I couldn’t have worded it better. If there’s one thing about Carmel, they aren’t the flashiest band, but you don’t even realize when hearing how gorgeous their ensemble sounds are.
This show really grew on me personally. The way the drill interacts the props is really interesting and I like the way the band has an orchestral ensemble color at the end (which is appropriate for the repertoire in this show). I think this show actually makes sense, because it uses a dwindling or increasing number of members at the front of the field to demonstrate the expanse, and the opener starts with a simple motif that builds upon itself as it continues. One of my fav Carmel shows
I'm gonna offer some inside perspective: I was a senior here and I got to perform my ass off here one last time. And so I did, so we did. It was the best run we could possibly have done. It was a fantastic feeling looking over at my section mate and beaming with a hug before walking off for the last time. Especially after the mess that was 2020. From my tenure, and from my point of view, this one and Voyage to Valhalla are on the same level in terms of "that feeling". It was an honor and a privilege to be a part of this incredible group for four years, and I wouldn't have ended off any other way.
Hi, Sky. That exhilarating feeling is part of the band experience, no doubt. That feeling of the camaraderie and the energy and the amazing lift of winning, you'll have that as a memory for the rest of your life. But if someone walks up to you and asks "What was your show about?", what would you say? Gulp. Performing artists usually are connected to the material they perform. Not just the camaraderie, not just the feeling of oneness and the exhilaration of the group mind experience and the audience screaming. But something more inside the piece they're performing. The show subject. The show theme. What statement are you making as artists? Something like "The expanse of space is huge and frightening, but no matter what planet we're on, we have to give it a sense of home." Meaning, frontiers are intimidating, but a sense of home soothes the soul. (Just guessing at what the thematic intent was here in this show, it's completely unclear.) Inside the show itself, what was the meaning for you? Beyond the joy of performing, beyond the travel and friendships? What in the music or in the show was a message to the audience about the way you live or imagine living, the way you perceive the world? That elevates your show from the ride-or-die friendship experience to a level of profound meaning.
My mouth dropped open as I realized I was hearing Rhapsody On A Theme Of Paganini, and the eternally beloved 18th variation (Thanks, Somewhere In Time). I daresay Sergei could NEVER have imagined it being performed by a group THIS size, in an "auditorium" of this magnitude.
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Marian Catholic Band '09 Alumni here! I miss the Carmel of 2005, when the Band was smaller and not Brass Heavy, much more balanced. Stay true to Carmel, ya know? I like Avon too, but one of my problems with them is that they are very brass end heavy.
The blocks effectively set the stage at the beginning-- it's an expanse, and the ensemble comes spilling forth in a joyous "population" of space, which is a hopeful starting moment with a clear point of view about space perhaps being populated with sentient life. Then we see some playful planetary games mostly with drill set shapes, and then the ensemble disappears into the black abyss backfield. What's the point? Just variation for the sake of variation? The arc of action is undefined here. Finally at the end, they drag the blocks back up front and play from atop. What's the specific point of view? The re-entry represents what? The audience wants a definitive statement about space. A clear point of view about human perceptions of the frontier of space. Rachmaninov's Rhapsody is so earthly, so domestic, so idyllic and pastoral, it is an awkward pairing with Zarathustra. It's like combining whale noises with gunfire-- they don't fit together. Combining Rhapsody on Paganini with Thus Spoke Zarathustra sounds like an attempt to "domesticate" space, a premise that would need more context.
Fun fact about this show! It's not about outer space, it's about the space between stuff. The whole premise is just how the field starts empty and then gets populated in the first movement, and grows further apart in the second and third, until it stretches so far at the end of the third that it seems empty again (represented by going behind the props). Finally, it just kinda closes.
@@samura1s4m This! The common misconception is that the show is about outer space, but it is rather about physical space; The props act like borders to the area and allow people to be dragged into and out of that space. a brilliant idea that I thought was very well executed.
