"Being Deeply Loved by Someone Gives you Strength, While Loving Someone Deeply Gives you Courage" ~ Lao Tzu
Dear Journal:
Below, my concerto report that I wrote last year for my music class. When I say I love ALL MUSIC! I mean that! I listen to classical music all the time and not only do I listen to it, I grab my four year old daughter and her and I will dance to it......... WE BOTH LOVE IT VERY MUCH!
Concerto
Report
The
Conservatory Orchestra at Brooklyn College’s Whitman Theater. Thursday,
November 3, 2011. George Rothman Conductor. Jeffrey Biegel piano.
The
performance consisted of three works. These pieces were by composers Richard
Wagner 1813 - 1883, Franz Liszt 1811 - 1886 and Bela Bartok, 1881 - 1945. Richard Wagner was a “German composer,
conductor, music theorist and essayist mainly known for his opera’s”[1] Wagner’s
piece Die Meistersinger overture, was the first composition played. This overture
was written for an opera set in the sixteenth century in Nuremberg. The opera
is a comedy about a man who falls in love with a woman whose father wishes her
to marry the winner of a singing contest held by the Guild of the
Mastersingers. The man wins the contest and the hand of the woman he
loves. Wagner is famous for the use of leitmotiv which is a “short theme
associated with a person, object or idea”[2]
Franz
Liszt, 1811 - 1886 was a composer and pianist among other things. Liszt, was originally from Raiding, Hungary
but made his musical career in Weimar, Germany. He was best known for
reconceiving traditional forms and was also credited for inventing (symphonic
poem) the piece that was heard in the concerto, was Liszt’s Piano Concerto No.
1 in E-flat major. This piece was described as “gleaming, extroverted,
thrilling virtuosic.” Liszt originally made this composition around 1835 but he
made many revisions to it. The piece follows “radically innovative and
reliant” form. “On classical models: it unfolds as a single continuous
drama, yet comprises four discrete sections that mimic the movements of a
Classical symphony (fast, slow, scherzo, fast).”[3]
Bela
Bartok, 1881 - 1945 was born in an area of Hungary that is now called
Romania. Bartok was a concertizing pianist, a piano teacher at the
Budapest Academy of Music and a pioneer in the study of Eastern European Folk
music.[4] In 1873 the Buda, Obuda and Pest were united
to create the metropolis of Budapest. Fifty years later the municipal
authority commissioned Bartok as one of the composers to compose works
celebrating the anniversary of the same. For this grand occasion, Bartok
composed the Dance Suite: Moderato, Allegro moto, Allegro vivace, Molto
tranquillo, Comodo - Finale. Bartok would not reveal the sources of his
new works inspiration, because part of his inspiration for this work was that
of Arabic and Romanian folk music. He later said that the reason for
doing this was to “put together a kind of idealized peasant music-you could
say an invented peasant music - in such a way that the individual movements of
the work would introduce particular types (i.e. ethnic) of music.”[5]
I
enjoyed listening to this Orchestra tremendously. I was very impressed
with the fact that my school has such an amazing venue as I have never before
attended anything at the school; I was really proud to be a student at
Brooklyn College. I sat down feeling a bit nervous about what I would
write since I have never written a music report before. I got my book and
pen out wondering what I should be taking notes about. I was not sure what I would say. At first, I sat there and watched as the
players began to tune there instruments, I heard different pitch sounds coming
from the violins the flutes the clarinets and oboe. Once the players were done tuning their respective instruments, the conductor came out and everyone
began to applaud, the orchestra rose and sat back down. When the music
began to play I was just entranced by the wonderful succession of fixed pitches
that made the melody feel smooth and calming but that went straight to my
heart. Listening to it made me feel very sad, I thought about
someone who I loved and began to cry. It was extremely emotional being
there listening to the sounds that reminded me of Kings, Queens and love.
I got chills and felt taken away to a fairytale world where our love would be
possible.
After
a few minutes the music became very excited and loud the harmony was
different. It sounded like a call and response from the violins to the
clarinets I think. This part reminded me of cartoons and so I stopped
crying and began to feel like a kid again. I was relaxed and began to imagine
Tom running after Jerry in the children’s cartoon Tom and Jerry, I
smiled. The music went on for what seemed like forever, but I was
enjoying every moment of it. As it was coming to an end, the sound was
loud and excited, all the instruments were played in unison and loud, it
produced excitement and then it stopped. It was really a great piece.
The
next piece was the Piano Concerto. The Piano Concerto was lovely; I
thought I was only going to hear the piano, but to my surprise it started out with
the other instruments playing and then the piano responding to them. The
musical texture was rough at first and felt as if the piano was being played in
a rough manner, but then the piano slowed down and it sounded low and
soothing. At one point you were able to hear each piano key one after the
other almost in order. I was really amazed by the way Mr. Biegel was one
with the piano and how at times the piano almost sounded like a bell
ringing. It was amazing to watch him play, because you could tell that he
was one with his piano. He felt the music in his body and he was lost in
his moment; simply amazing and mesmerizing.
Finally,
Bartok’s Dance Suite. This piece was really exciting as well. For
some reason listening to this reminded me of indian movies, when they are in
horses in a desert somewhere chasing something or being chased. I really
enjoyed all four of the pieces and at some points the sounds were so relaxing I
felt sleepy and calm. But then the tone color would become hard and I
would feel excited again and up and attentive. The whole time everything
that was happening was unexpected and there were times that I did not know what
to feel because it went back and forth from one harmony to the next
unexpectedly.
I
really enjoyed this orchestra and plan on attending another one sometime
soon. I also plan on bringing my children next time so that they can
learn how to appreciate this genre of music. These pieces were all
amazing but I have to admit that my favorite was Wagner’s piece. I guess
I am a sucker for fairytales and romance.
[1] CUNY Blackboard Academic
Suite, Music Language History & Culture Course Documents, Wagner, Richard
[2] Program Notes – Wagner, Richard
[3] Program Notes – Liszt, Franz
[4] CUNY Blackboard Academic
Suite, Music Language History & Culture, Course Documents, Bartok, Bela
[5] Program Notes - Bartok, Bela
Richard Wagner - Die Meistersinger overture
