Music Faculty members Peter Green, Beth Pflueger, and Patrick Rosalez, presented a chamber music recital that delighted a full house on Nov. 13.
“Per Gioco,” an Italian phrase for “for fun,” was the name of the performance attended by more than 70 people. It also describes the reason for which these three talented musicians presented their show here on campus.
The ensemble was to perform in a fundraiser off campus that would the following weekend. “We were getting ready for that, so we thought: ‘well, we have this music; why don’t we just do it for our students here?'” Pflueger said.
The fundraiser was organized by Inspiring Notes, an organization that is dedicated to providing “free classical music experience” to young people in the San Fernando Valley.
“It’s really great to have this opportunity for students to hear us, because in the classroom we talk about how you’re supposed to do it and this gives us a chance to actually do it,” said Pflueger.
In this performance, Pflueger played the flute. She teaches music theory as well as coordinates in the applied music program in GCC. Rosalez, who played the viola, teaches viola classes in the applied music program. Green, the pianist, administers the piano program and serves as assistant chair of the visual and performing arts division.
The program consisted of four pieces from composers that ranged from the 1680s to the 1900s.
The first one was Georg Philipp Telemann’s Sonata in B Minor; a very traditional chamber music piece according to Pflueger.
This piece begins with a tender, slow-paced melody with a feeling of loss -very solemn. The beauty of it, is that it gradually evolves so that the ending evokes the sense of triumph over the feeling conveyed in its beginning.
According to Pflueger, although Bach, Telemann’s contemporary, is better known today, Telemann was more popular and better paid in their time.
The second piece was the first movement of Mozart’s Sonata K. 304. In this piece, only the viola and piano were played.
Rosalez gave an amusing detail on how the composition came to be; he said that Mozart wrote it after a girlfriend left him.
“You can imagine being a 22-year-old with all this gusto and being dumped…certainly, he felt pretty bad and went through a wide range of emotions. I know – I was dumped a couple of times when I was 22,” said Rosalez, eliciting laughter from the audience.
The last two pieces were “Romanesque” by the French composer Reynaldo Hahn, and “Prelude, Récitatif et Variations, Op. 3” by Maurice Duruflé.
This last one, Pflueger said, was particularly difficult since one of Duruflé’s specialties was the organ; in parts of this piece, he used different tempos for each instrument.
The response from the audience was definitely positive; a long ovation prompted the performers to return for a second bow.
“It was amazing, the three musicians played very passionately,” said music major Julian Jaramillo, 24.
Consequently, the performers were pleased; “It was wonderful to see so many people. It was a terrific turn out” Pflueger said.
