A Student Concert Reflection Of The Toronto Symphony Orchestra

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On Thursday November 5, I had the opportunity to see the Toronto Symphony Orchestra perform a student concert called Big Bold Brass. The concert was set to teach students the various techniques and skills of the many brass players in the orchestra. They, along with guest tubist Øystein Baadsvik played several pieces showing the virtuosity in the styles brass instruments can play. The first piece they perform was Festive Overture by Dmitri Shostakovich. They then played the fanfare from La Peri. At the end of the piece the tuba player was introduced and he then demonstrated many unique playing techniques on the tuba. He combined those techniques to play a piece of his composition called Fnugg. Afterwards the orchestra played Promenade form …show more content…

The piece opened with a bright fanfare, with the trumpet playing a very crisply articulated melody, giving the fanfare lighter feel. The horns supported this trumpet melody by building the chords. The phrase is repeated and the upper voices come in as an accompaniment, which adds a shimmer-like effect over the melody. The melodic phrase is repeated numerous times and the harmonies are growing thicker. The section is building up and there is a slight sense of tension in anticipation for the next section. It then begins to gradually slow down, transitioning to the next section, which suddenly gets faster. The clarinet comes in with the melody, with very fast and scalic runs. The accompaniment is played by the violins, in a very rhythmic pattern, which pushes the movement of the section even more so than the clarinet would. The flute and piccolo respond to the melody, and then the stings take over and the accompaniment is passed onto the horns. The trumpets then play a series of staccato notes; some which are repeating, or have smaller intervals. The section decrescendos, and then the stings play a line, which is then responded to by the trumpets. This call and response continues for some time, slowly crescendoing from each repeat and the woodwinds end this call and response section and play the main theme of this section. The strings respond to this, instruments are being added, dynamics are increasing, and there is a slight buildup. The middle voices now have the melody, who are playing a variation on the main theme of the section, where they hold a single note in place of a run. The upper voices provide ornaments to the section. It then builds up to the next section, which seems to have slowed down, although it is actually an augmentation. The melody from the middle voice has notes of longer durations that are rather legato and smooth, but the upper voice accompaniment is still as rushed as the previous

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