UBC Bands’ October 10 performance at the Chan Centre, titled Home Away from Home, was an exploration of the scenic landscapes during changing seasons, encompassing a vast range of human emotion.
The show included Concert Winds and Symphonic Wind Ensemble, expertly conducted by Meijun Chen and Scott MacLennan respectively. It featured music by Percy Grainger, Eric Whitacre and Gustav Holst, among many others.
Classical music can often seem intimidating to those who don’t have a background in it. Not all audience members can parse through the complex theoretical understanding and technical skill that goes into creating pieces like the ones in this performance, but the imagery and emotions they conjure require no translation.
Listeners would find value both in going in blind and seeing how they felt and in knowing what to expect. Either way, the show was a sonic smorgasbord for listeners of all types, from music nerds and art appreciators to avid daydreamers who need nothing more than a soundtrack to set the scene for contemplation.
From the opening sequence to the closing sequence“Paris Sketches,” the bands had listeners hooked.
In the first half by Concert Winds was Katahj Copley’s “AYO,” which is rooted in jazz and hip hop, and described feelings that just can’t be put into words. It brought to mind shades of warm autumnal orange, and the sense of hope that comes from watching a coming-of-age film where you know the character will be okay in the end.
“Terpsichorean Dances” was mischievous, playful and regal. The contrasting themes functioned perfectly side by side, as if the audience were mice running gleefully along the parade of a royal coronation. There was also a sequence called “October,” a call and response with the soloist playing a lonely, questioning tune and the ensemble responding with resounding love and brightness. It conjured images of the sun setting on a kingdom, a bittersweet and hard-earned peace.
In the second half of the show, the Symphonic Wind Ensemble blended many instruments into one, painting images with sound. Notably, they had clean, sharp endings, snapping the audience out of their trance to applaud. In “Song of a Blacksmith,” a movement of Gustav Holst’s Second Suite in F, they created the clanging sounds of a blacksmith at work. “Be Thou My Vision,” my personal favourite of the night, had a gentle meditative start that felt like contemplating one’s reflection in a still body of water. The instrumentalists swayed along with the music, moved by it even on their nth time hearing it.
Finally, Paris Sketches was a series of pieces narrating the end of the saga which the audience had explored throughout the night. Juxtaposing low, dramatic bold tones with fairy-like, lighter sounds made every section was a little different but tied smoothly into the next. The whole thing felt straight out of a fairytale — like skipping along the Seine. The harmonies collided until a cymbal rang out, as if signalling the end of a Disney movie. In three words, the show was moving, magical and hopeful — and Paris Sketches was the perfect closer, capturing all of those sentiments.
Spending a night with the UBC Bands was a lesson in the power of music transcending barriers of language and understanding. On that night, audiences left Chan Centre having travelled the world from their seat. And as they left the concert hall that night, the faint outline of the Aurora Borealis shone over the Rose Garden, also dancing along.
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