On Thursday, September 17th at 7:30pm, I attended Daniel G. Driskell’s Alumni Piano
Recital called “Around the World in 88 Keys” at the Laidlaw Recital Hall. The concert contained seven different pieces of music. The first piece of music performed was called “Sonata in A Major.” This piece is an Italian piece that was composed by Domenico Scarlatti. The piece required Driskell to do a lot of hand crossing. The piece was upbeat, happy, and dark. Driskell explained the piece as being happy and dark because it would go from major to minor. The dynamics of the piece were forte and the melody had a wave-like contour to it. This piece seemed rather long and it had repetition. The range in this piece of music was wide and the texture was polyphonic.
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2.” It is a Polish piece composed by Frederic Chopin. This piece was a serious and dramatic piece that seemed to be bipolar because it would go from soft to loud. There were many dynamic changes throughout the piece. The piece was played in triple meter and it had repetition. The third piece of music performed was called Seguidillas. It is a Spanish piece composed by Issac Albenz. The piece was played in three-fourth time and the song was shorter than the other pieces. Driskell explained that the piece would be counterpoint, meaning that there are two melodies at the same time. The range of the piece was narrow and the contour was static. He explained that there would be a guitar like sound in the piece that is called strumming. He also said that the piece has a romantic melody. The piece started off fast and then it started to slow down towards the end. I enjoyed this piece because it makes you want to dance because of how upbeat it …show more content…
The dynamics of this piece was played in piano, with it being soft throughout the whole piece. Driskell said that the piece was inspired by a painting and that it was French Impressionism. He said that the piece was played in C major and A flat, meaning that one hand is on the black keys while the other is on the white keys. This piece would be a good piece to go to sleep to because of the dynamics. This piece would also crescendo and decrescendo while being played in piano. The movement of this piece was conjunct in the piece. The fifth piece of music performed was called “Grand Polonaise De Concert.” It is a Russian piece composed by Sergei Liapounov. This piece was written around 1913 and it is also a dramatic and serious piece. Driskell would bang down on the keys in this piece. This piece was played in forte and the movement of the piece was disjunct. The range was medium and the contour was static in this piece. Driskell said that this piece has many octaves and that this piece would start and end off strong. After hearing the soft piece this piece really woke me
Finally, the concerto in F is very beautiful melody. In this music we feel liked comfortable. In this music we does not liked is the light is very bright and the chair is feeling
14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 27, No. 2 by Ludwig van Beethoven. This piece sets a down mood that isn’t as bright as the other pieces Nel played due to its minor key. However, the sound of this piece is really intense and emotional. This piece has a very smooth melody and demonstrates syncopation. Also, the dynamics of this piece are low. As discussed throughout class, this piece has sonata-allegro form. This means that it has an exposition, development, and recapitulation. The first movement is slow since it is adagio sostenuto, the second movement is brisk since it is allegretto, and the third is quick since it is presto agitato. Beethoven uses a continuous soft dynamic and a smooth wave-like rhythmic pattern. The texture of this piece can be described as mixed between homophonic and polyphonic. Lastly, this piece required Nel to constantly use the fortepiano levers to create the piece’s distinct
After the intermission and the house lights were dimmed. I settled back into the concert, and decided that there was no way I would like the last piece as much as the B minor Sonata. The Fourth piece just seemed to drag by. The fifth piece got a little better. It was by Tchaikovsky and I always tend to like his music. This was no exception. I was back. It was from “The Seasons, October – The Autumn Song” and it was very enjoyable. Finally, the moment I was waiting for, and was it ever worth the wait. “Islamey” is generally considered one of the most difficult works ever written for piano.
I was impressed by the range of the pieces that were performed as they were from 18th century classical symphony arrangements to contemporary techno pieces. However, the pieces that moved me most were Mozart’s Molto Allegro, Oaken Sky by Chris Rogerson and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5. In hindsight, I am surprised that the two pieces from the Classical Era had such an impact on me. Perhaps, “classical” pieces were what I expected to hear at a Symphony. Oaken Sky evoked the most imagery for me and the conductor’s introduction of the piece was perhaps partly responsible for my ability to go from the earth to the sky in my mind’s eye. Oaken Sky was definitely a pleasant surprise and very pleasing to all of my senses. I was fully engaged in body, mind and soul with Rogerson’s composition. Cielito Lindo was interesting and the soloist really enhanced the piece with a stellar performance. Warehouse Medicine caused an incongruent stirring in me; perhaps I was not prepared for electronics to be added to the symphony. Ravel’s composition, Le Tombeau de Couperin, was a moving piece, but did not engage my senses, only my intellect. This work essentially left me feeling confused and although I appreciated the description of the dedication of the work by the composer, this was my least favorite piece. The “CPCC” soloist, Juan Caljero’s, rendition of Cileito Lindo was mesmerizing. Charlotte
Coming from a very talented family, Ana has been known through her music since the age of 5 with her father and brother being guitarist themselves. She later explained that her brother influenced her on playing the guitar. She was born in a small town in Croatia, November 8th 1980. She was so popular, at the age of the thirteen she became the youngest attendee of a very high-status musical institute. By her early twenties, Vidovic had already received numerous prizes. Her well-kept status resulted in Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore offering the opportunity to study in the U.S.A. I listened to the famous Asturias composed by Isaac Albeniz. The Spanish composer is known for his work on the piano. Isaac Albeniz was born on May 29th 1860 and lived only 48 years on this earth dying a week before turning 49 on May 18th 1909. He was diagnose with Bright’s disease which is an old term form kidney disease. Albeniz was a child prodigy who started playing the piano since the age of 4. Isaac married Rosina Jordana and later had three children. He composed and wrote pepita Jiménez, merlin, Iberia, suite Española being his more famous compositions. The Asturias was a piece created in 1892 for piano as a prelude to a three movement set named chants d’Espagne. It was created during the modernism period which was a time change in every aspect of music. a dated of diverse responses in exciting and reinterpreting older types of music, novelties that lead to new ways of forming harmonic, melodic, sonic, and rhythmic aspects of music, and changes in aesthetic worldviews in close relation to the larger identifiable period of modernism in the arts of the time.
It has a very nice combination of the woodwind and violin. The music goes slow for first three minutes and suddenly it goes fast with the sound of violin and slows down again with the melodious sound of the flute and violin and repeats again giving the feeling of nature and after eleven minutes it is in very high notes. And again, from the 14 minutes, begins the second movement with the melodious sound of violin followed by other instruments. This part is very sad and attractive part of the orchestra too. It feels tragedy and sad music. The music is slow and in low notes. The flute in the fourteen minute is so attaching and alluring. I felt like listening to it again and again. The third movement then begins from twenty-three minute which also feels sad music. It reminds me of the good old childhood days. After the thirty minutes comes the most powerful and weighty part that is the fourth movement. It ends comfortably in F major. Among the four symphonies by Johannes Brahms, I liked the Symphony no.3. And I would like to thank Mr. Madere for giving us with such assignments which help us relax and get free from our
The second piece played was a Symphony in B-flat by Paul Hindemith. This piece begins with a cacophony of sounds and is fortissimo like the first piece. The piece decrescendos into piano and stays this way for a few phrases until it crescendos back to forte. The tempo sounds as if it is allegro throughout the first movement. The second movement is more solemn than the first. Its dynamic is a piano to forte. There are periods of both dynamics through movement to of the symphony. As the second movement ends there are crescendos and decrescendos. The third movement begins fortissmo, and then decrescendos into piano. The ranges of the instruments make the movement sound very magical, yet ominous. The flute for ...
There are two main rhythmic ideas that are present in this piece. The first is the regular rhythmic pulse in the pianos and mallet instruments
The next work of the program, Courtly Airs and Dances, is a multi-movement work composed by Ron Nelson. The piece is split into six movements: Intrada, Basse Danse, Pavane, Saltarello, Sarabande, and Allemande. Each of these present distinct characteristics that separate it from each other movement, yet all are united by being a style of dance. The first movement, Intrada, presents a fanfare-like opening to the multi-movement work. The trumpets and brass section as a whole lead this, as they create a sense of nobility. The key is major and the tempo is one that could be described as allegretto—it is not a fast tempo, yet more brisk than an andante pace. The texture is homophonic, as there are different parts being performed by different
An article by Olof Höjer - a Swedish pianist and Satie expert. Taken from his CD: Erik Satie - the complete piano music vol. 1. © 1996 Prophone Records, Stockholm, Sweden. [Accessed 27 Dec 2013]
Frederic Chopin is one of the most famous and influential composers from the nineteenth century. He is especially known for his piano music now and then. Chopin’s works include three sonatas, mazurkas, waltzes, nocturnes, polonaises, etudes, impromptus, scherzos, ballades, preludes, two piano concertos, a few chamber music, and some Polish vocal pieces. He played an important role in the 19th century Polish nationalistic movement. In particular, his mazurkas and polonaises based on Polish dances best express his nationalistic passion and the musical features of the Polish culture.
Contrary to popular belief that “innovative use of the piano as an orchestral instrument occurred first in France, since it first appears in the scores of Saint-Saëns, d’Indy, Debussy, and Stravinsky” (Adler, 2002, 469), Neils Gade’s fifth symphony is presumably the first to introduce this novel idea as acknowledged by Brown that “I know of no symphony prior to Gade’s op. 25 with an obbligato piano ” (Brown, 2007, 459).
The second piece was a piano composition by Thalia Ventimilla called Ecuadorian Afternoon. This piece had a very relaxing melody and a “walking speed” tempo. It was not fast and not slow. The intensity of the piece started out high and gradually declined, then built up to decline again. This went on in a series of decrescendos, rising and falling with lots of chords being played.
This piece was originally composed by the talented Italian composer, Nino Rota around the 20th century. Rota was a well-renowned music composer and an enthusiast of the viola. He dedicated most of his compositions to his fellow music composers. Notably, Rota composed the second Sonata to Piero Farulli. This particular piece contained three different movements under C major: Allegretto scorrevole, Andante quasi Adagio, and Allegro scorrevole. In the “A Little Bit of this, a Little Bit of that” concert, Julia Heinen and Francoise Regnet tried to bring out the calming effect of the different pieces. For instance, the Allegretto scorrevole had a tempo that varied in nature. It started out fast but slowed down during the performance
The pianist is a film made in 2002, directed by Roman Polanski and it circles around the life of Waldyslaw Szpilman which was played by Adrien Brody. This movie is a true story of Wladyslaw Szpilman who, during the 1930’s, was known as the most talented piano player in all of Poland. As the Second World War begins, Szpilman becomes subject imposed to the anti-Jewish laws by the Germans who want to take over Poland. By the beginning of 1940’s Szpilman has witnessed his world/the community go from piano performance halls to the Jewish Ghetto of Warsaw. In addition, Szpilman was obliged to suffer the calamity of his families’ exile to German concentration camps, at the same time he is recruited into a forced German Labor Compound by a police guard named Itzak Heller, who had earlier captured his brother in jail. Then he goes hiding in buildings/apartments, but sooner or later ends-up looking through blown-up/burnt buildings at night for food and hiding throughout the daytime. Then one day, a Nazi Officer by the name of Captain Wilm Hosenfeld, discovers him in a building looking for food. Szpilman tells the captain that he is pianist but Hosenfeld doesn’t believe it. So Szpilman proves to Hosenfeld that he is a pianist by playing it on the piano. Szpilman starts out by playing a solemn and concise version of Chopin’s “Ballad in G Minor”. Hosenfeld impressed by Szpilman’s playing of piano, helps him stay alive, but later runs away from the building he is in when Russian army advances. Later it is shown that Hosenfeld is captured by the army and put in concentration camp where he hears the name of Szpilman and tells an officer that he knows Szpilman, after that we are given the assumption that Hosenfeld died in the camp. On the other h...