Tchaikovsky Sleeping Beauty Analysis

With the graceful energy each musician puts into ‘Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty,’ you won’t fall asleep during a performance at the Houston Symphony.

Violinist Benjamin Beilman is a makes his Houston Symphony debut performing Mendelssohn’s sparkling Violin Concerto. Beilman is being called the fastest rising classical star of our generation, he performs with an impressive technique and a passionate, emotional connection to the music as he easily moves as one with his instrument. His performance was stunning, he certainly can play like a prodigious. Beilman is definitely a crowd-pleaser, heads were nodding during the performance and he received a prolonged standing ovation.

While Conductor Andrey Boreyko leads the ensemble with energy and
It was first performed in almost 130 years ago. Tchaikovsky was given a detailed set of musical requirements from the choreographer. Although Tchaikovsky ended up being disappointed with many of his works, he ranked ‘Sleeping Beauty’ among his best.

I will admit I have not seen ‘Sleeping Beauty’ as a ballet. During the symphony, I pictured scenes from Disney's 1959 ‘Sleeping Beauty’ movie that I grew up watching. The classic ballet music fluctuates between grace and peril as the conflict unfolds between the forces of good (the Lilac Fairy) and evil (Carabosse). With the music alone, I know the story well enough to follow along with the adventure of a cursed, sleepy princess in a world of fairies, castles and court dances. My heart sang with childhood notions of romance when the orchestra played strands of ‘Once Upon a Dream.’ Absorbing classical music live is special. While it is still an emotional and intellectual experience to take in classical music with speakers or headphones, a live performance offers the physical movement and communal experience of music. Just like how a majority of communication is nonverbal, there is a lot more depth of emotion when music is experienced