Junior Kyoto Nishikawa performs "First Suite in Eb for Military Band" in the second part of the concert. Photo | Melody Lin
The MVHS Music Department held its “Beyond the Planets” concert in the auditorium at 7 p.m. on Friday, March 7, featuring performances by the Concert and Symphonic Band, Wind Ensemble and Philharmonic Orchestra. String Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra and Philharmonic Orchestra also performed pieces by Gustav Holst the previous evening. The featured English composer Gustav Holst is often known for his orchestral suite “The Planets,” in which the movement “Jupiter” was performed by the Philharmonic Orchestra.
For the second night of the program, the bands and Philharmonic Orchestra played a total of five pieces. Alongside “The Planets,” Concert, Symphonic Bands and Wind Ensemble also performed the pieces “West Highland Sojourn” by Robert Sheldon and “First Suite in Eb for Military Band” by Gustav Holst, respectively.
According to Instrumental Musical Director John Gilchrist, the first performance of the night by the Concert and Symphonic Band went considerably well, despite the two bands not practicing together often before the concert. Freshman and Concert Band bass clarinet player Ethan Liao also says the concert went smoothly, citing the steady execution of the pieces from the talent of both the bands and orchestra.
“I think the concert went pretty well today for both Concert and Symphonic Band,” Liao said. “It was a lot better than the one that we performed a few months ago. With the Wind Ensemble, they’re as good as they are always — they’re just spectacular. For the Philharmonic Orchestra, they sounded very good today, and overall, the entire concert just went very smoothly.”
Liao says there were very few struggles when rehearsing for the concert and thinks that preparing mostly involved balancing the music. He also attributes the smoothness of the concert to the detailed attention to dynamics.
“I think that as a group, there were some struggles, but they were very small ones, like balance, that could easily be fixed quickly,” Liao said. “Preparing for the concert mostly involved just knowing the pieces, because once you get to that it’s just trying to figure out the best way to execute the piece, and you’ll get there at some point.”