La Jolla Symphony Essay

In Emily St. John Mandel’s novel, Station Eleven, a terrifyingly powerful virus called the “Georgia Flu” sweeps across the world taking out almost every victim it touches. A team of musicians, actors, and backstage members make their way across a pandemic stricken land while hunting, performing, and surviving. They call themselves the “Traveling Symphony”. They’ve been traveling since nearly the beginning of the pandemic, finding and losing members as they go. Throughout the novel, there are several plot lines which run in different directions throughout different time periods, but one consistent theme that ties each twisting plot together throughout the entire novel is that “survival is insufficient”, a quote adopted from Star Trek.

Born Dmitri Dmitrievich Shostakovich on the 25th September, 1906, in St. Petersburg, Russia, the composer began his descent into classical music at the age of 9, before later moving on to study at the Petrograd conservatory. Throughout his life he compiled 15 symphonies, 15 string quartets and 36 film scores as well as many other compositions. Within his musical work and the course of his career Shostakovich managed to both adhere to traditions set within classical music as well as dissent from them, I will be exploring these.

Some of the most well known composers came to be in the in the classical music period. Ludwig van Beethoven was one of the composers, along with other greats of the time like Haydn and Mozart, which helped to create a new type of music. This new music had full rich sounds created by the new construction of the symphony orchestra.

For my Cultural Event I had the opportunity to attend the UTEP symphony orchestra concert. This concert took place at the fine arts center in UTEP. I choosed to attend this event for a variety of different reasons. First of all, it was a fine arts event, and secondly, I love listening to classical music that orchestras typically perform. I was in orchestra for a number of years during my elementary and middle school education. Unfortunately, I stopped playing in High School in which I regret drastically. I enjoy hearing all the instruments play different parts of the music piece and at the end they all create a beautiful master piece.

The orchestra performed passionately and precisely with perfect synchronization. The dramatic crescendos and decrescendos really brought out the emotions of each piece. The first piece performed was called “Don Juan” (1888-1889) and started off fast paced and suspenseful. Composed by Richard Strauss (1864-1949), the piece had a lot of dissonance within it. There were times when the piece would slow down gradually then suddenly speed up, returning back to its original pacing. Each instrumental section could be heard precisely and no one section overwhelmed another. The conductor stood out the most during the performance and excellently controlled the pacing and tone of the piece. His exotic movements seemed excessive at first, but I began to realize that he was simply passionate about the

Symphony No.5 in C minor, ensembles work by German composer Ludwig Van Beethoven. Generally perceived by the unfavorable four note opening theme frequently translated as the musical appearance of “fate knocking at the door.”

I saw a Beethoven concert online which took place on May 7th, 2015 in Chicago, to celebrate the anniversary of Beethoven’s glorious masterpiece Symphony 9. The concert was a classical concert which was conducted by Ricardo Muti who has remained a conductor for Philharmonica orchestra (London), and Philadelphia Orchestra. The concert was directed by Duain Wolfe who is and Americal Chorale conductor as well as the founder Colorado Symphony and the Colorado Children’s chorale. . Some of the artists who participated in the Orchestra were Camilla Nylund (played soprano), Ekaterina Gubanova (played mezzo-soprano), Matthew Polenzani (played tenor), Eric Owens (played bass-baritone), and the rest of the artists were from Chicago Symphony Orchestra. All the musicians were dressed formally in black suits with white shirts, or black dresses. The symphony was played in four movements: Allegro ma non troppo, un poco maestoso, Scherzo: Molto vivace, Adagio molto e cantabile, Finale: Ode to Joy.

I have never had any sort of chance to see an orchestra or symphony play until Saturday February 6th, 2016 when I went to the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and I have to say it was quite the experience. During this event, Krzysztof Urbanski conducted Music from 2001: A Space Odyssey which was a 1968 film which was popularly known for its use of classical music.

Kandinsky took inspiration from music, especially the works of Richard Wagner. In a sense, the lines and shapes in his work attempt to evoke a level of emotion similar to that evoked by fine music. To Kandinsky, a complex work of art was similar to a symphony. Composition VII is truly a symphony for the eyes of the viewer. Inspired to create art that communicated a universal sense of spirituality, Kandinsky introduced a pictorial language that was related to the outside world and at the same time expressed the artist’s experiences.

The concert “Heroes Among Us” took place on March 25, 2017 at 7:30pm at Huff Concert Hall at Methodist University. The guest conductor was Dina Gilbert. The symphony performed a few pieces. The first was Fanfare for the common man by Copland. The second was Lieutenant Kije Suite, op. 90 with 3 movements 1st Birth of Kije, 2nd Romance, and 4th Troika. Third was Small suite for a Hero by Simon Leclerc. Fourth was Game of Thrones main theme by Ramin Djawadi arr. Simon Leclerc. Finally after intermission they performed Symphony No. 3, OP.55, “Eroica” with four movements 1st Allegro con brio, 2nd Marcia funebre: Adagio assai, 3rd Scherzo: Allegro vivace-Trio, and 4th Finale: Allegro molto. This concert was very well organized and the music perfectly executed in my opinion.

According to Levy, David Benjamin, the premiere of Symphony No. 9 involved the largest orchestra ever assembled by Beethoven. The classical orchestra was quite small and it was about 40 members. But Beethoven’s ninth requested up to 70 members. Its orchestra was unusually massive, and it was extraordinary.

The early piano sonatas of Beethoven deserve special mention. Although his first published examples of concertos and trios and the first two symphonies are beneath the masterpieces of Mozart and Haydn, the piano sonatas bear an unmistakably Beethovian stamp: grandiose in scope and length, and innovative in their range of expression. The sonatas were able to move expression from terrible rage to peals of laughter to deep depression so suddenly. Capturing this unpredictable style in his music, a new freedom of expression which broke the bounds of Classical ideals, was to position Beethoven as a disturbed man in the minds of some of his contemporaries. Furthermore, he was to be seen as the father of Romanticism and the single most important innovator of music in the minds of those after him. (Bookspan 27).

Thesis: Wolfgang Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 in G minor has been admired and analyzed numerous times. Although it has been criticized by many, I believe deeply interpreting this piece will aid in a better understanding of the music during the Classical

The concert that I went to was Masterworks Series in BargeMusic, New York City’s floating concert hall, located in Brooklyn. It was a classical chamber music concert, compose by two instruments of the string family of cello, and violin and in the percussion section the piano. The selections played at the concert were; Barber(1910-1981) Sonata for Cello and Piano in C minor, Op.6. Beethoven (1770-1827) Sonata in C Major, Op 102 No.1. Weber-Piatigorsky(1786-1826) Sonata No 5 in A Major, Op.10b, J.103, and last but not the least Beethoven(1770-1827) Piano Trio in E-flat Major, Op.70 No.2. During the concert there was a small intermission of about 15-20 minutes. I really liked the concert, but what I loved the most was the final set in Piano Trio

The concert that I watched included the Berlin Philharmonic’s performances of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4 in B-flat Major, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92. Both of these pieces were written in Beethoven’s second period of composition, during which he began to pull away from Classical ideals (although from time to time still drawing influence from them) in exchange for what were cornerstones of the evolving Romantic movement. Both of these symphonies consist of a full orchestra with a conductor. Many tenets of Beethoven’s compositional style manifest themselves in these two symphonies; most broadly the sense of urgency that comes from his use of almost all musical elements possible, from the vastness of register, to syncopation, to accentuation and tonal dissonances. In particular, these two symphonies are best observed as studies in contrast, as they are very dynamically and rhythmically focused; even at the expense of main melodic ideas. Even though they are not necessarily hallmarks of the organic growth of a thematic idea, their sheer rhythmic drive and stamina over long periods of time makes them especially noteworthy as two great Romantic symphonies.