Cameron Chee Due: 12/14/12 Concert Band Concert Report

Who knew how much you could learn in one semester! The UC Berkeley Chamber Orchestra was actually A LOT better than I thought it would be. They played on December 1, 2012 in the Hertz Concert Hall on the Berkeley campus, and I have to say I am glad that I heard them play. Although they had trouble with presentation and the conductors were messy, the musicians still played with almost perfect balance and expression. The orchestra preformed a thrilling concerto, a touching and passionate piece, and an exciting sonata, all three of which were performed with the musical finesse of professionals. I absolutely fell in love with their playing style. They were experts at dynamics, and the percussion accented the crescendos beautifully. I think they showcased this talent the best in their first piece: Symphony No. 38 in D Major by Mozart (or Prague). All of the movements were dramatic; many themes were woven together intricately to create music that was constantly surprising with twists and turns. They had an excellent balance between instruments, and the harmonies fit together like pieces of a puzzle. Their last piece, Symphony No. 2 in D Major by Beethoven, was also played very passionately, with spot-on articulation and intonation (something our band needs to work on!). It also did not appear like they needed to try very hard, even though I know from personal

experience that that kind of fingering and bowing is pretty hard on the violin! However, while they played beautifully, and their tone was rich and full, they did not actually look very professional. They turned their pages very subtly, and all of the bows were in sync. But almost all of the violins had crooked bows and at least half of the orchestra was not sitting up straight. The players in the back shifted positions constantly, which made them play a wrong note and lose their places for a couple of measures. The conductors were not any help at all either. They just stood there stiffly waving a stick from up and down, missed the cues for the instruments frequently. It was the worst in their second piece: Siegfried Idyll by Richard Wagner. The conductor, Melissa Panlasigui did not know what she was doing at all. Im pretty sure that at one point, she was conducting to three-four while the rest of the orchestra played in four-four. And yet the music that came out was almost perfectly on tempo, which made me wonder what the could sound like with a real conductor. All in all, the concert sounded amazing, despite their posture and bad conductors. If they had been sitting up straighter, and they had a better conductors, they would have sounded even more incredible, but I think that for a semesters worth of practice, they played brilliantly.