Concert Report
18 Nov. 2010
Nov. 18: Strauss and Brahms
Intro
The concert that I attended at Yale University on November eighteenth was called Symphonie Fantastique. During the concert, the band played Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4, William Tell Overture, and Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique. The music was excellent and played with much expertise. Each piece was performed well. I enjoyed listening to the extravagant music with very few mistakes.
Beethoven’s Piano Concerto no. 4
The first movement in this piece opened with a solo piano. The pianist played chords in a key which I am unfamiliar and then came to rest on a dominant chord. There was a pause for what seemed to be two or three beats and then the orchestra entered in what I made out to be B major. A theme is played by the orchestra in the continuing B major and then drops in pitch to another key, which I was unable to make out which one. Once again the theme is played, followed by a strong cadence. The music seems to fade into one bar. After some kind of accompaniment, the music changes to minor, and sounds pianissimo. There is a rise in the bass and more harmonies. There is a rise in the bass and more harmonies. A final cadence is heard, and then the beginning bars are heard again for closing.
As explained before the piece began, the second movement is supposed to make the image of Orpheus taming the Furies, which is represented by the piano and strings, at the gates to Hades. This movement is played in a piano sounding minor key. The piano player sounded as if he was off key on some notes. This goes into what sounds like to me to be C major. Then a solo cadenza was played at the end of the movement by piano.
I can’t write much about the third movement of this piece, because I didn’t write much down while listening. What I do know is that it was played in Rondo form, and was in a minor chord. Some parts of this movement sounded off however I was unable to figure which instrument was