An InkLink Inkubator Performing Arts review by Amelia DeSousa
FOREWORD
Symphony NH Passions was the title of this season’s Symphony NH finale. We invited Nashua North High School student Amelia DeSousa to join the audience and share her observations on the musical selections, the conductor and the orchestra.
Tianhui Ng is a Symphony NH music director finalist. He planned an evening that opened up a wide range of future opportunities for classical music to engage a new audience. Amelia was one of a not surprisingly larger group of young people who attended the concert. Some of that draw was the combination of astrophysics, science and imagination and the recent timely return of Artemus ll from space exploration.
Amelia DeSousa is a sophomore at Nashua North High School. She is our second InkLink News intern writing music scene reviews for us.
SymphonyNH and InkLink News are collaborating on a season long sponsorship of a student musician to attend concerts and share their thoughts and reactions to each experience. Today, Amelia DeSousa a Sophomore at Nashua offers her musician’s sensibilities and observations about each of the pieces in the recent Symphony NH Passions concert led by Music Director Finalist Tianhui Ng.
SYMPHONY NH PASSIONS – A REVIEW BY AMELIA DESOUSA
THE PROGRAM PIECES:
Deep Forest:
Deep Forest was written by Mabel Daniels in 1933. She had lived in the
Boston-Cambridge region of Massachusetts. For 24 summers she would go to the MacDowell colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire. Her piece Deep Forest was written for her love of New Hampshire. New Hampshire is notorious for its forests and the wilderness the forest provides.
Knowing it was written in New Hampshire, the Symphony NH was the perfect
orchestra to play Deep Forest. The delicate colors that the music provided was majestical and represented the images of the beautiful landscapes of New Hampshire to perfection. The conductor of Symphony NH had described it as “the start of American impressionism”. It heavily resembled an impressionist painting as well. Deep Forest reminds me of ‘Path in the Forest’ painted by Claude Monet. Deep Forest was an absolute masterpiece to have listened to. I was more than appreciative to have heard it live from Symphony NH.
Piano Concerto No.2:
Piano Concerto No. 2 was written by Sergei Rachmaninoff in 1901.
Rachmaninoff had fallen into a deep depression after the intense criticism he received from the premier of his First Symphony. After several years of this depressive state, Dr. Nikolai Dahl used hypnotherapy to treat Rachmaninoff’s depression which helped him with the writer’s block he was experiencing.
When he came back to composing, he wrote the second and third
movements were composed and performed in December of 1900. The first movement was surprisingly written in 1901 after the other movements. The first time the piece was played entirely was in November of 1901, with Rachmaninoff as the soloist.
This piece was extremely popular. Excerpts of it were used in several songs and movies.
“All by Myself” by Eric Carmen uses parts of the second movement of Piano Concerto No.2. “Full Moon and Empty Arms” by Frank Sinatra uses parts of the third movement. Movies such as: Brief Encounter (1945), The Seven Year Itch (1955), September Affair (1950), and Hereafter (2010).
Piano Concerto No. 2 was a phenomenal piece featuring the piano. The pianist, Nathan Ben-Yehuda, was very meticulous in how he played. He was extremely expressive and helped move the piece along. For the complexity of his part, he executed just magnificently. With his expertise, the piece was put together wonderfully. It was a pleasure to have been able to listen to Piano Concerto No. 2.
Black Hole Symphony:
Black Hole Symphony was written by David Ibbett, Through the use of electronic
instruments and classical instruments, he was able to make this piece to be out of this world. For the basis of almost all of his works, he incorporates a science background into the piece.
Recent works of his include Cellular Dance (2019) a ballet on a theme of cell
movement, Octave of Light (2020) an album of exoplanet music, Mars Symphony (2024) orchestral journeys through spacetime, and the piece played today: Black Hole Symphony (2022). Additionally, using the expertise of Shepard Doeleman, a professional Astrophysicist, he was able to write this piece with more in depth knowledge of what exactly was occurring in a Black Hole.
In the prelude for this piece, Tianhui Ng, Shepard Doeleman, and David Ibbett
were explaining just exactly how Black Holes work. While Shepard Doeleman explained the background information about Black Holes, David would explain how he had put that feature or aspect into the music and when to listen for certain cues.
Another thing that was interesting to learn was that this was the premier of Black Hole Symphony. It was played in small ensembles during Covid-19 but finally brought out to be played in a full orchestra at this most recent concert.
Not only was this song complex, but it captured the key aspects of what occurs in
a Black Hole. This piece was an absolute masterpiece and I am beyond pleased to have been able to have listened to it for the first time along with everyone else. Hopefully, this song can proceed to make its way globally so everyone has the ability to hear it.
The Conductor
The Music Director Finalist, Tianhui Ng, did an absolutely phenomenal job leading the orchestra to success. A director needs to be precise and have defined movements but also show movement that is reflected in the pieces with flowy expressions. This will keep the orchestra together and in time with one another while also giving them the artistic freedom to collectively make the piece more enjoyable for the audience.
Tianhui Ng was extremely precise with his movements when the tension release finally occurred. As a musician myself, I could tell exactly what time signature we were in, where in the piece we were, and how expressive or aggressive it should have been played.
The way Tianhui Ng allowed for that artistic freedom while also keeping everyone together was beyond amazing. He kept everything together and really proved why he is a Music Director Finalist.
The Orchestra
The orchestra never fails to amaze me. They play wonderfully and deserve so much more recognition. Not only did they balance and blend with one another, they cooperated so well so the pieces came together perfectly. It doesn’t only take one person for the whole orchestra to play well.
Each and every player up there knew exactly how and when to execute
their individual parts perfectly so it was possible for them to come together.
Each song was phenomenally played. The way the orchestra was able to grow louder at the same rate and also decrescendo, or soften, to almost nothing together was amazing. The way they were able to layer their sounds together added to the experience as well.
You could hear the parts that needed to be heard when they were playing because of the skill these musicians possess. This was especially noticeable in Piano Concerto No. 2 while the pianist was playing. I was absolutely delighted to listen to the Symphony NH orchestra.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Amelia DeSousa is a Sophomore at Nashua North High School. Symphony NH Passions was her first professional symphonic orchestra concert she attended.
She plays 3 instruments: the flute, the oboe, and the electric bass guitar and was elected to the Tri-M Music Honors Society in which she is an active participant. Amelia has plans to go to college for Biomedical Engineering. Her future plans include continuing to play instruments through college and beyond.
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