The Spring Gala Concert, Featuring the USA Percussion Ensemble, USA Steel, and the World Music Group - Essay Example

While many individuals enjoy orchestral music not all have enjoyed the privileged of experiencing it in person. Unlike a rock or pop concert the experience of listening to classical or orchestral music in live setting is highly intensified as one sits in the presence of numerous musicians who have spent many years perfecting their craft. The power of the music, passed down over generations, is then brought to life in a sensational way. Recently I had the chance to attend the Spring Gala Concert, featuring the USA Percussion Ensemble, USA Steel, and the World Music Group.

This essay describes my experience and how I feel about the pieces performed. The opening piece in the concert was David Skidmore’s ‘Unknown Kind’. Skidmore is a relatively young composer having been born in 1982. Still, his compositions have been regularly performed around the country and at universities. His composition ‘Unknown Kind’ was originally performed at Carnegie Hall in 2007. While I enjoyed the composition itself it ran counter to many of my expectations. I had been expecting something more along the lines of traditional classical music, but the composition was slightly minimal and experimental.

Still, it set a unique tone for the rest of the concert, as the rest of the compositions continued a slightly experimental theme. The ‘Unknown Kind’ composition was followed by a performance of Shostakovich’s ‘intermezzo’. This work fell along more traditional classical lines. This was perhaps the piece I enjoyed the most as it balanced these classical elements with a sort of offbeat tone. David Maslanka’s ‘Crown of Thorns’ followed this piece. This was a highly minimal piece and during the performance I witnessed a young child dozing to sleep.

I didn’t share the child’s boredom, however, and after a period I came to appreciate the eccentricities in the work, as they offered an escape from run-of-the-mill type tonality. The intermission followed the conclusion of this piece. Following the intermission guest conductor Gary Cook took the podium and conducted Varese’s ‘Ionisation’. I recognize the intention of performing this piece after the intermission as it slightly startled the listener with a cacophony of sound. While the previous performances had been concerned with a degree of tonality, this performance eschewed that for high experimentation; still I enjoyed it for being highly unexpected.

The final part of the performance explored world music. Among these included ‘Meditations on an African Groove’, ‘Tobago Jam’, and ‘Kpanlogo’. Meditations was a welcomed respite from the more experimental music that had come before and I appreciated the melody, as it reminded one of the soundtrack to a cruise ship. The other concluding compositions were equally interesting. Perhaps the most recognizable, and what I felt most enjoyable, aspects of these works were the unique and slightly experimental percussion that was incorporated.

In conclusion, while much of the music performed ran slightly counter to most individual’s typical understanding of classical performance, I highly enjoyed the experience. While individuals wrote most of the compositions from different parts of the globe, in different historical epochs, and personal backgrounds, I believe they were all united out of a willingness to experiment and run against the status quo of mainstream Western music practices. At the end of the performance I came to appreciate the music and recognize that just because something sounds different doesn’t necessitate it is unaccomplished.