Cuong: Second Nature for Saxophone Quartet & Wind Ensemble

Viet Cuong - Second Nature
featuring Jacob Feldman, Lucy Croasdale, Marina Sakellakis, & David Bennette
The University of Texas Wind Ensemble
Jerry Junkin, conductor
March 1st, 2024

[@SaxophonianPlayer]

I was there that night I had a smile through that entire performance

[@Just-that-weird]

Yes you did, you looked so excited you could’ve jumped out of your seat

[@Choralmike]

What a terrific performance of a terrific piece of music! Proud UT Music alum!

[@benblessing]

Oh to be a synapse in Viet's brain when he's coming up with this stuff!

[@bobmatt5175]

Considering the vast majority of his music sounds the same, I wouldn’t say he’s come up with something for a while

[@benblessing]

@@bobmatt5175 fair. I wish I was supporting myself on the sales of my compositions though 😕

[@KingstonCzajkowski]

@@bobmatt5175 Sounds the same? I mean, that's truer of pretty much any big name from the past 400 years than it is of Cuong.

[@bobmatt5175]

@@KingstonCzajkowski Lol wut? No Cuong literally uses the same chord progressions and rhythms in all of his pieces. Look up Deciduous and Vital Sines and tell me they don't sound the same as this piece except there happens to be a sax quartet. Or, look up Electric Aroma, and Bull's Eye mvt 2 and see how similar they sound. This is just off the top of my head. This guy is a one trick pony who has somehow made a career recycling the same rhythm and chords and people eat it up for some reason (I have a theory why)

[@KingstonCzajkowski]

@@bobmatt5175 I would make the analogy that all Chopin and Liszt pieces sound the same because they're all for the piano. Listening for timbral variation in those composers is pointless - and it's much the same with chord progression in Cuong's work, even though there is more variation in the harmonic structures and rhythms he uses than you suggest. There have been several distinct phases with completely different sounds in Cuong's career. Listen to "Metamorphosis," "re(new)al," "Well-Groomed," "Submarine," and the double oboe concerto - they're all completely different, although they do share the fact that they're all more focused on narrative, timbre, volume, form, and color than traditional classical standards. There are also harmonic intricacies in his music, although they're not of the kind you'd find in composers pre-1950. The overall harmonic pattern of key centers in "re(new)al" is pretty fascinating, as well as the contrapuntal things that are going on, especially with the delay chains and hockets that run through the orchestra and four solo parts. Another important part of the piece is how the musical decisions are almost exclusively programmatic. I hope you'll be able to discover the genius and wealth of variety in Cuong's music through further exploration. Obviously not everything is for everybody, but I would at least think you could recognise the excellence he has within his niche, even if you prefer music with more intricate harmony and rhythm. Here's Cuong on the subject: "I think what I’ve done is pretty eclectic, I like to explore a lot of things with my music so it’s kind of hard to categorize sometimes, because I do have some pieces that are more post-minimalist, I have some pieces that are more and very spectral-inspired. I have pieces that combine lots of things, so maybe just eclectic is a good word, or eclecticism or something. My friend Nils Landsberg wrote his doctoral dissertation on a piece that he commissioned from me called Bull’s-Eye, and I’ve not read anything people have written about my music other than the occasional concert review, but he did a presentation on me, and I was sitting in the audience like, 'Wow this is so weird.' But during his presentation he said, 'Oh there have been phases in Viet’s career so far, he had a phase in his early twenties and now he’s in a new one where he’s exploring more whimsical things.' And I think that’s true. Like, my first band piece that caught on is called Sound and Smoke and when I hear it, I have a lot of good memories associated with that piece for obvious reasons, but I don’t think I could ever write a piece like that today, I just don’t know how I would. Even the piece I wrote two years after that, called Moth-- if someone said that they wanted another Moth, I don’t know how I’d do that. I’d probably just tell them to commission someone else! *laughter* Like, when I move on from something I kind of just feel like I’ve already done that, so it’s time to move on. Now, a lot of my recent pieces I like to explore whimsical things, like my double oboe concerto and I have a lot of fun with extended techniques nowadays."

[@peterfeldman261]

Great Show!! We thoroughly enjoyed that from the 8th row!!

[@tommywan90]

Beautiful!!

[@charlottejansky3188]

AMAZING 🔥

[@buggys0cks]

so good i love

[@extremeflext]

incredible!

[@Someone2464-]

Very good. 👍

[@wesfeldman8235]

I like very much.

[@BigToeBePoppin]

GOD this piece is a pain in the ass to play kudos to you 😭

[@jackgrimes09]

Literally 😭, what a coincidence we’re playing the same piece (cough cough)

[@BigToeBePoppin]

@ LMAO ikr how ironic 😸

[@bobbycge]

lol when the beat drops at 1:49❤‍🔥

[@BossAwesomeSauce]

WAIT THIS IS PEAK????

[@brandonshenmusic]

very nice

[@hankcarter345]

Are those saxophone players UT students, or guest soloists? Just curious because dang, that was amazing.

[@utexasbands]

The quartet was made up of students in the UT Saxophone studio!

[@shebo2692]

whats the thing on the ground?

[@another_clarinet_player]

If you're talking about the device they step on, then they would be hands-free page turners for tablets. It's so that the performer doesn't have to manually flip pages in case they can't do so. Hope this answers the question!

[@jackgrimes09]

I believe they’re called AirTurns, and they’re life savers when playing sheet music from tablets. Especially in pieces like these where there’s little room for manual page turns.

[@nednerb2010]

just watching that quartet syncopate gives me a headache

[@jacob.feldman]

me too