With a series of loud, rapid notes, Samson Zhang ’20 began his lively rendition of Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13 ‘Pathétique.’ ” Wang was one of 16 students who participated in a student recital on Wednesday afternoon in the Timken Room in Graves Hall.
“I thought [Zhang’s song] was really exciting. It was really nice and bold and loud, and I really like loud pieces over waltzes and soft pieces,” said attendee Safi Zenger ’20.
Accompanied by music instructor Rebecca Plummer White, Junah Jang ’20 sang “An die Nachtigall, Op. 46, No. 4,” a classical-style German song composed by Johannes Brahms about a nightingale. According to Jang, the song’s placement in middle octave was a challenge.
“[The pitch] forced [me] to navigate between a more operatic tone and a belt-ier tone. I typically don’t sing a lot of classical music because I generally sing musical theater instead, but I wanted to push myself in singing something I was a little uncomfortable with. I also like Brahms as a whole, and this song is really sweet,” said Jang.
In another performance, Ariel Wang ’21 built from slow, soft notes before reaching the climax of “Piano Sonata No. 18 in E-flat Major, Op/ 31, No. 3: Allegro” by Ludwig Van Beethoven. Alternating quickly between low and high notes, Wang rapidly shifted up and down the keyboard to match the song’s rigorous pace.
“I’d describe Ariel’s piece as very beautiful and really intricate. It was probably really complicated to play because it seemed to shift a lot, but she seemed very focused on creating her music, and I think that it really paid off. I was really impressed,” said Natalia Loumidis ’21.
