“‘The caged bird sings / with a fearful trill / of things unknown / but longed for still / and his tune is heard / on the distant hill / for the caged bird / sings of freedom,’” says Maya Angelou in her poem “Caged Bird.” Over 40 years later, her words were sung at Visiting Assistant Professor Dr. David Cyzak’s “American Facets” Oboe Concert.
Titled “American Facets,” this concert premiered pieces written by Iowa-based composers Peter Bloesch and Sam Young. Cyzak performed alongside colleagues Alan Huckleberry, composer Jean-François Charles, Volkan Orhon, and Paul Cort.
“It’s this idea of seeing the facets of our Iowa experience and the world around it like a stone or a gem,” Cyzak said.
The recital opened with Bloesch’s composition “Sketches of Scotland for Oboe and Piano,” a four-movement piece that took us on a journey of emotion and passion.
“I love Scotland and the natural beauty of Scotland,” Bloesch said. “I wanted to write something that, in musical terms, captured natural beauty.”
The first movement, called “Whispering Mists,” was a flowing and delicate piece that captured the essence of its name. The second, “Revelry Before the Storm,” was a lively, upbeat piece with the piano bringing a thunderous storm and the oboe following close behind.
The third movement, “Enchanted Garden,” embodied the feeling of spring and nature with the piano sounding like trickling water and the oboe trilling like a bird. It was a very uplifting and soaring piece. The final movement, “Majestic Crags,” was thunderous and fast-paced, ending with a resounding flourish, the instruments embodying the majestic rocks in the title.
“Prairie Sketches, Vol. 1 for Oboe and Piano” by Sam Young reminded me of embarking on an exciting journey. The energetic piece felt like wandering through the prairies implied by the title.
Cyzak’s composition, “Apogee for Oboe and Piano,” was a 2020 piece meant to represent the moment in time a person reaches the peak of life but looks back at the journey they took to get there.
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While the first movement seemed to represent the temporary exhilaration of reaching a summit in life, the oboe foreshadowed the longing for the past with wistful, long notes. The following movement was filled with nostalgia, the oboe and piano filling the recital hall with soulful notes.
The third movement was the epitome of this yearning for the past. The oboe’s high notes seemed to wail throughout the room while the piano accompanied softly. The final movement gave us some happiness with high, energetic notes and a final, resounding flourish from Cyzak’s oboe.
The remaining two pieces in the recital were composed by Cyzak based on his love for the poems “Caged Bird” by Maya Angelou and “Seni Saklayacağım” (I Will Hide You) by Özdemir Asaf.
“I love poetry,” Cyzak said. “I write poetry, I compose, and we’re also at the University of Iowa where the arts, the spoken word, are so celebrated. It’s an excuse to do what I love and do even more of it.”
The final piece, “I Will Hide You,” featured Charles on the electronics and Orhon narrating the poem in its original Turkish while Cyzak translated it into English. The poem was meant to be a love poem, and both narrators captured that while Charles added a mystical air with electronics.
“I appreciate that [there] is a lot of new music and a lot of collaboration with colleagues,” Charles said. “And I love the program for that.”
“American Facets” was an emotional and passionate concert that showed the beauty of Iowa and the versatility of the School of Music.
“My hope is that people feel really special and feel that something very exciting happened,” Cyzak said.
