https://collegexam.wordpress.com/2016/05/30/anne-suda-cello-recital-moscow-evenings/
The concert Anne Suda Cello Recital — “Moscow Evenings” was on May 29, 2016, in the Jan Popper Theater at the UCLA Arts Center. The musicians were graduate cello student Anne Suda and pianist Nicholas Dold. People were so quiet that I can hear musicians’ breath sound, while musicians were playing the music. Anne Suda’s body moved with music. She was so into the music. The rhythm of the music was irregular. However, musicians were able to collaborate with each other very well. The timing of each sentence was perfect. I could not find any gestures that musicians use to communicate with each other. It seems that they used music itself to tell each other the start point of each musical sentence.
The second piece was Sonata for Cello & Piano No. 1 (1978) by Alfred Schnittke. The first movement was quiet. Cello’s melody seems to describe a person who gets lost in his life. The following pizzicato suggested that he notices someone is coming. Cello’s bored, long sound companied by changing chords played by piano. Piano started with a consonant melody, but stopped at an unexpected note. The melody got dissonant and absurd at the third sentence. Then the cello’s long note got loud trying to overtake piano’s melody. The music stopped. The music restarted with 3 consonant chords played by Nicholas Dold. Again, stopped with an extremely dissonant chord. Then music followed by an anxious melody played by Anne Suda. The first movement ended with shady pizzicato accompanied by some smooth chords. The two notes played by Anne Suda conflicted with all those chords. The second movement started with long and repeated up and down scale played by Anne Suda and the sound got louder. Nicholas Dold started with some single notes. Then, Nicholas Dold started playing minor second intervals, followed by a playful melody accompanied by dissonant sound played by Anne Suda. Then, for the first time, Nicholas Dold and Anne Suda played in the same minor key. The emotion gradually built up and music got louder. Anne Suda was playing diminished chords and Nicholas Dold was playing minor downward scale. Music seems to describe a repetitive nightmare. The melody continued going down from different start points. Then the melody got weird. Cello’s irregular melody completely break the previous emotion. Nicholas Dold played some low, twisted, extremely loud waltz chords, like someone was extremely mad. Anne Suda responded with irrelevant dissonant melody. It sounded like someone’s begging. The major chords played by piano was surprising. It sounds like a vicious person shouting at people: ‘I am glorious.’ Cello’s high melody seemed describe a scared person. The piano’s absurd, playful melody made the music more sinister and awfully terrifying. The second movement was like a horror movie. A scared half-crazy person running from a mad serial killer. Music went back to quiet and slow theme in the third movement. It’s amazing how music can make people horrified and musicians can communicate audiences without saying one word. The music was filled with emotion, anxiety, depression, sadness, pain, loneliness, hopelessness, powerlessness, fear and craziness. The music made me wonder what Alfred Schnittke gone through. What kind of experiences made him compose like that?
The third piece was Sonata for Cello and Piano in d minor, Op. 40 (1934) by Dmitri Shostakovich. Alfred Schnittke was known for the heir of Shostakovich. I was expecting the music would go horrifically grotesque at any time. However, the music was beautiful. Sometimes, Anne Suda and Nicholas Dold played in different keys. It sounded still beautiful.
If I did not go to this concert, I would never listen to impressionist and post-romantic music from Soviet Union because the music is hard to understand. However, when I really listen to the music, I can feel the emotions. Both musicians were skillful. They represent the music very well.
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