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Symphony Orchestra Reflection

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Last week, I had the pleasure of attending the Texas State Symphony Orchestra Recital at Evans Auditorium. The performance was made up of two pieces: “Overture to Nabucco” composed by Giuseppe Verdi and “Symphony No. 5 E minor op. 64” composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky with its 4 movements. The theme of the overall performance was “Fifth and Fate”, depicting the ideas of life and destiny. Despite its flaws, the concert very well exemplified this theme and overall put on a delightful and memorable performance. Now, while the performance in its entirety was something spectacular, like every piece of art, it had its flaws. One thing I noticed throughout the recital was the lack of balance. At some points, the string section overpowered the horns almost entirely to where it was nearly impossible to hear them. Granted, the string section was almost three times the size of the brass, but that is no excuse. A good director would notice this imbalance and make an attempt to conduct the sections to fix this unequal sound. Simply stating, the strings needed to be quieter and the horns could’ve made an attempt to be louder. A more obvious fault to the untrained ear was the timing of the orchestra. On occasion, after rests, when an entire section was cued to come in, they did not come in in unison. There would be a lone bassoon or viola that would come sometimes as soon as a beat before the rest of the ensemble. This hindered the sense of unity and harmony the orchestra attempted

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