Symphony 1 Concert Report

At 0:46 they introduce the first orator/conductor by the name of Michael Tielsson Thomas. Everyone applauds him. He explains what the audience will be in for for the evening. Then, clips of some of the orchestra members appear on the wall via projection. At 07:15 the orchestra then begins to play Allegro giocoso from Symphony No.4 in E minor, Op. 98 by Johannes Brahms from the Baroque Period. It was written in Austria by 1880s. The symphony is scored for two flutes (one doubling on piccolo), two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani, triangle and strings.

Johannes Brahms was one of the first German composers to grow alongside the musical canon and "musical museum." He had a familiarity with established composers including Beethoven, Haydn, and J.S. Bach. Beethoven's legacy of masterworks intimidated Brahms-over 60 percent of orchestra performances comprised of Beethoven's works-and even asserted that he would "never compose a symphony" (Frisch 178). Critics were harsh on new symphonies, comparing them to Beethoven, Mozart, and Haydn's masterworks, and it was not until his forties when he wrote his first symphony. Brahms' symphonies were influenced by specific past musical masterworks, including J.S. Bach's Partita for Solo Violin No. 2 and the Finale of Beethoven's Eroica, and while not particularly interesting at first, his symphonies were well-received by the audience and

Ludwig van Beethoven-Symphony No. 9 performed by the Frankfurt Radio Orchestra on May 9, 2016, was an amazing concert to view with the many pitches and ranges of the instruments and vocalists. I enjoyed the concert more than I thought would. As I am writing this report, I am listening to it once again. This concert report reveals what I saw and heard during the concert with any significant observations.

On Friday, 27 November 2015 in Houston the Two Star Symphony performed Field of Light in the foreground. I was very anxious to attend. Bruce Munro appeared as concertmaster.

This concert is performed in the Avery Fisher hall within the Lincoln Center in New York City. It was performed on July 29, 2008. The orchestra that is performing is the 42nd Mostly Mozart Orchestra. The conductor is Louis Langrée. The two pieces being performed in this concert is Mozart's Symphony No. 40 and Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde.

None of the other three symphonies by Brahms is there a happy balance of freshness of inspiration with technical mastery and maturity. This is also a hard

Schumann's wife, the composer and pianist Clara, wrote in her diary about his first visit, that Brahms was “one of those who comes as if straight from God. – He played us sonatas, scherzos etc. of his own, all of them showing exuberant imagination, depth of feeling, and mastery of form ... what he played to us is so masterly that one cannot but think that the good God sent him into the world ready-made. He has a great future before him, for he will first find the true field for his genius when he begins to write for the orchestra.”.

Thus, the musical elements used in this symphony were typical for what a classical composer would do. The elements that Brahms used were extremely similar to what Beethoven and Wagner would do if they were to compose. However, Brahms did this symphony his own. Brahms First Symphony in C minor has a dark mood in the beginning of the piece, however the mood changes into a joyful piece as he shifts from minor to major keys. It becomes brighter, yet still retains the powerful tone throughout the whole symphony. With the uses of timbre, rhythm, and musical texture, this symphony shows the genius and talent of Johannes Brahms.

I went to see All Beethoven at the Hollywood Bowl on Thursday, July 16. This concert featured Los Angeles Philharmonic and violin soloist Martin Chalifour under the leadership of conductor Bramwell Tovey. LA Phil is an outstanding, awarded symphony orchestra that performs at the Hollywood Bowl and Walt Disney Concert Hall all year round. Martin Chalifour is a well known solo violinist while serving as the Principal Concertmaster of the LA Phil. Last but not least, Bramwell Tovey is a Grammy-winning conductor who had been conducting many other orchestras beside the LA Phil.

A symphony is an extended classical composition for an orchestra, found in Western Art Music. It often consists of four separate and unique, sections known as movements which are, in some way however, related to one another. The symphony as a genre began developing during the late 17th century and continued to do so up until the late 18th century. This important genre of Western Art Music is closely related to the development of the orchestra. It is therefore critical, in understanding the symphony, to investigate the development of the orchestra.

On September 30th, I had the pleasure of attending the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra at the Fisher Auditorium. We walked in quietly to the back row of our section because the show had already started, so it would have been rude to walk up to where our actual seats were. As we took our seats the orchestra sat up there in the beautiful auditorium dressed in their all black formal attire holding their various instruments including the woodwinds, strings, brass, and percussions. The orchestra was in the middle of playing Symphony No. 8 in F major, Opus 93. This symphony included 5 compositions that were all very similar to each other. In most of the compositions they took the audience on a roller coaster ride. The rhythm of the compositions would

The performance of the Symphony No.9 by Beethoven, conducted by Lenard Bernstein, was a magnificent piece that captured all the emotion of the people, from the sorrow of those lost in the war to the joy of the freedom they had just acquired. This piece was placed in Berlin to celebrate the uniting of East and West Germany. It was performed in the restored Schauspiel house, which had been completely destroyed during the war. It was restored to be one of the world’s finest concert halls. This performance was such a large, historic event that it was televised in over 20 different countries. Lenard Bernstein even took this event as seriously as to change the lyrics of the last movement from the German word for “joy” to the German word for “freedom” to commemorate the momentous occasion.

I attended the concert of Anton Nel and Bion Tsang at Bates Recital Hall on Friday night, April 15, 2016. Anton Nel played piano and Bion Tsang played cello. The concert lasted about an hour and thirty minutes. The performers total performed three Sonata by different composers, but my favorite one is the first one, which is Sonata in C major, Op.102, No. 1, composed by Ludwig Van Beethoven.

On the afternoon of November 23rd, there was a performance by the USF Symphony Orchestra at the USF Concert Hall. Their performance, which was masterful from beginning to end, featured guest artists Jay Hunsberger on the tuba and Dolly Roberts on the harp.

I attended the West Virginia University Symphony Orchestra Concert which was held on Thursday the 25th of February 2016. It was hosted within West Virginia University’s Creative Arts Center at the Lyle B. Clay Concert Center. The concert started at 7:40 pm, 10 minutes after the scheduled time, lasting for close to two hours. The concert consisted of four pieces; “Hebrides Overture”, “Concerto in D Major”, “Siegfried Idyll” and Overture to Rienzi. The third piece was conducted by graduate assistant director, Hanjin SA whereas the rest was conducted by Mitchell Arnold. As for instruments, those in use were percussion, timpani, tuba, trombone, horn, clarinet, flute, piano, harp, contrabass, violoncello, viola and violin.