Fourteen members of Eastern Michigan University’s faculty performed a Faculty Recital Thursday at Pease Auditorium.
The concert featured a variety of instruments including cello, trumpet, organ and the lesser-known theorbo, an instrument much like a guitar but with more strings.
Professor Robert Reed, a cellist who has been playing for 38 years, performed “Solo No. 4 for Solo Cello in E-flat Major,” a six-movement cello solo by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750).
Reed learned a few movements from this piece back in high school, but he never tackled the entire suite. He has been working on the piece for months getting it ready to perform for the recital.
“It takes a much longer time to know the piece well enough to bring out the subtleties of the music,” Reed said. “That’s something that takes time living with the piece to get down.”
Reed currently teaches music appreciation and cello courses in addition to giving private lessons.
Kate Barnes, an audience member who started taking violin lessons from professor Daniel Foster, attended the concert because she is trying to break the barrier between vocal and string music.
“I really enjoyed the concert,” Barnes said. “It had a lot of music that I am not used to hearing, which is good.”
The audience seemed entranced by the theorbo piece, which was Johannes Heironymus Kapsberger’s “Four Pieces,” performed by Nelson Amos.
The massive string instrument provided a soothing, almost acoustic guitar sound. Although the piece was written in 1640, it sounded reminiscent of 1960 – ’70s folk music. Amos delivered the piece gorgeously.
Husband and wife duo Christopher James Lees, piano, and Lindsay Kesselman, soprano voice, performed four flirty love songs, one written by Kesselman’s father for her wedding in August.
“My favorite piece on the concert was [Richard Strauss’ “Standchen”],” Reed said. “I love Strauss’ vocal works; they are just really extraordinary.
The way he puts the piano and the voice together with the harmonies makes it a gorgeous piece.”
Willard Zirk’s organ piece, “Prelude and Fugue,” performed by James Wagner, was outstandingly skillful and well-delivered. The organ, having three rows of piano keys and another row of keys played by the feet, was hooked up to the massive organ pipes in the back of the stage. It provided a full sound and a different musical experience for most listeners.
“It reminded me of the church music I grew up listening to,” Barnes said. “I loved it!”
The recital featured members of EMU’s faculty including Max Plank, saxophone; Philip Simmons, voice; Jennifer Fisher, piano; Carter Eggers, trumpet and Daniel Foster, violin.
