By Kevin Jachimowicz
The CCSU Department of Music presented their Annual Honors Recital this past Wednesday night in Founders Hall, beginning just a few minutes after 7:30, and opening to a large crowd that nearly filled up the entire room.
Upon arrival, audience members were greeted by a man and a woman at the door, both students, and were each handed a program for the event. The first piece was a Ferdinand David Piece, “Concertino,” which featured Adam Twombly on the trombone, and Carolyn Halsted played the piano. The piece began with haunting decrescendos from Halsted’s piano, and this lasted for a solid minute, more or less. The trombone finally enters the piece at the perfect time, with reverberating, resonating and strong crescendos. As “Concertino” continues, the piano returns to its initial haunting decrescendos, and finally reverts to the trombone again, as the piece finally stabilizes, once and for all. Halsted’s part was played well, and her hair swayed sometimes as she rapidly changed focus from her sheet music to her hands on the piano. Although her part did seem to be the dominant portion in the piece, it was long and left room for a clean trombone sound that completely filled Founders at times throughout the song.
There was no time wasted in between pieces, hardly a moment passed between the first performers leaving stage and the next ones walking onto it, making for an impressive and efficient showcasing of skills.
Next up, was a Samuel Zyman piece: a Sonata for the flute and piano. Andrea Shabazian was on the flute and Simon Holt was on the piano. The piece immediately sounded reminiscent of something that belonged in a movie scene involving a character either being chased by some type of authority, or endlessly trying to escape some sort of threat. This feeling lasts for a good minute or so, eventually drifting its way into a much more soothing and peaceful piece, as opposed to the earlier chaos — which wasn’t gone for good yet. The piece did return to it’s more intense roots, but to nowhere near the same degree as in the beginning of it. The piece received a big applause, and at this point the audience was giving praise and applause before and after each and every piece. Once again, no time was wasted between pieces, and this continued throughout the night’s event.
The first vocal piece of the night was that of Joaquin Rodrigo, titled “¿Conqué la lavaré?,” sung by Symantha Morales, with Simon Holt on the piano once again. This was by far the shortest piece performed yet at the event. But for some reason, this felt correct for the type of piece it was and the feelings it provoked. A complete translation for the piece was available in the program handed out upon entry.
“Passacaglia in g minor” was the following piece, and as Robyn Buttery performed the piece solo on the violin, Dr. Carl Knox nodded approvingly and peacefully at the soothing, sincere and defiant transitions the violinist would utilize for heavier notes. This piece was very impressive, and was definitely a crowd favorite. This was the first and only completely solo piece of the night, and Buttery performed flawlessly and beautifully, completely maintaining her composure throughout the solemn piece. This piece was quite captivating and was a highlight of the performance overall.
The next performance was a Jindra Necasova piece, featuring Andrea Shabazian on the flute, with Rachel Rubino on the trumpet. The piece was coached by Daniel D’Addio and was a quiet, somber piece. This was interesting, because it was very a quiet piece to include a trumpet for more than 50 percent of the time. Just as it seemed the two were going to flip their sheet music to continue playing for another page, the piece ended abruptly, and the two women bowed in unison.
The finale was a Trio in G Major: I. “Andante” II. “Poco Adagio” III. “Rondo Ongarese.” This was performed by Robyn Buttery on the violin, Allysa Peck on the cello, and Yin-Chen Lin on the piano. The three women bowed to the audience before they began the show’s finale. The piano is very bouncy in this piece, and remains this way throughout. The violin and the cello balance out perfectly amongst the somewhat erratic piano sequences that were present in the first part of the three-piece. The second piece was much more relaxing, while the third returned to the hyped-up, fast-paced tempo, but still managed to not feel overly rushed. This finale was quite impressive, and definitely engaged and interested the crowd, more-so than most of the pieces performed throughout the night.
Overall, the Annual Honors Recital was an impressive showcasing of skills, a great event to attend on a Wednesday night, and a great way to see some of CCSU’s student’s hard work this semester come to life.