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...
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...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.
Overall, I was very impressed by the concert and I feel that the rest of the audience was also impressed. The expectations for the members of the Chamber Orchestra are high and those were met, but I feel that the expectations for the choral group were not as high. My expectations for the choir were not very high and they were immensely exceeded. The level of talent in that group was something that I was really not expecting at all.
...ts had. I particularly enjoyed Benjamin Bloomfield as baritone soloist; he had such tremendous intensity and power to his voice, and his abilities are something the likes of which I have never heard in person before. I did enjoy Brahm’s Requiem, but would’ve preferred if more of the concert consisted of English pieces, as the language barrier prevented me from understanding exactly what the composer’s intentions were. As a college student, I did not like the price of the concert, costing 20 dollars when purchased online. This concert has introduced me to a new form of live musical entertainment, and I now plan on attending similar performances in the future. I would recommend this concert and any other performance by the Rochester Oratorio Society to anyone interested in experiencing something new. Overall this concert was certainly worth every penny and then some.
...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.
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.
I chose to do my concert critique on Eric Clapton-MTV unplugged full concert-HQ January 16, 1992 at Bray Film Studios in Windsor, England. Eric Clapton is my favorite rock n roll singer which has a mixture of genres. The concert was inside and on stage. The audience was seated up close to the stage which made the atmosphere comfortable; Eric and the band showed much warmth and connected with the crowd it wasn’t like the band was untouchable.
The 17th annual Sphinx Orchestra Finals Competition Concert has changed my perspective on classical music. I fully enjoyed the performance and might even consider going to next year’s performance. The young musician upheld incredible talent and the orchestra was just as unbelievable. I applaud the Sphinx Orchestra for putting on such a miraculous performance that anyone would enjoy a classical concert.
...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.
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...
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.
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 piece opens with an allegro, minor melody with cymbal crashes and timpani rolls. There is a short pause then a major trill. Harp glissandos then accompany a legato oboe melody, which is repeated with a pizzicato string bass. The melody is then repeated by the whole orchestra. There is a crescendo with the tim...
...re was very interesting transitions between the variation, for example, string section plays the variation from low to high, when they reach the highest note, the brass family takes over and continue with the scale and make it more higher. Tremolo style was used in this piece, which is a quick ups and downs stroke mode. The music were very soothing and attracted the audience. Lastly, they end the piece with the same variations that was played at the beginning.
Nikolai Myaskovsky (1881-1950) was considered one of the three most important composers in the Soviet Union, together with his friend Sergei Prokofiev and Dmitri Shostakovich. He was awarded the Stalin Prize five times, more than any other Russian composers. His music composition on symphony played a remarkable role in the music history of Soviet Union, and made unsurpassable contributions to the development of Soviet music. He was therefore called the “Father of the Soviet Symphony”. The end of 20th century to the beginning of 21st century is the peak proliferation period of Soviet music. This featured not only the enrichment of music forms and genres, but also further development of symphony music with adding timbres on the basis of traditional music. Myaskovsky composed a large amount of excellent works during this period, including his 27 symphonies, which therefore made him known as a master of symphony. Most of these symphony works derived from Soviet’s real life at the time, and reflected the social background and status, and therefore embedded considerable theoretical significance and practical significance in the content.
This piece of music composed by Tchaïkovski is very emotionally powerful. The composition is based on the Shakespeare’s play called Romeo and Juliet and put in music the main events of the story.
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