“As keyboardists, we usually practice in the small room by ourself,” Chang said. “It’s great working with the orchestra and to have so many people in one group.”
At 8 p.m. Friday, Chang played the fortepiano as part of the Concentus and Classical Orchestra concert at ?Auer Hall.
Both the Concentus and Classical Orchestra are musical groups part of the Historical Performance Institute, which offers music students the opportunity to play or sing repertoire spanning from the 16th to the 19th centuries. For this concert, there were 21 vocalists of Concentus and 12 different kinds of instruments played as part of the Classical ?Orchestra.
The concert featured two pieces, both composed by Joseph Haydn. The first piece performed, “Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major,” featured Chang as a soloist. The string instruments of the Classical Orchestra gathered in a semicircle on the stage as Chang played the fortepiano.
Chang said it was an early composition of Haydn’s that is very upbeat. She said his style incorporates a lot of surprise rhythmic dynamics.
“This piece is more fun, more joyful and you can dance,” Chang said. “The second movement is calmer and peaceful, but it’s a sunny and warmer peaceful. This piece never goes to the dark corner, never goes to real sadness.”
Chang said she also enjoys the cadenza, or the area of improvisation written in the music for the soloist, because it gives her a chance to show off her skills. After practicing many versions of her own, Chang found Haydn’s own version of the cadenza and decided to play his for the concert.
“It’s so amazing,” Chang said. “It doesn’t sound like classical cadenza compared to Mozart. This cadenza sounds like something I would improvise in the 21st century.”
Chang said she doesn’t have any particular warm-up she likes to do before every performance, but for the past 10 years she has had to have a steak before each ?performance.
“That gives me lots of energy,” Chang said. “Some singers say they cannot eat anything before singing, but for me, I need steak. If I have one that day I am happy enough.”
After the concerto, Chang left the stage as the Concentus and Classical Orchestra got ready for the next piece, “Mass in B-Flat Major,” also know as “Harmoniemesse.”
David Belbbutoski, a Bloomington resident and IU alumnus, said he has gone to recitals and concerts at IU since 1976. Before the concert, he said he looked forward to hearing the vocalists from Concentus perform the most.
“I sang in a church choir, so it’s a special treat for me,” Belbbutoski said. “They’re good singers accompanied by the instruments, which isn’t so usual.”
Dana Marsh, coordinator for the Historical Performance Institute and conductor for the concert, said he chose this mass because it is a piece of Haydn’s that is not played often. He said part of the job of the department is to take music that might usually be sitting in an archive, that is of good quality, and bring it back to life.
“‘Harmoniemesse’ is a fantastic piece,” Marsh said. “These pieces that we use that are in our culture all the time, but it’s those pieces that fall between the cracks that are really high-end quality that we like to bring out.”
Although they only had two rehearsals with everyone together, Marsh said it was very important to him that everyone get in the mindset where they can, in a sense, enjoy it for the first time.
“It has to still have that spontaneity there,” Marsh said. “It can’t sound like you’re rehearsing it again. You’re making a real spontaneous, in-the-moment ?performance.”
