UW Music 162

Last Monday, I got to experience a sensational performance by the University Symphony, composed by Dr. Jonathan Pasternack, that enhanced my knowledge and emotional state through the uniqueness of both the symphony and opera act. Having only experienced a symphony once during the course of my life, I was ecstatic to attend such a soothing and joyful concert. The concert was fairly short, it last two hours, and consisted of 2 symphony songs and 1 opera act. The first two were symphony, which were played in a very unpredictable manner. The melody (violins) started off very slow and quickly increased their tempo. The orchestra performed many instances of crescendo and decrescendos; this kept the audience on the edge of their seats in anticipation. The second part consisted of an opera in one act entitled “L’Enfant Ee Les Sortileges by Murice Ravel, which was sung like an act, and played by the orchestra. Both parts of the performance were very unique in there own ways, however, what intrigued me the most, was the ability of the performers to create an emotional connection with the audience. The first section of the concert was the most delightful and satisfying to listen to. The violins and woodwinds were the main melody for most of the piece. Both instrument made the texture of the beginning very calm and satisfying by playing legato notes that gradually crescendo/decrescendo. The texture made me to feel relaxed and at ease. I would describe the text painting as a calm ocean, the feeling of drifting in calm water. Half way through the piece, the clarinets and flutes began to follow the entire orchestra and its smooth tempo, which inevitably became louder and more powerful near the end of the piece. Based on the form and texture of “Good Friday Spell”, I consider the piece to be similar to Mozart’s Symphony 40. Both pieces start out in sonata form: exposition, development, and recapitulation. Also, the specific texture played in both pieces is monophonic