Symphony Orchestra
Lauren Love
15 April 2013
Professor Dewey
Music 1306
Concert Critique #1 I have never been personally a fan of the romantic orchestra music but going to listen to a concert live is breathtaking. I attended the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra, Masterpieces concert with music director Fouad Fakhouri performing Igor Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms and Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No.1 in D major. There was a full stage of musicians and a complete choir to back it up.
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 expecting. The symphony had the most soft and sweet chords following up with big, bold parts. The tempo would slow down just the slightest bit, the calm before the storm there was a bang of sound ringing from all around you and your almost startled but it is so lovely even at the volume and mixture of instruments you cant help but feel relaxed in the flow of notes.
Stravinsky was born into a Russian Orthodox Church but soon left as a young man and though he was this origin he set a Latin text to his music, making it a more inclusive religious statement. Igor used the term “ Symphony” in the broadest sense, reflecting its etymology as the coming together of sounds, said to be why his orchestration is unusual. His melodies are stark and archaic, where he employs the octatonic scale that figures in his earlier works and those of his Russian contemporaries. The harmonies are equally austere, even cold, and the emotional climaxes especially in the third movement are intense yet subdued. (Kahn)
After a brief fifteen-minute intermission the orchestra made its way back on stage to set up again. The auditorium fell silent as the music director Fouad Fakhouri came back, front and center, he introduced the next piece as Symphony No. 1 in D
15 April 2013
Professor Dewey
Music 1306
Concert Critique #1 I have never been personally a fan of the romantic orchestra music but going to listen to a concert live is breathtaking. I attended the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra, Masterpieces concert with music director Fouad Fakhouri performing Igor Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms and Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No.1 in D major. There was a full stage of musicians and a complete choir to back it up.
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 expecting. The symphony had the most soft and sweet chords following up with big, bold parts. The tempo would slow down just the slightest bit, the calm before the storm there was a bang of sound ringing from all around you and your almost startled but it is so lovely even at the volume and mixture of instruments you cant help but feel relaxed in the flow of notes.
Stravinsky was born into a Russian Orthodox Church but soon left as a young man and though he was this origin he set a Latin text to his music, making it a more inclusive religious statement. Igor used the term “ Symphony” in the broadest sense, reflecting its etymology as the coming together of sounds, said to be why his orchestration is unusual. His melodies are stark and archaic, where he employs the octatonic scale that figures in his earlier works and those of his Russian contemporaries. The harmonies are equally austere, even cold, and the emotional climaxes especially in the third movement are intense yet subdued. (Kahn)
After a brief fifteen-minute intermission the orchestra made its way back on stage to set up again. The auditorium fell silent as the music director Fouad Fakhouri came back, front and center, he introduced the next piece as Symphony No. 1 in D