The First of Its Kind, Act One: Youtube Symphony Orchestra @ Carnegie Hall

The first part of the concert played Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy, also known as Fantasia, and it lasted less than 30 minutes. It opened with a lady named Anastasia Markina, and she introduced the piece with a slow virtuoso playing of the piano, to which later on the strings, cellos and basses, enter. Then Markina played an ornamented version of the choral theme, to

The next piece, Zion’s Walls by Aaron Copland, was a mid-tempo spiritual that seemed to continue the story from Wedding Cantata. I appreciated the lively piano accompaniment. The theme was compelling and I liked the short round in the

When the concert first began, the three instrumentalists walked with energy despite their age. The first song, “Sonata I in G-Major Op. 2, Nr. 1” by Michel Blavet, was a Baroque Sonata. There were five movements and was played by the harpsichord, flute, and cello. All movements of the song were polyphonic because of the three instruments that had different parts and equal importance. In the first movement, I noticed that the flute tended to rise in pitch. In the second movement, I noticed that the melodies often repeated. Throughout the rest of the song the tempo changed from fast to slow and the flute would usually take the lead. On the last movement, the cello and the harpsichord

The introduction opens with a descending minor scale by pizzicato strings, followed by  three sforzandos in the orchestra. Section A begins with strings, woodwind and brass playing a waltz rhythm, which modulates to major. The strings play melody 1, which is then repeated with piccolo countermelody. Brass and string crescendo and cymbal crash before strings play melody 2 which is dotted, and followed by suspensions and an imperfect cadence. The suspensions are repeated with a perfect

The first and opening piece was a Roman Carnival Overture, Op. 9, by Hector Berlioz. In major tonality, classical piece started with vivace statement, and then slow introduction progressed later in allegro. It featured an independent solo that was performed with an English horn and gradually changed dynamics throughout the classical movement.

The first piece is around six minutes long and is called, “Lyric for Strings,” by George Walker, “the first African American composer to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Music.” The Brazos Valley Symphony Orchestra played the piece. Walker was born on June 27, 1922 and became the first African American to graduate from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. The piece is dedicated to his grandmother, who passed away while he was working on it. Inspiration for comes from a compilation of Samuel Barber’s “Adagio for Strings,” and “Beethoven’s op. 135.” Walkers piece was written in 1946 as a Renaissance styled piece of music. The piece starts with an introduction by violins that immediately reveals a sad undertone and gracefully continues to incorporate more instruments until the entire symphony is playing together. There is only one movement in this

The piece was the only Opera Beethoven ever wrote and was a classical piece. The pitch is very extreme it features sad lows while having extravagant highs that change the mood from slow to fast at the same time. The Rhythm the piece featured The overture opens with a short unison Allegro in the string and wind instruments, followed by an Slow in the horns and clarinet. The opening measures are then repeated and the Slow tempo reappears, the horn theme being taken in the wind instruments. After development the theme returns in the woodwinds, and again appears for the horn, leading to the main Allegro of the overture. The wind instruments sound a crescendo chord and the first theme is outlined by the second horn, answered by clarinet, and then developed by full orchestra. The strings give out the second theme, which is briefly treated. In the closing section of the overture the first theme is heard in the horns, accompanied by violin passages. At the conclusion of the Allegro development the Adagio episode returns, leading to the Presto Coda, in which a familiar phrase from the first theme is worked up to a climax of exultation closing an overture which has been called "an example of perfect beauty." The Timbre of the piece was

The last was the Mexican piece “Plena Con Sabor” written by Oscar Hernandez. This piece was different from others in that Beatriz Figueroa-Chavez sang solo and danced. I really liked her voice. During the composition, it was possible to observe how the sound changed because someone from the musicians fell silent and then joined again. The tempo was fast throughout the piece and did not change. The end of composition was played by all instruments and it sounded

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

This musical performance is entitled “Symphony of Terror”, performed by The Austin Symphony at The Long Center in Austin, Texas. It is composed of an ensemble of Halloween melodies, with renditions from the likes of Jaws, Poltergeist, Psycho, and more. With such an intense playlist, it makes perfect sense that this symphony was performed on October 24, 2014, in the evening, just before the aforementioned holiday.

I feel that the fourteen members of chamber orchestra and the two vocalists did an outstanding job. This piece was well put together. I loved the harmony that was brought forth between the orchestra and the vocalists. The two vocalists a tenor known as Paul Groves and a soprano known as Anna Larson, did a beautiful job staying in tune. The way that their voices went back and forth in harmony was just beautiful.

The first half of the performance was a complete orchestra of woodwinds, strings, drums, brass, excreta and a four part choir. Overall the performance took no longer than thirty minutes to play the three-part Symphony of Psalms. This Symphony was much shorter than I was

There were a total of four music pieces performed. They were “Overture from the Singspiel”, “Concerto in e minor”, “Concerto on b minor,opus 104”, and “Symphony#2 in b minor, opus 5”. I think pieces were performed belong to classical style.

Next, Beethoven’s Fidelio (1814) is the final overture that Beethoven wrote and is meant to use in the opera. This overture is about 6 to 9 minutes long. The instrumentation “calls for an orchestra consisting of two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, two trombones, timpani, and strings. (Huscher par. 1).” This overture is the shortest overture as Beethoven cut down the length so it can be used in the beginning of the opera and nowhere else.

I attend the concert “UA Philharmonic Orchestra” on Friday, October 10, 2014 at 7:30 p.m. The performance location is Crowder Hall, School of Music, University of Arizona. This hall has 544 seats. The concert has two programs. The first program will feature Ludwig Van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1 in C Major conducted by Matthew Spieker. The second program is "Dance of the Tumblers" from “The Snow Maiden” by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and "Danzón No. 2" by Arturo Márquez. The conductor is Ace Edewards. He is a doctoral student. The two programs are instrumental music. The group of the instruments used in the performance is: group of violin, group of viola, group of violoncello, group of bass, group of flute, group of oboe, group of clarinet, group