Britten Orchestra Analysis

When reviewing the video performance of Britten’s Young Persons Guide to the Orchestra, I found it to be very difficult to describe and interpret since I am listening to this type of music with discretion for the very first time. To a trained ear, I would think that this piece could be considered great musicianship simply based upon the many variations that are heard throughout the piece. Since variations are described as a type of form and form being the organizing principle in music, the element of variation could either make or break the piece if it is executed poorly. I believe that the variation should form the difference that organizes the music to sound like one themed piece of work versus many pieces of work patched together and

There were a lot of instruments you could hear when you first listened to this piece. The first instruments that I heard right away were the violins, flutes, and oboes. As I kept listening I noticed the clarinets, bassoons, cello, viola, and the French horn. The instruments that seemed like they were the most important in this piece were the violins, because they started the piece and through-out the rest of the piece they were always there being the main part of this piece.

This journal is about the musical piece composed by a man named Benjamin Britten titled The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra. This piece was surprisingly interesting to me as it created different feelings of emotions through the instruments volume, sync, and rhythm. I do like various instrumental styles of music, however, I was hesitant about listening to a classical style orchestra. Throughout the piece it seemed the sounds would constantly change, which reminded me of the early black and white cartoons that relied on classical style music to show the emotions they were trying to make the audience feel. For example, I remember a scene from an episode of the old cartoon Popeye, when there was fast paced instrumental music in the background while Popeye was saving Olive Oyl from a dangerous situation and they both were running to get to safety. The xylophone from Bitten’s composition is what made me think of that exact episode of Popeye and Olive Oly running to get to safety.

The audience was wrapped in the complexity and intensity that radiated in this piece. This was due to the disjunct melody, as the piece sounded generally uneven, with recurring wide leaps as the piece had a wide range. It was mesmerizing, watching the technique and fast pace hand movements. Furthermore, the song had a general homophonic texture as there was a clear dominant melody being played, with a few different chords supporting the melody. Despite there being a few tempo changes as the song alternated in pace, the piece sustained a duple meter, emphasizing on the jazz rhythm. The uniqueness of the piece was especially brought out through the frequent dissonance harmony, which made the piece more interesting to listen to. The piece had an overall free rhythmic feel, allowing the combination of distinctive rhythms and dynamics into a unique melody. The timbre of the piano matched the style of music as it was successful in giving the jazzy tone to the piece. Nevertheless, I think that the use of a full orchestra is more successful in delivering the full jazz melody as each instruments timbre provides an interesting influence on the

The Grinnell Symphony Orchestra’s concert with cowboy singer Dave Stamey was billed as an intriguing and thought-provoking junction between the genres of classical and Western. The mix of traditional cowboy music and orchestral arrangement had the potential to highlight the strengths of the performers and genres; it was certainly interesting to hear songs typically performed solo being played with a full orchestra, but a number of red flags popped out immediately and ended up spoiling the experience. Poor planning and a failure to be conscious of cultural politics ultimately left a bad taste in my mouth. Factors unrelated to this intersection of genres – rehearsal timing, audience demographics, and Dave Stamey’s racist habits and mannerisms – ended up highlighting the negative instead.

The first song played from the Orchestra was Infernal Dance. The whole orchestra plays a loud chord to show the intensity of the piece. The rhythm of this movement is syncopation due to the rhythm not being on the beat. This makes the strong beat weak, thus giving a chilling ambience. Infernal Dance then transitions to the soothing movement Berceuse. Berceuse is a lullaby played by the bassoon. The Orchestra concludes the concert with Finale. Finale is the finishing piece of The Firebird and uses one french horn for the melody in a dynamic of piano. The whole orchestra soon joins in creating a hymn like choral. Instead of ending with a grand note, the brass takes the melody at a faster pace developing a celebratory ending. With its uneven rhythmic and extravagant arrangement this Suite fashions a spellbinding

After this continued for a little while, a sort of twirling sound began to arise and then fall back into the same melody that was at the beginning of the movement but this time it had sounds almost like footsteps along with the beat. Again, something evil seems to arise and has a dark feeling to it and then it slowly fades out, almost like it’s waiting for something to happen. Then you begin to hear a soft tip toeing for a little while as it becomes louder and louder and everyone in the orchestra starts to play in a monophony, which is the same notes at the same time. Then the chasing sounds begin along with the same melody that was at the beginning of the movement. It starts to get faster and faster and you begin to hear horns as the composition

Strings and horns can be heard here and are playing vigorously. The entire orchestra joins in and there is a constant tempo with varying dynamics and changes in pitch. Next, the strings are the predominant instruments [5:35] with cymbals crashing indicating a chaotic tone. You can also hear some of the oboe and bassoon march being played, this time stronger than before indicating more power. Brass is now heard as the dominant instruments playing [6:17], then the strings join in and are also playing very quickly.

Britten’s The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra is broken up into many sections. This allows someone with no prior experience listening to orchestras to understand the different instrumental sections. The piece begins with broad sections, continues with individual instruments, and ends demonstrating musical vocabulary. Each variation showcases different instruments ranging from the woodwinds to the percussion.

One Classical Evening was arranged by selecting composers, one from each of the classical music eras. We begin with an overture

Benjamin Britten’s real first name is Edward. He was born November 22nd, 1913 and died December 4th, 1976. He was an English composer, conductor and pianist. He was a central figure of the twentieth century British classical music, with a range of works including opera, other vocal music, orchestral and chamber pieces. His best-known works include the opera Peter Grimes which was in 1945. He was born in Lowestoft, Suffolk, England. Britten composed as a child and at the age of 12 began several years of study under the composer and teacher Frank Bridge. He later studied under John Ireland and Arthur Benjamin. Benjamin Britten studied at the Royal College of music in London. Benjamin is also known as Baron Britten of Aldeburgh. Aldeburgh, England

Benjamin Britten was born on November 22, 1913 in Lowestoft, United Kingdom. He was an English composer, conductor and pianist. . Benjamin Britten went to America before the World War II.After Benjamin Britten had pneumonia he was three months old and struggled with his health throughout his life and was also sensitive by critisism.In 1939, Britten and Pears sailed to North America as friends, eventually falling in love and starting a relationship, In 1940. He married Edith Rhoda. At the age ten he started taking viola lessons from Audrey Alston, one of his mother’s friends, who had been a professional musician before her marriage. She encouraged young Benjamin to attend symphony concerts. Britten won several awards

This piece starts with dark sounds which transitions to warm sounds. This shows the struggle between the light and darkness. The ensemble starts very quietly in a dark and brooding manner that slowly crescendos to overtake the soloist. The woodwinds have a lifted melody that was the perfect balance of articulation and intonation. The entire band plays what is supposed to be a very powerful part but lack air support. The sound produced sounds like the players are out of breath and is not accented enough. There is a grand pause and then they play a variation of what was just played this time with much more air and better accents. The sounds drop suddenly as the percussion and woodwinds blend producing a sound like one instrument. Throughout this section the balance and blending is very good with a clear melody and tone. There were a few places where there seem to be missed articulation but other than that this dark section is very clean. The piece switches to a portion that sounds almost Russian due to the speed and rhythm that is overtaken by darkness again. The clarinets and trumpets get off each other slightly towards the end but quickly recover. The clarinet solo mimics the vocal solos pitch while sounding less majestic. Slowly all the parts join in to crescendo slowly with very dissonant sounds; this leads into a very powerful release with bell

Following this climactic section, the cello leads a duet with the first violin in measure fifty-five. The duet, accompanied by the second violin and viola, mimics cello part of the poco agitato section in the exposition, but now in style of an inverted fugue (marked in blue). The combining of the exposition’s themes suggest that measure fifty-five to the end of the movement is, collectively, the

I observed Wind Orchestra’s rehearsal on March 17th, from 4:00pm to 5:30pm, conducted by Dr. Hunt. Before rehearsal starts, all instrumentalists went over one scale and arpeggios and chromatic. and they tuned their instruments in A and Bb.