Wednesday Concert Series Brings Live Classical Music to the Valley

Students and the public meet kindred spirits in a packed concert hall every Wednesday at Valley College. 

By: Katherine OBrien Field, Copy Editor and Staff Writer

Los Angeles pianist and Valley College professor Natalie Pang and partner Joe Hagen, guest artist on viola, thrilled and inspired the audience this week at the music department. 

Every Wednesday, from Sept. 11 through Nov. 27, the community is invited to hear curated classical works from professional musicians. At the inaugural performance of the free Wednesday Concert Series at Valley College, the mastery of the classical duo, both Eastman School of Music graduates, engulfed the hall in classical sound and the warmth of bodies cozied the atmosphere.  

“The computer gives all the music of the world to you, to hold in your palm. But that is a solitary experience -- you are alone with your device, and probably with headphones,” said Valley College music professor Christian Nova. “Here, you are invited into the lives of others – of the composers, the performers, and the people sitting around you. It is three parts of the triangle -- three kinds of souls seeking art and each other.”

The doors opened at 1:30 p.m. for the first performance in the series, titled “Music for Characterization – Film, Ballet, and Opera Music.” Professor Nova’s program proposed the idea that music advances the development of a character – which can be a setting or a person. 

For “Intermezzo for Viola and Piano”, by Nino Rota, Pang explained that Rota, who wrote the score for dozens of films including “The Godfather,” was best known as a film composer.  But in his native Italy, he was a long beloved classical artist. The piece revealed Rota’s ability to immediately convey a visual setting – in this case, the performers suggested honorable solemnity, perhaps a moor or an ancient church.

Tchaikovsky’s “None but the Lonely Heart,” from “Six Romances, Op. 6,” was used in the 1944 movie of the same name. Derived from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s poem, “Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt” (“Only he who knows yearning”), the artist laments that, only those who know the sorrow of lost love, know how he feels. Reaching, wistful, sorrowful, Tchaikovsky’s music reflects the main character’s plight, as he had squandered his love in an ill-suited match. 

With an easy and humorous rapport, Hagen introduced Bizet’s “Adagietto from L’Arlesienne Suite No. 1.” The performers had a palpable chemistry, sweet, yet serious. Bizet’s piece qualified as “incidental music,” meant for an intermission. This was the popcorn and drink moment in a nineteenth century playhouse. Bizet’s theme was infatuation and limerence, and while entertaining, had apparently guarded the story by giving nothing away. 

Pang played solo on “Finale” from Stravinski’s “The Firebird Suite.” From a Russian ballet, the piece begins with a spring fairy, casting transformative greenery over the land. Unfortunately, she disturbs the Firebird, who lashes out at her with fire and destruction. Wounded and trembling, she clings to life. She recovers, and builds back to a finale of power and resurgence, claiming the right of spring. Pang’s crescendo gave full embodiment to spring’s triumphance.  

Ennio Morricone’s “Love Theme” from “Cinema Paradiso” closed the performance. The piece tells the story of a Sicilian boy remembering his childhood through two themes of love. One of the pieces has him reminisce about his close friendship with the town’s movie theater projectionist and when he fell in love with cinema. He is also cast back to his first love, who was spirited away from him by her father. The piece repeatedly interchanged between the minor (Gm) to the major (Bb), the wistful to the happy, to capture the bittersweet nostalgia of childhood memories.

“Listening to Natalie and Joe play together with such sympathy and  mastery reminded me of why we go to concerts,” said Valley instructor Frank Garvey. The sympathy and mastery of the players touched the audience, and all the souls in the gallery began performing a thunderous applause.

The free Wednesday Concert Series will take place in the Valley College Music Department, Room 106 at 1:30 p.m.