Arts

SQUEAK

The bow drew over the violin, playing a painfully long, high-pitched note. Dramatic pause. Again. And again. And again. This was, note for note, one of three violin pieces performed at Sunday’s recital in Timken. The performance featured pianist, violinist, and composer John Ferguson. Divided into two halves, the first half of the performance consisted of “Strung Out” composed by Philip Glass and “One10” by John Cage. The second half featured “Partita in B Minor BWV 1002,” composed by Johann Sebastian Bach. Ferguson started the performance by sharing background information for the benefit of the audience. He said, “ One of my feelings about good music is that you find new ways of listening, and new ways of experiencing it.” Ferguson started off with a piece called “Strung Out.” The piece featured the same motif over and over again. The sheet music was spread over three music stands, with the catchy piece characterized by repetition within repetitions. The underlying patterns helped create an intriguing song that kept the audience’s attention as Mr. Ferguson gradually moved from the first to last stand. The second piece Ferguson performed, “One10,” was a contemporary piece by John Cage. The entire piece consisted of long, high-pitched notes of various lengths and dynamics that sounded like very long squeaks at first. Once you got past the “nails on chalkboard” effect, the notes’ mysterious, nighttime tone emerged. Many seemed to imitate common and eerie sounds: a wolf’s howl, a train, underlying grates, and faint cries to battle. Overall, there were roughly 50 pairs of various high notes, each followed by five to ten seconds long break. The first two pieces lasted an hour. During the short intermission that followed, Gisele Blanchet, a resident of Andover said, “So far it’s been very fantastic. I love it. He knows what he’s doing.” After the intermission Ferguson played Bach’s “Parita in B Minor.” “Parita” was far more conventional than the pieces he played in the first half. At times, the emotions inspired were grand and noble, and at other times, humble. The piece was very dynamic and touching. Afterwards, Emily Pollokoff ’06 said, “It had a nice contrast, rich tones, very forceful. He had amazing control of air speed.” Following his performance, Ferguson answered questions and accepted compliments from an enthusiastic audience of town residents. When asked why he chose such an interesting and varied repertoire, Ferguson said, “ the idea of an unaccompanied violin recital limited me to pick pieces that are written for the violin only, and because I wanted to pick pieces that are different and not a standard part of repertoire.”