WElcome
WHo
NExt
PAst
LInks
STuff
First Thursday Night Series
|
|
NEW PERFORMANCE SERIES AT MUSEUM OF ART PREMIERES THURSDAY!!!!!
FIRST THURSDAYS
THURS., FEB. 3, 7:30 PM
MUSEUM OF ART
525 S. STATE ST. (ACROSS FROM THE UNION)
FREE
764-0395
BIG NEWS!!! The Museum of Art is proud to unveil a new performance
series on the First Thursday of each month. Like the idea of open mic
nights, but don't want to slog through hours of bad poetry and
songwriting 101 to get to the good stuff? FIRST THURSDAYS cuts to the
chase. Premiering Thursday, Feb. 3 at 7:30 pm, the Museum presents a
monthly showcase featuring four carefully chosen students and/or
student performing groups. Music, theater, dance, performance art...
each night will be different. We do the work to bring you the finest
in student performance, in a casual, coffee-house atmosphere in the
Museum Apse. This month's featured performers are:
TALK TO US (this very popular interactive theater ensemble has
written a new piece about the rewards and frustrations of looking at
art. The piece features a collage of excerpts from the Museum's own
"comment cards" filled out by patrons. Hmm... very funny.)
DICKS & JANES: This hugely popular a cappella group needs no
introduction. Check out how they sound in the Museum's amazing
acoustics.
BRAVE NEW WORKS: Flutist Emily Perryman, member of Brave New Works will perform Debussy's Syrinx and Varese's Density 21.5
THE FOURTH ACT: surprise guest!
Want to perform in an upcoming First Thursday? Call me, Whit Hill, at 647-2063.
Admission to FIRST THURSDAYS is free. There'll be coffee and treats
for purchase. Come early and wander the galleries. We're open til
nine every Thursday.
7:30 pm,
Thursday,
February 3,
2000
Ann Arbor Art Museum
For more info all
800-896-7340
For
Directions to the Ann Arbor Art Museum Click here for a
map. It is across from the Michigan Union on State Street
Syrinx Claude Debussy
for flute
Density 21.5 Edgard Varese
for flute
Emily Perryman, flute
|
Syrinx
Impressionism is a major style of French music, characterized primarily
by soft, hazy, broadly defined harmonies, delicate nuances of timbre, and
freedom of form and phrase structure. This style is personified by
Claude Debussy, who was the key figure in the development of the truly
modern flute literature. His orchestral Prélude à l^ÒAprès-midi d^Òune
faune and Syrinx for solo flute foreshadowed the course of French music
and flute music for many years to come. Debussy wrote Syrinx, the first
20th century unaccompanied flute solo, as incidental music to a play by
Gabriel Mourey, which told the story of the mythical creature Pan. He
dedicated the piece to Louis Fleury, who premiered it in 1913.
Syrinx is paired with the landmark Density 21.5, written by avant-garde
composer Edgard Varèse. Composed in 1936 for the inauguration of George
Barrère^Òs platinum flute, Varèse^Òs piece is judiciously titled21.5 is
the exact density of platinum. Similarities abound between Density 21.5
and Syrinx and are probably more than coincidental, as Varèse was highly
influenced by Debussy^Òs work. For example, both compositions are for
unaccompanied flute solo, and both were dedicated to former students of
Taffanel. More significantly, however are the thematic comparisons that
can be made. Both Syrinx and Density 21.5 begin with a haunting motif
that is immediately repeated and augmented. In Syrinx, Debussy then
restates his motif a third time the octave lower, expanding it into
sweeping slurs of notes that create elegant coloristic effects. Varèse,
on the other hand, uses transposition to develop the third motivic
statement in Density 21.5. Large leaps, extreme dynamics, and meticulous
articulations characterize the cold, metallic nature of the piece and
create a sharp contrast to the pastoral beauty of Syrinx. The two pieces
come together again when their respective motifs are stated a final time,
each just before the climax. While Syrinx ends with the sound of Pan^Òs
flute fading into the distance, Density 21.5 crescendos to one last culmination, its final arpeggio resonating soundly as it is played into
the sustained strings of the open piano. - notes by Emily Perryman
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|