Recital showcases innovative student composers

AMANDA WHITING/Daily Bruin Justin Feller
conducts the orchestra during the senior composition recital on
Thursday at Schoenberg Music Hall.

By Amanda Whiting
Daily Bruin Contributor
[email protected]

Almost everyone knows the theme from “Star Wars” or
has been exposed to a Danny Elfman score. However, a small number
of students have used this knowledge as a starting point for
creating the next killer film score or the next neo-classical
masterpiece. Two of these students are Ben Phelps and Justin Freer,
who have taken part in UCLA’s rigorous film composition
program together since they were freshman.

Both graduating seniors, Freer and Phelps culminated four years
of rigorous theory, composition and performance studies in their
combined senior composition recital Thursday in Schoenberg
Hall.

Insiders in the musicology department have seen both Freer and
Phelps develop over the years. Paul Chihara, a lecturer in film and
concert music, admires Freer’s passion for film composing, as
well as Phelps’ unconventional musical vision.

“Both Justin and Ben are among our very best young
composers,” he said. “Both are accomplished well beyond
their years … I have unlimited faith in them.”

Thursday’s event not only showcased the final pieces of
Phelps and Freer’s adventures in undergraduate composing, it
was also a labor of love. Until recently, recitals were not
required for undergraduate students, so the duo planned, composed
and produced the show almost entirely on their own. The concert
also involved many undergraduate music performance students, who
played the pieces.

Freer and Phelps each displayed two pieces to a full audience
for over two hours. Phelps performed percussion in both of his
pieces. His first, “Love after Stravinksy,” is a
tribute to the innovative and controversial composer. He followed
with “Background Music,” which, despite its title, is a
lyrical and grandiose piece.

“Ben Phelps does not write non-intense music,” said
Freer, whose music also carries a lot of emotion.

Freer conducted both “Sketches of War,” a string
quartet tribute to those who have died in war, and “The Tree
of Humanity,” which featured a 23-piece ensemble.

Freer, a native of Huntington Beach, has had his heart set on
composing music for motion pictures ever since he was 10 years old.
“When I heard John Williams, that was it,” he said,
citing Williams’ work in “Star Wars” and
“E.T.” as his earliest influences. Freer’s
passion for film scoring is evident in the dramatic and lyrical
feel of many of his pieces, including “The Tree of
Humanity.” As an undergraduate at UCLA, he has had the
opportunity to meet many influential film composers; both Freer and
Phelps have taken workshops with Jerry Goldsmith, composer for
“Star Trek,” “The Mummy” and the
soon-to-be-released film “The Sum of All Fears.”

Phelps has also been heavily influenced by film composers. He
remembers being blown away by film scores, beginning with
“Batman Returns.” Ever since, he has had a high respect
for Elfman, the eccentric composer also behind
“Beetlejuice,” “Nightmare Before
Christmas,” “The Simpsons” and
“Spider-man.” Before high school, however, he often hid
his love for innovative classical music. He remembers buying a
Mozart cassette in the fifth grade.

“I was kind of embarrassed because all my friends were
listening to, you know, New Kids on the Block,” he said.

Phelps said that his position as a percussionist ““ a
musician who controls everything from cymbals to drums to
xylophones ““ may have a small influence on his style of
composing.

“People tell me that my music is really percussive, like I
treat everything like a percussion instrument … I don’t
hear it that way,” he said. “But I think what people
are getting at is I’m attack-oriented, like the beginning of
the sound is what I care about … I haven’t written that
many things that are lyrical.”

Thursday, his distinct and abrupt style shone forth in both of
his performed pieces. One of his original creations was a marimba
trio ““ piano, marimba and flute ““ for his piece
“Love After Stravinsky.”

“They’re some of my favorite instruments, so I put
them all together,” he said.

Phelps, an accomplished marimba player, is proud of how
percussion has finally taken an equal place in western classical
music.

“The world of drumming and percussion has grown and
expanded so much in the past 50 years,” he said.

Freer and Phelps are two of only three music composition
students graduating this year. UCLA’s musicology program is
one of the most exclusive and rigorous majors in the country, and
only accepts between three to five applicants a year for musical
composition. The program encourages students to experience a wide
range of music as well as a wide range of subjects.

“One thing this school got me to do was to listen to
everything ““ UCLA isn’t exclusive in its
classes,” Phelps said. “Before I was a little snobby
about music … but now I listen to everything from country
bluegrass to Weezer.”