Out-of-Class Concert I attended my first classical music concert on October 19, 2017. This concert was the University of Wyoming Symphony Orchestra’s Opening Night. The performers were the University of Wyoming Symphony Orchestra with a Clarinet Soloist – Blake McGee. It was directed by Dr. Michael Griffith. Our class had previously heard about this particular concert, so I knew what to expect as far a music pieces being played but I have always preferred to have the program in front of me. For this concert, there were two parts with an intermission between them. During the first part, three pieces were played. During the second part, Beethoven’s 6th symphony was played. The first piece in the first half was the Die Fledermaus Overture (1874) …show more content…
2 by Arturo Márquez. The piece starts around mezzo piano with a clarinet and a piano playing. Then another instrument joined in. Then the full orchestra joins in and the piece crescendos. The melody starts relatively slow but as the orchestra joins, the tempo increases. There is not very much pitch variation here and the texture is largely homophonic with parts being played as solos. About midway through the piece, the tempo drastically slows down and the melody gets softer and gentler. The faster part of the piece almost gives the emotion of desperation and escape. When the piece slows down, the mood feels more like a very elegant, very gentle ballroom dance. About three quarters of the way through the piece, the tempo began to pick up again and the music crescendos. The melody gets bolder and more excited. The entire orchestra was heavily involved in this piece with all parts carrying the melody. Even the percussion section and the brass section had a strong presence here. As a dance piece, I was surprised that the beginning was so gentle. As the piece progressed, I found myself more and more intrigued. In my opinion, the piece sounded more like a climactic scene in an action romance movie than a Latin American dance but it was quite enjoyable to listen …show more content…
This symphony was program music which means the music is trying to tell a story rather than just exist. The first movement was light cheerful. As the title, Awakening of Cheerful feelings on arriving in the country, the piece is bright and happy. I believe it was written in a major key because of it’s happy nature. The piece exudes the feeling of spring with all of the flowers in bloom, the birds chirping, and animals playing. The dynamics begin relatively soft and crescendo. They continue to gently decrescendo and crescendo throughout the piece. The pitch stays largely in place and the melody plays over and over again. The strings take most of the melody while the rest of the orchestral families provide softer accompaniment and occasional bird calls. The First movement came completely to an end and the second movement began. Although it was still gentle, the mood wasn’t so much cheerfulness as much as just calmness. The violins played much more legato and piano. The piece was gentle with slight dynamic changes and very little pitch change. The tempo was moderate but the movement as a whole was very calm. After the second movement came to an end, the third movement began. While this was much faster than the second movement, it still exudes an upbeat mood. This movement is much more akin to a morning in which everyone is in a small peasant village and is simply going about their day the movement
...ement started softly with an increase in volume as it progressed. Long strokes of the violas bows and a resonating cellos created a vibrant sound. This was tone movement in which the cellos were so dominant, and it became livelier after the introduction of more instruments creating an exciting climax of the whole piece.
The performance I attended was on campus at Estrella Mountain Community College. The Phoenix Symphony's performance was held February 18th in the Estrella Conference Center. Performers were dressed in essentially matching, clean-cut, black outfits. Chairs for the listeners were placed in neat rows leaving an isle down the center of the room in which the conductor, Marc Dix, walked occasionally. The orchestra was arranged in a "U" shape so the instruments all turned in towards each other. From the audiences' point of view, violins were on the far left, violas, to their right, cellos to their right, and on the far right side stood the double basses. The 1st violinist sat in the second to last chair to the left, and among all this, the concert master stood in the center.
The same line is repeated ecstatically by the quartet, which soars upward to it’s peak. The orchestra and chorus re-enter at a rapid tempo to bring the movement to its conclusion.
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 already been 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 before moving firmly into the minor in the coda, with the movement ending with an emphatic statement based on the first subject.
On Friday, November 15, 2013, I attended a concert that I found very interesting. It took place at 7:30 pm at the First Presbyterian Church of the Covenant. The group performing was the Erie Chamber Orchestra, but as a special the Slippery Rock University Concert Choir was also there. During the performance I attended, two pieces were performed. The first was a Mozart piece by the name of Symphony No. 41.
On Tuesday, October 17, 2017, I attended a musical concert. This was the first time I had ever been to a concert and did not play. The concert was not what I expected. I assumed I was going to a symphony that featured a soloist clarinet; however, upon arrival I quickly realized that my previous assumptions were false. My experience was sort of a rollercoaster. One minute I was down and almost asleep; next I was laughing; then I was up and intrigued.
...ers and the audience. The dramatic nature of this piece alone is something to be reckoned with as it is extremely passionate. The symphony is presented in 4 movements as is common and begins with a Poco Sostenuto- Vivace, followed by a Allegretto movement, Presto movement, and finally ends on an Allegro con brio movement. the central theme of this piece is introduced in the first movement by a flute playing in tripple meter continuously ascending up the scales rising in dynamic contrast, continuing to grow into a louder and more stark contrast between it’s highs and lows. Consistently dance like, the piece is celebratory of its roots buried in historical Austrian music that has been present in the culture for years. The accomplishments of the soldiers for which the piece was composed for are easily told of simply by the energy and power present throughout the piece.
3 is the second movement of the piece. It lasts around five minutes of the total 22 minutes of the whole Orchestral Suite. Air is written for Trumpet, timpani, oboe, violin, viola and continuo. It is written in major key. The meter is duple, and I would dare to say that it is quadruple. The texture is polyphonic. It has a slow tempo and there is no presence of accelerando nor ritardando. The harmony is consonant. Melody is conjunct and peaceful. Has a lot of repetition. The melody is consistent. The string instruments are prodminant whereas the timpani and oboe just go along with the melody. Esta es una pieza sencilla binaria; claramente no hay devolución del material melódico apertura en la segunda parte del
Dance: The large percussion section, with timpani and snare rolls opens this section, along with the woodwind. The flute plays an atonal allegretto melody, accompanied by a rhythmic ostinato by the percussion section. There is a crescendo as more instruments join the accompaniment and the strings take over the melody. The music climaxes with the brass playing the melody, still accompanied by the ostinato and the triangle. The strings play the melody again as different percussion instruments are used. There is a crescendo again with brass fanfares and snare rolls. There then is a rallentando with the percussion section.
The Symphony Orchestra concert was preformed by The OU School of Music with Jonathan Shames as a conductor and they presented Sutton Concert Series. In addition, the Orchestra concert performed at Paul F. Sharp Concert Hall in October 12, 2015.There were like forty-one performers on the stage including the conductor using different types of instruments and and all of them were wearing a nice black clothes. The stage was a quite large with wooden floor and there were two floors for the audience with a comfortable seating. However, all the performers were on round shape and against the conductor.
It is best known for its’ third movement titled “Clair de lune.” The first movement, called Prelude, is very light and legato; similar to the mood of Clair de lune. The second and fourth movements provide quite the contrast, they are more lively and contain much staccato. It is because of this
On Wednesday, June 14, 2017, I had the pleasure of watching the Chicago Symphony Orchestra perform Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Opus 125 by Ludwig Van Beethoven. The original performance was recorded and put on YouTube, May 7, 2015, in honor of its first premier 191 years before when Beethoven decided to share his 9th Symphony with the world even though he couldn’t hear it himself. The symphonic masterpiece was recorded at the beautiful Symphony Center Orchestra Hall in Chicago and conducted by Riccardo Muti. The performance was completely deserving of selling out every single seat for one hour and twenty-two minutes. In fact, the musicians did not disappoint, Stephen Williamson was in the first clarinet chair, alongside colleagues Mathieu
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.
For this concert report I chose to go to a performance of student composers held at the Kimball Recital Hall. I chose this one because I wanted to see some of the talent that my peers have in the music realm, and also it was one of the only concerts I have been able to attend because I usually work at night. It was impressive to hear pieces composed by students. I cannot imagine creating something as complex as a musical composition, much less actually performing it, so this aspect of the concert was particularly awe-inspiring. There was a large attendance, and I think that much of the audience consisted of friends of the composers and/or performers. I went with three friends, who I convinced by telling it would be interesting to see student composers.
... 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.