In this concert, featuring Lola Astanova and Gerard Schwarz, complex understanding of the music was shown. The first piece, ‘the Tsar’s Bride’ by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov, was a historically influenced opera talking about the tsar’s third wife dying almost immediately after her wedding in fifteen-seventy one. The opera was more dramatic than others Rimsky-Korsakov wrote because the main character, the tsar, never sang. He is only known through the orchestra’s music. The opera first premiered in Moscow on November 3, 1899.
The West Virginia Symphony Orchestra played it extremely well. They started out soft, and suddenly got louder, making mini-climaxes. This happened throughout the entire piece, until they reached the second theme-it stopped there, but reappeared in the original theme when it came around the second time. A dramatic point occurs when the brass section suddenly gets louder and overpowers the string section. It settles back into the second theme, and everything gets soft. It keeps on growing until a third theme is introduced. It was played dolce, and the ‘solo’ gets passed over to the woodwinds. They end the piece with a diminuendo and the clarinets finish the piece.
The second piece was Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, opus 35. Little of his music is well known outside of Russia, which is surprising since it’s beautifully written. His operas are almost never performed in the West, and we seem to know him best through his students. He heavily influenced orchestral instrument coloration, and we can see that through other Russian composers’ music. His ability to create music by blending colors remains the greatest part of his legacy.
Scheherazade was finished in 1888 and was first performed in Leipzig the foll...
... middle of paper ...
...C minor, Op.18.
It starts out softly with a strong bass accompaniment to her right hand. However, the orchestra drowns her out. From my seat, I could not hear her playing until she had reached a cadence. Her fingers were flying over the keys. When she reached the Adagio Sostenuto (middle movement), I could hear her better and that was much appreciated. She moved with the music and it really brought out the emotion in her playing. At the end, she ended the piece with a very visual lift off and the crowd went wild.
Overall, this concert was worth going to. The orchestra played very well and it displayed two amazing artists from different regions of the spectrum coming together to make this concert stupendous. I would definitely like to hear more of Gerard Schwarz’s conducting and Ms. Astanova’s piano playing. I will be coming back to the symphony to hear more.
...re the flute returns accompanied by a string sequence. The tonality alternates between major and minor continually. The strings play an arpeggio melody, in major, as the oboe plays a descending chromatic scale with a diminuendo and perfect cadence
The concert that I attended last Friday was an interesting one where I got to have some new experiences and learn about classical music.
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
Each individual player in this orchestra is a soloist of sorts, playing a completely different piece than the musician seated directly next to them or across the stage. Rather than being written as a concerto, this piece, written in three movements, allows for each of the accomplished musicians to display their skill individually though each solo is not brought to the forefront of the piece, creating a what sounds like a disgruntled compilation of individual pieces that come together. This piece both begins ends with the Funeral March of Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony directly tied into the basses, at first it is quiet and difficult to recognize but as the third movement is introduced it becomes more pronounced and evident. Those who were present for this pieces introduction to society were able to see its emotional effect on its composer who had obvious emotional ties to the music. Strauss never showed up to see his work debut instead he attended the dress rehearsal, asked Sacher if he could conduct this work. Strauss was said to have given a beautiful reading of the score that many view as his most...
...xcited to have this experience. Part of the drama of the concert at first is felt when the musicians come in and sit down and begin tuning up their instruments. I would not be able to comment on the performance of the orchestra. During the performance, I seen the audience were moving with the music, but I felt like that everyone seems knows more music than what I learned throughout this semester. After I went home and did some of the research on these music I finally understand why these people like to attend the orchestra concerto, it was because that every piece of music has a history behind it. The Los Angeles audience seemed to me to be people who know music and who will listen to something new in a respectful way. All the same, when the more familiar sounds of the last piece were heard, I could feel a little sense of relaxation and fun coming into the room.
In conclusion, the most enjoyable part of the opera concert was Alexandra’s beautiful angelic voice. She made it seem like singing those pieces was easy. She sounded like a professional with the pronunciation of the Italian and German words, and the articulation of the notes was absolutely incredible.
Sergei Rachmaninoff is considered to be the final, magnificent composer of the Romantic era in Russian classical music, ushering forward its traditions into the twentieth century. His four concertos are a reflection of his development as a composer and pianist, with regard to maturity and compositional style. The evolution of music during the late nineteenth century to early twentieth century had no significant effect on Rachmaninoff; rather he continued to produce ingenious works reflective of his Russian upbringing and the Romantic era.
The first movement is in sonata form - Allegro ma non troppo, un poco maestoso. Strings and horns appear from the distance as if they had been already playing out of earshot. The music gradually intensifies in volume until the final explosion into the first subject. Then this whole process is repeated. The first movement shows a contrast of emotion that seems to return in the recapitulation befor...
On Wednesday, October 26, 2016, there was a combo jazz ensemble that performed at the Florence Kopleff Recital Hall. The jazz ensemble consisted of Josh Holland on trumpet, Andrew Venet on bass, J. Paul Whitehead on piano, and Ryan McDaniel on drums. The songs that they performed that night were; “Blue Bossa” by Joe Henderson, “My Funky Valentine” by Joshua Holland, “My One and Only Love” by Gut Wood, and “Jig-a-Jug” by Joshua Redman. Throughout the night, they played a combination of combo jazz and bossa nova.
As the concert started, the conductor came out and immediately instructed the musicians to begin playing. This was not the beginning of the Symphony, however, it was a warm up. I didn’t know this would happen. The orchestra had already rehearsed for several days and were tuning their instruments as the audience were entering and being seated. I expected them to just start playing the Symphony when the conductor arrived, but instead he was asking musicians to play different measures, and describing to them with imaginative and colorful words how those measures should be played, and how they should sound. Telling the cellists, “you are the Ogres”, and the Violinists “ ha ha ha ha like witches”. It was very interesting to listen to Carl St. Clair instruct his Orchestra. This was not what I was expecting and was a very pleasing aspect of the concert, possibly my favor...
The brass plays an ascending sequence, followed by pizzicato notes played by the strings, and an ascending and descending scale on the harp. Strings and oboe play the rhythmic melody, whilst the trumpet plays fanfares in syncopation. The oboe is then replaced by the flute. There is an ascending scale played by the strings, then the brass section repeats the string and oboe melody with cymbal crashes at cadence points. The orchestra then plays a loud melody with cymbal crashes and drum rolls. There is an interrupted cadence, followed by crescendo with cymbal crashes and a brass ostinato. The piece ends with a perfect cadence.
Rimsky-Korsakov admired Nadezhda's presentation, and found that they had much in common. They shared their beliefs, imaginings, and ideas for the future. In 1871 Nadezhda became Rimsky-Korsakov's fiancee. Two years later Rimsky-Korsakov gave up and resigned his commission to be a naval officer. This was also the year Nikolai presented his first opera. It was a piece long time coming, and a lot of events had happened while he was working on it. For example, he got married, his brother died, and he went on his honey moon. Not specifically in that order. This opera, titled Pskovityanka , was a big hit. The house was always full through the ten performances of this
... then plays allegro passages of semi quavers, accompanied by timpani and descending scales in the woodwind. The clarinet, takes over the main melody whilst the cello accompanies with sequences. The French horn takes over the melody, accompanied by the strings. The flute briefly plays the melody before the cello plays octaves, accompanying the woodwind as they play a reprise of the DSCH theme and the timpani crashes. Repeating the themes in the first movement, the cello plays the DSCH motif followed by the "tate ta, tate ta" rhythm in the strings. The horn then plays the theme in augmentation, whilst the cello plays passages of ascending and descending scales, and the theme is heard again in the strings. The movement builds up with the motif appearing increasingly often in the woodwind and strings and climaxes with octaves by the soloist and a boom from the timpani.
...chestral introduction with an imperfect cadence. A strong rhythmic ¾ allegro passage, with sequences and descending scales is played by the orchestra, with timpani and cymbals. The music modulates, and a short, quiet woodwind passage is then alternated with an orchestral passage with dotted rhythms, creating a `terraced dynamics' effect. Part B begins with a major clarinet melody accompanied by pizzicato strings. A minor flute sequence follows, and is followed by a repetition of the oboe melody. A string sequence is then played, imitated by the oboe. There is a crescendo, then the rhythmic orchestral melody returns, alternated with a short flute passage. There are suspensions, descending scales and a crescendo, followed by a strong rhythmic passage with the timpani playing on the beat. Imperfect cadences are played, before the piece finishes with a perfect cadence.
In conclusion, the concert was really interesting and I enjoyed myself. In my opinion the two pieces that I really like in this concert, are Sounden Horn and Polonaise from Engine Onegin, the shift between the melodic lines and the element of beauty is what made me like it. In the future I would recommend it to my friends and I will not mind to go with them at all. This kind of music is the best to me by far.