Comparison Between Piano Concert by Barbara Wieman and Sacramento Chamber Orchestra
On Feb 20,1997, I attended a piano concert that was performed by Barbara
Wieman. The performance was held at the American River College Music Department
choir room. The choir room holds about 100 people and every seat was taken and
students were seated on the floor. The audience was dressed casual as everyone
was students trying to do their concert papers. Barbara Weiman was also dressed
casual but nice. The piano concert started at 12:20pm and was finished at 1:05pm.
The program started with a piece from L.V.
Beethoven called Sonata in F minor, Op.57. This piece can be characterized by an
intense, dramatic use of fluctuating dynamics. It was as if the crescendo was
not allowed to climax, then is aborted by a sudden change to pianissimo. The so
called Beethoven motif was used throughout the piece, very effectively I might
add. Barbara Wieman was very animated performing this piece and seemed to be
very emotional while playing. This piece was very distinct and there was an
effective use of rests that was displayed. I would call this piece very serious.
After Beethoven we were treated to F. Schuberts Impromptu in G flat Major, Op.
90, No.3. This piece was very pleasing to the ear so we could call this
consonant. The music seemed to flow and had a great rhythm. This piece was
romantic in nature and probably that is why it was written in the romantic era.
C. Debussy ‘s Feux d'artifice (fireworks) was the next piece played. The
harmony was very obscured in this piece of music. The theme trying to be
presented in this piece was as if fireworks were going off. The notes were
ever changing and there was a very good uses of all the keys of the piano.
This piece was not very pleasing at all and I did not care for it at all.
From looking around the room it seemed other people would agree. After that
unpleasant piece was played we were lead into La Cathedrale engloutie (The
Sunken Cathedral). It was very slow starting but eventually started building the
tempo and then seemed to drop off and become very slow in tempo. This piece
seemed as if it were trying to tell a story. Alot of people seemed as if th...
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...ught us back with a touching
recollection of the very beginning of the work.
The Bartok Divertimento was in three movements. It can be best described as
continuous, fascinating, exciting and full of action. The melodies were strong,
as were the rhythmic pulses and dissonance's. So much was happening that all you
could do was go for the ride and enjoy it. The last major piece was by Copland,
called Concerto for Clarinet and String Orchestra with Harp and Piano.
The Copland piece was in two movements bridged by an unusually long cadenza
(Soloist), that lasted over three minutes. The soloist seemed to dwell on
the lyric sweetness of the first movement and then signaled the merriment of
the second movement. The first part struck me as very slow but the second part
was very rhythmic,very perky, and was passed around appreciatively by all,
while the piano and clarinet were trading ideas with each other. All in all,
this piece signaled excitement and was made very enjoyable with the clarinet
and piano. As this was my first Chamber Concert I was not sure what to expect.
I thoroughly enjoyed myself and I'm looking forward to my next concert.
The concert that I attended last Friday was an interesting one where I got to have some new experiences and learn about classical music.
opening band appeared. At this time, there were not very many people in the audience.
... to give a lecture-recital to the Bach Society. Less than a week before the concert, Kraus got a phone call: Pessl had had an emergency summons back to New York and was insisting that Kraus do the recital for her. "You must be out of your mind," Kraus recalls telling her. "I've never touched a harpsichord." But she finally agreed and after the harpsichord was delivered to her house, something extraordinary happened. After five hours' practice every day for a week "I realized that this was my instrument. I had always felt inhibited at the piano, because I had never really conquered the problem of using my arm weight properly, but at the harpsichord I felt no inhibitions: its technique involves only the fingers, and good fingers I always had." After the concert Kraus's only thought was to get a harpsichord for herself. "I even gave up smoking to make a down payment."
Being a pianist presents itself a variety of opportunities, two common ones being playing in a jazz ensemble/band, or accompanying a choir. One may choose to be one, the other or both at the same time. However, there are distinct comparisons and contrasts between the two. Both are vastly different from each other, each harboring distinct qualities, yet there are similarities between the two.
The first aspect of the music I recognized was the volume, or the dynamics. It ranged from forte during the climactic moments to mezzo piano during the calmer parts, but mostly remained in this range throughout the concert. There were also several instances of crescendo and decrescendo, which served to build up tension or slow the piece down, respectively.
The musicians were able to keep time by taping their feet, listening to the piano and drums play a steady beat, and along with a lot of practice beforehand. When it comes to the meter of the piece I noticed that when each musician was playing their part in the song the rhythmic structure would change. When the trumpet player and saxophone player were playing together the beat was steady and loud, but when they were playing separately the sound was not as loud, but the beat remained the same. Each instrument created a different feeling to the music, even though they were playing the exact same part.
The USA Percussion Ensemble performed many great works at the recent Spring Concert at LaidLaw Performing Arts Center. As a guest to the ensemble, the talented Andy Harnsberger performed a piece originally dedicated to his wife Palmetto Moon. He also performed the three sections of his sentimental work Words Unspoken. Leading up to Harnsberger, the ensemble played many other contemporary works such as Bloom by Ivan Trevino, which as the first performance certainly grabbed the audience attention. The next piece being Vous avez du feu? by Emmanuel Sejourne intrigued the audience as well through the extended techniques of multiple cigarette lighters. There then was the particular four chosen from the eight pieces of Postludes for Bowed Vibraphone by Elliot Cole. The pieces being in the order of second, first, seventh and ending with the third. These percussion works also featured Coming Home by Steve Gisby and the three movements of Toccata for Percussion Instruments by Carlos Chavez. In my opinion, the music was well chosen and performed. The various techniques and styles of these works seem to have connected jointly to stimulate the senses. Altogether, The Percussion Ensemble members and their lovely guest Harnsberger made a night worth hearing and seeing.
Throughout this piece there was stop time breaks which tended to last for about four beats, while the bass player continued to play along to the beat. Every musician had a solo throughout this piece of art. The pianist played on the beat to where his left hand was giving the ‘oom-pah’ and his right hand doing the comping. There was not much of and expression in the pianist compared to the Josh Holland playing trumpet, Andrew Venet playing bass, and Ryan McDaniel playing drums. There were no blue notes being played, this song was just playing behind the beat. Lastly, this piece tends to have a long vibrato throughout this piece of work.
Overall time helped demonstrated the masses’ movement unity as they moved with the time and the individual’s struggle as she moved contrary to the group’s time. The dance began with a lively Bach movement, which created a feeling of excitement as the mass of dancers moved with increasing speed. The short duration needed to complete movements, regularity of the music, and repetition of dance patterns of the group established their synchronization with time. In contrast, this allegro tempo created a nervous, rushed feeling for the individual woman, which established her contradiction to the groups perception of time. The sharp, sudden adagio tempo change in Part 2 created an uneasy mood, while establishing distrust and tension between the individual woman and the masses. The stillness of the mass dancers in response to the woman in Part 2 exemplified this segregation. As the tempo slowed in Part 4, an element of sadness and isolation was apparent in the individual woman’s movement. In contrast, this tempo change for the group created an intimacy between the individual heterosexual couples. This intimacy further isolated the individual women and demonstrated her movement against groups perception of time. The changes in tempo of music and dance movement complimented the third element of dance, dynamics or
The piano is the most commonly known and most used. The saxophone has the ability to produce a unique sound. The clarinet has a reed connected to the mouthpiece, which the player blows through to create music. The trumpet is another a popular instrument. The trombone is descended from the trumpet that’s with played in bass clef or treble clef. With the larger size the double bass, the player usually has to stand up. The drums include the bass drum, snare drum, and cymbals. Last but not least, it’s good to have a vocalist because songs will sound
From left to right you have a: clavichord, piano, and a harpsichord. This shows clearer how similar these instruments are all to each other. The piano however has come a long way from its first creation in the early 1700s. It took less than 20 years before we already started seeing changes. Gotfried Silbermann added the first pedal to the piano. Known for his organ building he added a damper pedal (“Pianonet.com”).. However, due to the Indus...
Besides the emotional aspect, this poem also shows what this time period entailed in literary terms. Artists and authors would often base some of their work on surrounding nature since their bond with the natural world and nature was stronger than a connection they formed with a person. This poem helps us understand the components to Romantic writing in this poem.
The second piece, Paratum Cor Meum, was a much shorter piece with very few lyrics. It was interesting to hear a piece by Haydn, since we had discussed this composer in class. I was impressed by the choir members’ ability to remember words in another language, and I enjoyed the sounds of the piano accompaniment.
We see it in homes, schools, restaurants, and in various other places, but not many people know the changes it had to go through to touch our hearts with the endless possibilities the piano provides. Not many people know the origins and changes the piano has gone through to get where it is today. The truth is it was invented around the year 1700 by Bartolomeo Cristofori DI Francesco. For example, not many people know that the average piano started with sixty-six keys and changed to the average eighty-eight keys. One thing is for sure, pianos have gone through some major changes since they were first made.
Romanticism does not mean laying dreamy-eyed in a field graced with flowers bathed in sunlight. It doesn’t actually refer to romance at it. The movement was about intense personal expression. It signifies a staunch individualist, conveying deep and often uplifting emotions, such as Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony that marked the start of the Romantic era in music (Wilder). Penetrating boundaries was an honorable ambition shared by the inventor...