By Rachel Huchthausen
During the weekend before break, the Greatbatch School of Music presented two concerts: Contrasts and Way Over in Beulah Lan’. The Wind Ensemble’s Contrasts, on February 19, was just that—a collection of contrasts between periods and composers, as well as selections of works by the same composer that have contrasting styles. The program included works such as selections from Percy Grainger’s famous Lincolnshire Posy, William Still’s Folk Suite based on African-American Spirituals, and, most aptly, contemporary composer Leslie Gilreath’s Oppositional Elements.
Most interesting to me was the Wind Ensemble’s foray into electroacoustic works by Alex Sharpiro. Her Depth blends electronic sound from the depths of the ocean with the brass and reed instruments. Sharpiro’s Tight Squeeze is described as a mash-up of Techno, Latin Bebop, and the Twelve-tone music of Arnold Schoenberg. If you haven’t listened to twelve-tone music before, you should give Schoenberg’s Suite for Piano a try. You likely won’t thank me, but you would understand why I was skeptical of the combination. I should not have been worried. The Wind Ensemble’s performance was a delightful, foot-taping rendition of Sharpiro’s great work.
On February 20, the College Choir presented their concert, Way Over in Beulah Lan’: Spiritual Arrangements Old and New, a collection of spirituals arranged by various composers. These men and women—such as R. Nathaniel Dett, Florence Frice, Moses Hogan, and Rosephanye Powell—who notated the tunes and words passed down by oral tradition. These Spirituals ranged from the melancholy stillness of Dett’s Deep River (also presented by the Wind Ensemble in Still’s Folk Suite) to the lively insistence of Hogan’s Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel, to the joy of Powell’s Good News!. The title piece, Stacy Gibbs’s Way Over in Beulah Lan’, was conducted by graduate student Rachel Logee. As a whole, these works expressed both longing for heaven and the present “troubles of the worl’.”
Audience members expressed how apt this program was for celebrating Black History Month and how expressive the choir and the soloists Josey Ikker, Lydia Rech, Adeline Roeske, Caleb Durant, and Michael McLure were. President Lewis was also in attendance. He also expressed how timely the concert was, writing that, “The concert was easily one of my favorite Houghton experiences thus far,” and that “The performance of negro spirituals that are so central to the African American story during this year’s celebration of Black History month was very special.”
Thank you, Wind Ensemble and College Choir for a great weekend of music making! ★
