Professor Gibson first introduced “Suite No. 1” by J.S. Bach. The Bach suites are considered standard cellist repertoire; the first is the most popular of them all, with a distinct melodic opening in the prelude which you’ve probably heard before without knowing it.

Gibson played through the six movements in the suite: “Prelude,” “Allemande,” “Courante,” “Sarabande,” “Minuets,” and “Gigue” with great sensitivity to the voices and interactions Bach is known for. The “Allemande” is a moderate Baroque dance form, which develops and extends the melody of the prelude warmly. The “Courante,” which itself means “running,” is a faster kind of dance and is characterized by fast jumps and hops, which fit the music well. To contrast that lively part, the “Sarabande” would echo out longer, lower and softer tones. The following “Minuets” were incredibly upbeat, with many trills and bass counterpoints, all in typical baroque fashion. The suite ends with the “Gigue,” which is another moderate dance form.

The next piece, “Bach’s Set” by Leach, was “hot off the press,” according to Gibson, with the eight track cello background having been recently recorded. It seemed to me that the recording was played a bit too loudly, as it drowned out the beautiful melodic lead. It was somewhat tragic and grew stressful and lightly hopeful, and then faded down to melancholy tones.

Morton Feldman’s “Projection No. 1,” and the story behind Gibson’s interpretation of it, was definitely the most interesting portion of the concert. Feldman was a major American experimental composer, whose note “grids” would often tell how many notes should be played in a certain time, but not which ones. To give some structure to this amorphous song composed in 1950, so that it “may sound like Feldman,” Gibson copied pitches from another of Feldman’s pieces and attached them to this piece, and it came out just right. With this unusual puzzle solved, Gibson began with a light string plucks in a whimsical fashion with longer contrapuntal notes in between, sometimes in a bass tone, and other times so high-pitched and harried it sounded as if it had trouble emerging from the instrument. It was very odd and reminiscent of the abstract arts of the era.

Gibson then performed “Suite No. 6,” the one that demands the most of the cellist in technical difficulty, as it was originally written for an instrument with five strings, as opposed to the used four. This piece was fast and even interesting to watch, with his fingers running up and down the strings rapidly.

RPI music students then joined Gibson in performing Terry Riley’s “In C,” in which is an iconic 60s piece played here in the spirit of open music in the face of world crises. “In C” is comprised of 53 musical phrases which are played a random number of times (or skipped over) by each individual musician with one constantly repeating “pulse,” so each performance is a new one, and may last between 45 minutes and an hour and a half. It was a great interpretation and a triumphant end to the concert.