The Los Angeles Philharmonic Performed Multiple Pieces By Sergei Rachmaninoff

When he was four, his mother gave him casual piano lessons and in 1882, his grandfather got a teacher from Saint Petersburg, until a decline in their fortunes which lead to the family moving to Saint Petersburg. He studied at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory until he moved to Moscow to have piano lessons with Nikolai Zverev and Alexander Siloti. He also studied counterpoint with Taneyev and harmony with Arensky. He graduated at the age of 19 and won a gold medal for his one-act opera Aleko. His first symphony was premiered but was unsuccessful. This is thought to have been the conductors fault who disliked the piece. This lead to 3 years of depression which he overcame with the help of a psychiatrist, Nikolay Dahl. Sergei then wrote the famous Piano Concerto No. 2 which was dedicated to Dahl pieces as the Symphony No. 2 (1907), the tone poem Isle of the Dead (1907), and the Piano Concerto No. 3

The video Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto no.2 op.18 by Anna Fedorova was composed by Sergei Rachmaninoff, who was a composer, conductor and also among the top pianists and was considered a great representative of Idealization in classical music in Russia. The piece made him famous as a concerto composer as it is among the most favorite pieces. This artist tirelessly worked hard before producing this piece of work as he knew how original and strong the Symphony work was. He made daily visits to Dr. Nicolai Dahl, who was an excellent violist and cellist and also travelled to Italy and Crimea, from where he brought with him sketches for this piano concerto. Anna Fedorova, the Ukrainian pianist, then performed it with the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie with Martin Panteleev as the conductor.

For this assignment, I went to the Basically Beethoven Festival at the Dallas City Performance Hall. The recital was opened with a few pieces played by the rising stars Madera Wind Quintet. The main performance included Rachel McDonald on the viola, Joseph Kuipers on the cello, Grace Wollett on the violin, Scott Wollett on the oboe, and the great pianist Alex McDonald. They performed a compilation of famous composers’ masterpieces.

On Saturday, May 9th, the RIT Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra put on a performance titled the “Apotheosis of the Dance” at the Allen Chapel within the Schmitt Interfaith Center. The performance began with the RIT Chamber Orchestra, featuring mostly stringed instruments, performing works of Mozart, Bach, and Grainger. After a short intermission, the RIT Orchestra entered and performed a piece composed by Beethoven. The majority of the concert was conducted by Michael E. Ruhling, with the exception of a few pieces performed by the Chamber Orchestra that did not require a conductor. The Orchestra consisted of string, woodwind, brass, and percussion sections, and the Chamber Orchestra only had a string section with a flute soloist.

Cavanaugh was the lead pianist, so he had the piano closer to the audience while Muzzi was farther back. Something that I found interesting, was that Muzzi was dressed in all dark colors, while Cavanaugh wore a white collared shirt. This choice in outfit definitely drew the audience’s attention to Cavanaugh as the lead pianist, while helping Muzzi blend into the background. This denotation of Cavanaugh as the lead was continued in the bows, where Cavanaugh would always stand partially in front of Muzzi.

Many people came dressed in formal attire and the largest groups were older listeners and families. As being a Symphony Orchestra from the Ukraine, there was a large number of Ukrainian people in the audience. Before the concert began, I spoke to an older gentleman in front of me. He was Ukrainian, and was excited to hear the concert. Many other people came up to him to greet him before the show. Seemingly, there was a close community of Ukrainian people in the surrounding area, that all came to see the concert. As America has so many different nationalities within such a large country, it is evident how a concert like this may affect communities and help Americans honor their ancestors. There was a large number of female musicians in the orchestra. Although mostly string, it is important to note this and many seemed very young, while other players seemed older. The orchestra was widely diverse in terms of age and gender. Putting aside the newer suite, two of the compositions played were played historically accurate to what could've been played in the nineteenth century. It was an Eastern European orchestra, but the famous compositions played have meaning in American music as well. Mostly being introduced in the twentieth century, classical concert European concert music like those played, are still played today by American symphonies. One of the compositions played, was a suite from “The Night Before

The Concert Culture: On April 14th, I experienced the Tennessee Theatre for the first time. The Tennessee theatre was beautiful. The decor reflected an era much earlier then today's time period. The walls and ceiling are all accented in gold with beautiful arches and designs. All the curtains in the theatre are red with gold accents as well. The ceiling is a turquoise color also accented in gold. The seats in the theatre are red with a velvet look and feel. The stage is rather plain tan color with a very simple red design on the walls and lights overhead. The stage mainly consists of the symphony orchestra players all of which are seated in chairs. All the musicians are dressed the same, in a black suit with a white shirt. The music feels like it is all around me even though the musicians are only right in front of me. The music is loud but not to the extent of being annoying or irritating. The musicians have a way

Presently we have the gift of hearing music of the past through the formation of the concert hall and sheet music. We are able to hear the styles and structures of the past as well as the feelings and individual initiatives of composers in relation to the time period. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra provides an avenue for listeners from a wide range of backgrounds to hear and hopefully enjoy the sounds of the past. The two pieces preformed are styles notable from the modern era, both originating in Russia. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s presentation of Rachmaninov’ s Piano Concerto No. 1 and Schostakovich’s symphony No. 8 gives insight to the composers and conductors, as well as personal reflection of what emotions these pieces evoke.

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.

Prior the third movement of the first piece, Allegretto, Mr. Robert Levin had the piano setup in the middle of the orchestra, between the strings and the winds. What was interesting about this was that he was facing the crowd and you couldn’t see his hands. Also, that the piano did not have a lid, it was fully exposed. Being sarcastic, he explained that this position was not deliberately placed that way so the audience could not see his hands, but for the acoustic reason of guidance for the wind instruments. He mentioned that if he would have the lid on the piano and open then it would block the sound coming from the wind instruments behind him, which the string instruments use as a guide also. This made sense to me due because the piano was a very important piece of the

The first piece performed in this concert was Norfolk Scenic Overture composed by Kenneth Ian Hytch. The piece started loudly and dramatically and it ended in a similar fashion. A quick rhythm carried on throughout the piece. The piece was mostly polyphonic, with the woodwinds, the strings, and the brasses playing different melodies. There were a lot of things that the orchestra can improve on. First of all, the orchestra was rushing in several places dragging in other places. Another problem was the balance between instruments. When the

On Friday, November 06, 2015 at 7:30 pm, I attended the conservatory orchestra concert conducted by George Rothman that was held in the Whitman Theatre of the Conservatory of Music of Brooklyn College. There were four pieces of music during this concert. The first piece of music was “Belshazzar’s Gastabud” (Belshazzar’s Feast), op.51 by Jean Sibelius. The second piece of music was “Le Tombeau de Couperin” by Maurice Ravel. The third piece of music was “Le Festin De L’Araignee” (The Spider’s Feast), op. 17 by Albert Roussel. The last piece of music was Symphony No.1 in D major, “Classical,” op.25 by Sergie Prokofiev.

I had the pleasure of attending the HBU Schola Cantorum, university singers and chancel choir of the first Presbyterian Church performance of the music of the famous conductor J.A.C. Redford. He is most famous for his work on “A West Side story. The choir concert featured Mr. Redford’s classical compositions.

Time has been an enemy to composers, but not in the case of Rachmaninoff. While such works as his three symphonies and Isle of the Dead are not performed with due consistency, his concerti and solo works are commended accomplishments. They are of great physical and scholarly skill, playable by only the most proficient and committed professionals. In academic circles, Rachmaninoff has yet to lose the stigma of a "throwback" composer who embraced romanticism a long ways past its time frame of realistic usability; judgement of his music is still found amongst theorists and well-known critics. But common listeners usually judge music on the sound itself as opposed to its chronicled position and Rachmaninoff's audiences have generously enlarged.

The Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra Concert on October 14th featured three pieces; The Birds, Concerto for Violin, Cello, Piano, and Orchestra in C Major, and Symphony No.5. All the pieces were lovely and were entertaining to listen to. This concert also featured the Hersh Trio, comprised of Alexander Hersh on the cello, Stefan Hersh on the violin, and Paul Hersh on the piano, which the orchestra accompanied for one piece.