Night at the Symphony

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Night at the Symphony The first reason why I chose to go to the Seattle Symphony production on February 17th, 1998 was that the resources of the featured artists and the conductor Maximiano Valdes were quite plentiful. It was quite easy to find information on the conductor using the library and even the Internet. In fact, Valdes current place of employment, that being the music director of Buffalo Philharmonic has a detailed web page and history of Valdes, including his place of birth and significant accomplishments up to present. With all this information available, the writing of this paper would be significantly easier. Upon arriving at the production, there was an announcement that Maximiano Valdes would in fact not be conducting the Seattle Symphony that night, but a replacement by the name of Jorge Mester would. The announcement was surprising, but the biggest shock was after the concert when the information sought on Mr. Mester was very limited. The information that could be found on Mr. Mester was that the man was quite accomplished, and winner of various awards. Some of the major accomplishments were that of being the current Artistic Director of the National Orchestral Association's New Music Project and winner of the prestigious Naumberg Prize. The Seattle Symphony production that I attended February 17th lasted approximately just over a two hours. It started promptly at 7:30 and had a brief 20-minute intermission at 8:30. Not including the intermission, the concert could primarily be divided into three parts. Each of the three parts was different in composer, texture, volume, and instruments used. Although all the parts of the performance where very well done, the second was just exceptional, as ... ... middle of paper ... ...duction that I attended on the night of February 17th was not my first experience with classical music, it was however the first symphony production greatly enriched by the knowledge that I have picked up as a result of the class Music 100. Although my family has a deep appreciation for classical music, and mine is just beginning, the Seattle Symphony production certainly brought many of the musical ideas and terms such as texture and clarity to life. The three works featured February 17th, Johannes Brahms' Tragic Overture, Edward Elgar's cello in E-minor, and Sergey Prokofiev's Symphony Number 6 in E-flat minor were new music that I have not been exposed to. Also the treat of hearing the work of world renounced guest cellist, Antonio Meneses was without doubt a treat. I much enjoyed this Seattle Symphony production and would like to attend another in the future.

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