As part of the family weekend tradition, the Rensselaer Music Association once again put on their concert series for the weekend. Friday’s concert consisted of the Woodwind Quintet, the Concert Choir, and the Symphony Orchestra.
The Woodwind Quintet opened the event, playing light background music as people found seats. For a group that has only had one rehearsal, they managed to pull it off pretty well. At times the group sounded shaky, but overall they did a good job.
The Concert Choir looked very professional in their dark red dresses and tuxedos. This was the inaugural concert for their new director, John Nethaway, a man they’d only had five rehearsals with.
Their first set was three folk songs written by Johann Brahms. After the Brahms, they sang “Ave Maria.” The group sounded empty without a piano accompanist for the song, which would have helped put more emphasis on the emotions of the song.
“Ching-A-Ring Chaw” was created a good contrast against the previous song. The choir sounded more confident and was much more animated for the song. The next song sang by the Choir, “The Wish,” was a heart warming love song.
The penultimate song was a spiritual piece called “I’m Gonna Sing ‘Til the Spirit Moves My Heart” which featured two tenor soloists, Craig Hays and Daniel Vissani. Both sounded very strong and did a wonderful job. The group closed with “Happy Birthday,” which was kind of cool to hear in-tune. The Symphonic Orchestra performed three songs in the course of the evening: “Overture to the Opera Rienzi” by Wagner, “IV. Pesante from Suite for String Orchestra” by Matthew Pelliccione ’06, and “Symphony No. 2” by Brahms (who seemed to be the featured composer of the evening).
David Gibson is still the conductor of the group, and is probably one of the more animated conductors I’ve seen. At several points through out the evening, he did his best impression of an angry bear, conducting with his fingers in the shape of claws.
The Wagner piece had excellent balance and dynamics as well as a well-performed solo by trumpeter Keith Scranton. The second piece, which was composed by Pelliccione, was a modern piece, featuring mostly short notes. Overall, the piece was decent, though some parts did sound sour. By the time the orchestra finished their last piece, most of the audience was ready to go, once again fulfilling the promise of Brahms’ lullabies. All in all, the concert was very good and a great part of family weekend.
