Concert in Davies Symphony Hall - Essay Example

Concert review Performers and Pieces performed Numerous professional artists and training performers showed up at the concert and took part in various ensembles. John R. Palmer held the inside music talk thereby providing an objective analysis of the various performances of the night. The musical guru pointed to a number of significant features of the various performance including their histories, original composers, instruments used and the uniqueness of every performance. Such was a significant input that influenced the consumption of the various musical performances of the night since it enhanced the audiences’ understanding of the performances thereby heightening concentration. Pablo Heras-Casado conducted a number of iconic performances. Four of the leading performances of the night included a performance of Concerto No. 9 in E-flat major for Piano and Orchestra, a classical song written by Gottlieb Mozart in 1777. The performance of the classical song was exhilarating as the performers relived the song. They played the various pianos as described by the original composer while playing around with a number of intricate features of the performance with the view to infusing and portraying their creativity. Symphony No. 44 in E minor, Mourning, was yet another performance of the night. Composed by Joseph Haydn, the performance of the piece set the mood for the evening as the performers strived to capture and represent the original themes envisioned in the piece. The performers played a number of musical instruments including violins and succeeded in replaying the piece as intended by the original composer. The other two perfomances of the night were Prelude a’lapres-midi d’ne faune a song originally composed by Claude-Achille Debussy. The classical piece comprised of unique classical French musical instruments such as violin, saxophones and trombone among others. The performers at the concert created realistic ensembles and replayed the piece as envisioned by the original composer. However, they added a number of unique features in their attempt to show their levels of creativity. Symphony in three movements was the other performance of the night. Composed by Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky in 1945, the classic required the use of a number of musical instruments, which the performers succeeded in reliving thereby providing a typical representation of the song as composed.   Type of listener I was an active listener who strived to listen and decipher every beat in the various performances. I followed the tempos of the performances and enjoyed the rhythms created in every performance. I changed my moods and attitudes systematically as the moods of the performances changed a feature that enhanced my concentration in the various performances of the night. I listened in more than one way to different times. Various ensembles played different musical instruments with some playing the same instruments while other playing numerous instruments. Despite such, every performance was unique and produced a number of distinctive beats and melodies. I strived to listen to every unique and conspicuous beat in the various performances in order to decipher the correlation among the beats and the relevance of each musical instrument in every performance. This way, I discovered the correlation among the musical instruments thus the complementary nature of every musical instrument in an ensemble. I followed a long as the various performers pitched their musical instruments and as the short performances changed systematically to create a culturally diverse performance. The four songs for example belonged to a Russian, French, German and Briton. The four composers captured their unique cultures in their works, which the performers strived to represent at the concert. Instruments and voices The symphony concert attracted numerous performance and an even larger number of musical instruments. Different performers played different musical instruments. The instruments included a variety of pianos, drums, violins, bass drums, cymbals, tambourine and xylophone among many others. Each of the musical instruments played integral roles in the composition of the unique works of the night. They produce different sounds and the performers understood such a basic fact thereby employing every instrument strategically with the view to enhancing the coherent stricture of the performances. Every musical ensemble at the concert was unique since the performers used different instruments. Some of the performances used similar instruments such as the piano performance in which the three performers played different pianos. The performers played different notes that complemented each other thereby creating cohesive pieces that communicated effectively. Several other ensembles employed a number of different musical instruments including a set of a variety of drums, violins and xylophones. The orchestras were equally unique with the performers creating entertaining pieces that achieved unity in diversity as they employed every musical instrument strategically to enhance the other instruments thereby creating unique rhythms. Feelings, moods and thoughts The performances of the night took me through a journey of emotions with each performance proving to be better than the previous. The performers maintained classical tempos in their performances while they succeeded in varying the rhythms. The performance began with a Haydn entitled Mourning. Just as the name suggests, the performance created a sad mood with the performers beginning the performance on a slow classical tempo and an equally slow rhythm. The sequence continued progressively as different performers took to the stage. Another equally interesting feature of the performances was the ability of the performers to use a variety of both instrument and voices but achieve unity. Both the voices and the instruments married perfectly given the fact that the performers mastered their respective roles thereby creating cohesive and coherent performances with every instrument and voice complementing each other. A piano performance was among the most exhilarating performances of the evening. The four performers took to the stage and portrayed their musical genius. They created captivating melodies that enhanced the moods of the performance. Just as was the case with various performances of the evening, the performance began in low tempo as the performers strived to capture the attention of their audiences. The melodies began slowly as though classic before changing spontaneously into jazz like beats and ended in beats that resembled those of hip-hop. The transition remained systematic with the performers coordinating appropriating thus achieving the much-desired unity in such performances. The length of every performance of the night remained short. However, the pace of the various performances remained methodological with the hall changing rolls of mallet pounding gently on marimbas to rhythmic piano string and giant toms among numerous other large drums. The diversity of the performances of the night succeeded in taking the audience through a journey of emotions that succeeded in presenting the cultural diversity in the modern day cosmopolitan societies. Personal response I enjoyed the concert. The concert had an exquisite organization that enhanced the success of the entire event. The venue of the hall for example was the spacious Davis Symphony Hall. The elaborate white coloring coupled with the high ceilings created an admirable ambiance for the performance of the evening. Besides the perfect venue, the performances were equally exhilarating. They were both enjoyable and educating. The performances represented the diversity exhibited by different ensembles on stage. Each of the ensembles showed professionalism in their handling of the various musical instruments thereby creating unique entertaining pieces. They achieved unity by using a variety of musical instrument, a feature that typified the professionalism in the use of the musical instruments. As they played, I constantly compared their performances to a number of concepts taught in class and the activities we have taken in drum circle among other groups in class. This way, I relived every moment of the days we spend both in class and at practice thereby providing me with an opportunity to revise my level of expertise in symphony ensembles. Read More