that it uses the traditional allegro-sonata form in the first movement and the rondo form in the last. One thing that was (and has been) a consistent inconsistency was the execution of the dotted eighth-sixteenth notes. Too often, these are played as triplets (meaning the sixteenth note takes on the note length of a triplet eighth) and thus causing energy and precision to be lost. Quite a few times the rhythm was played as such and the orchestra, consequently, slowed then sped up to regain the tempo. The soloist seemed to have been thrown off a few times by the fluctuations in the tempo but held them off as she played the solo part to near perfection. The orchestra could have capitalized on the humor of the offbeat grace notes more but nonetheless, her performance was graciously received. (This is short because I don’t particularly remember what happened…^____^;;)

After intermission, the presentation of the graduating seniors took about 10 minutes and another presentation honoring (rightfully) the efforts of Enid Lee took place. Then the Superstrings performed a Double Zither Concerto. The piece was short, sweet and simple and the audience absolutely adored the ‘cute’ members of the orchestra and soloist.

The orchestra performed the Cmiel’s piece with virtuosic abandon. I didn’t particularly care for the piece but some people liked it. I personally felt it was a bit cliché with his smattering of different styles (minimalist/modern/etc.) but he probably spent a good deal of time composing it so good for him.

The Mozart Symphony No.29 was played in usual PACO fashion/attitude, which means well done. At times the balance weren’t as good as I have heard it done before, and the ensemble a bit shoddy, but after a long program/concert these things are excusable. One thing I feel Ben might need to address is the placement of the grace notes. Some of the members played it on the beat, others right before the beat. Both ways are correct but they cannot be both correct simultaneously. This causes an unwanted ripple effect and detracts a bit from the overall execution of performance. Other than that…Great ending concert guys!

PACO CAMP IS NEARING! AND I’M PSYCHED!!!