Arts

JongHo Park ’16 Explores Wide Variety of Musical Eras in Senior Recital 

With choppy bow strokes, JongHo Park ’16 played a se- ries of rapid, sharp trills on his cello from “Dance of the Elves, Op. 39” by David Popper. After quickly ascending to a shrill high note and descending back to his original pitch, Park continued the piece with the same distinct bow patterns, interjecting with unexpected high-pitched notes before concluding with a rever- berating pluck of his strings.

“Dance of the Elves, Op. 39” was one of the five pieces Park performed, accompanied by pi- anist Keun Young Sun, for his Senior Recital last Friday night as the capstone of his Andover music career. Park’s main pri- ority when compiling music to perform was captivating the at- tention of the audience.

“I intentionally chose music that I thought would excite the audience, pretty lively music in general. I chose [music from] a wide variety of periods and types of music, so I wanted to offer a broad scope of my playing as well as providing entertainment for the audience,” said Park.

Park opened his concert by playing the first two move- ments of François Francoeur’s “Sonata for Cello and Piano in E Major, Op. 78.” With lengthy bow strokes, he began the first movement by playing a slow, airy, gentle melody. Embellish- ing the tune with musical orna- ments like trills, Park created an ethereal feeling within the song, ending with a single, rich note. The second movement was drastically different compared to the first; the melody filled with quick notes and flourishes. The piece’s brisk movements includ- ed a range of low, quiet, high, and loud notes, culminating in a strong chord.

“I actually played the Fran- coeur when I was in [my] fresh- man year. I learned it before I came here but I played it here. Over the years, I learned a lot more pieces, and I just want- ed to arrange what I’ve learned throughout my years at Andover into this one concert,” said Park.

Next, Park performed the first movement of Schubert’s “Arpeg- gione Sonata in A Minor, D. 821.” Flowing, legato notes dominated most of the piece, with sudden interjections of a fast, repeating melody. Park switched between playing high and low notes fre-

M.ZERBEY/THEPHILLIPIAN JongHo Park ’16 created a program full of lively music.

S.CARMICHAEL/THEPHILLIPIAN Angela Tang ’16 began playing in group violin lessons at seven-years old.

quently, creating a sense of vari- ation within the piece. Towards the climax of the song, he rapidly shifted to play a high note, even- tually slowing to play a wistful tune that culminated in a gradu- al ascending of notes.

“The most challenging part [of the repertoire] was actually the Schubert ‘Arpeggione’ be- cause it’s slower than the other pieces, but there’s a lot of tech- nical parts to it [and] you also want to sound musical and lyr- ical while doing the technical parts correctly, so that’s part of the challenge of playing [that piece],” said Park.

Park ended the show by play- ing “Introduction et Polonaise Brillante, Op. 3” by Frédéric Chopin. Park began by playing a smooth, elegant melody, cre- ating an air of calm in the room, but gradually transitioned into a stronger, fiercer tune. Park used deliberate bow strokes to make the piece livelier, reaching high- er notes on the cello’s fretboard. To conclude the song, Park played a series of quick scales, descending from a sharp high note to play a resounding chord.

“I liked the Chopin, the last one. It was really challenging to play because there are a lot of notes and [it required] a lot of practice, but in the end, I felt like it went pretty well. The [piece written by] Chopin, it’s a really lively piece, and it’s actually not the original piece, it’s arranged by this guy named Maurice Gen-

dron who’s one of my favorite cellists, and he intentionally made it a lot harder, just to or- nament the cello, but I really like the piece,” said Park.

At Andover, Park has taken private cello lessons, participat- ed in the Academy Symphony Orchestra and the Chamber En- semble, and been a part of sev- eral chamber music groups on campus.

Park said, “The most signif- icant part of my time at Ando- ver was my teacher, Jan Muller Szeraws. He’s been a really great teacher for the past four years and he wants me to focus a lot on the lyrical parts of the playing while I used to only focus on the technique. I think [his teaching] brought a new aspect to my mu- sic and that definitely improved my music.”

Park enjoys playing cello be- cause it allows him to escape his stress and troubles for a little while.

“When I play [the] cello, I don’t need to worry about out- side problems or issues, like the work I have. I want to create music, I want to delight the au- dience, and that’s the joy of play- ing. I want to make the audience happy. I think the cello, unlike a lot of instruments, has a really wide range of notes and a lot of colors too, so I think that’s one of the best things about the cello, that it can play so many different types of music and so many dif- ferent styles too,” said Park.