By Luis Diaz
The music department held the fall student recital at the S-2 recital hall on Wednesday. The recital featured student performers from the East Los Angeles College Music Department.
The recital started off with a song composed on the piano by Alfred Nunez. “Happy Memory” is the name of the song.
The song started off slow and kept progressing on the piano with loud and punchy chords.
Alfred Nunez composed a really beautiful song. The flow of the song kept getting intense and left no room for a pause.
After Nunez’s song, Melody Feng played Frederic Chopin’s “Waltz in A Minor, B. 150, No.11.”
Feng kept her composure and really showed off her piano skills, playing a very challenging song. Melody Feng’s performance on the piano was excellent. She looked like a professional during her interpretation.
Chrisitan Galvan was up next on guitar, interpreting Jimmy Van Heusen’s “Polkadots and Moonbeams.”
The song is a fusion of jazz and classical and the addition of the guitar by Galvan was just phenomenal.
Galvan’s technique and solos were played with calm and precision.
A lot of techniques from sliding to harmonics really showed the audience that he can play well.
Mimi Chun was the accompanist for the recital. In the next song played, she accompanied David Quinones on the clarinet to interpret “Sonata No. 2 in E-flat Major, Op. 120” by Johannes Brahms.
Even though the piano was the one leading the clarinet, Quinones made the clarinet the star of the song.
The highs and lows of the clarinet were very smooth. At times the piano would give the entrance to the next part but the clarinet gave that a punch of brightness against the dullness of the piano.
Victor Michel brought up the energy by playing Friedrich Kuhlau’s “Sonatina, Op. 55, No.1.”
This one was different from the one played by Feng. Michel did a lot of note progression.
The song was energetic and playful; it deviated from sad and depressing chords and was more of a jumpy and exciting song.
The recital moved on to the vocal portion of the night. Samantha Martinez sang a soprano for two songs.
Antonio Caldara’s “Selve Amiche, Ombrose Piante” and “Climb Ev’ry Mountain” by Richard Rogers.
Martinez’s vocals were excellent.In the first song, she dominated the highs and lows of her voice. She would drop a one note at a time and still remain in the range which the song was being played on the piano.
Her voice was very clear and projected enough that was it able to be heard to the back.
Up next was “Impressions” by John Coltrane, played by Juan Santana on guitar.
This song was by far the most technical on the guitar because there was no pattern that needed to be followed.
Santana was improvising and demonstrating a bunch of techniques from sliding, harmonics and palm mutes.
Dagoberto Gonzalez on piano interpreted “Impromptu No.3” by Franz Schubert. This time around, the piano sounded out with deeper and richer tone.
Overall the performances from the students were phenomenal. Everyone showed off the talent they have and their skill paid off.
From the instruments to the vocals, the fall recital had a bit of everything.
The concert series continues today at noon. The student piano recital featuring Lucy Nargizyan’s piano students.
It continues at 5 p.m. with a pop music workshop in the S-2 recital hall. Admission is free and parking is free in Structure 4.