On December 4th, the concert I decided to watch was none other than the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in Berlin, Germany in the year of 2013 when they were opening for the festival called “Musikfest.” This concert, which was recorded and placed on YouTube, was approximately an hour and a half long and was produced by the Digital Concert Hall. I not only wanted to listen to it for the sake of a mandatory essay, but because I genuinely wanted to test myself in regards to how well I actually know music now, considering I started off with no knowledge whatsoever. In this intricate concert, there were three programs the members of the orchestra played consisting of Leoš Janáček: Suite for String Orchestra, Lutosławski: Chain 2, Dialogue for Violin and Orchestra, and finally, Strauss: Ein Heldenleben, Opus 40, all of which were conducted by Manfred Honeck.
The very first piece was “Suite for String Orchestra” composed by none other than Leoš Janáček, a Czech composer. In his work, he was especially known for the fact that he developed a “distinctly Czech style intimately connected with the inflections of his native speech,” which ended up like his purely instrumental music, “making use of the scales and melodic characteristics of Moravian folk music” (Britannica 1). This opening really stood out to me because it started with the movement moderato(which was in G minor), then went onto adagio, andante con moto, presto, back to adagio, and finished off with andante. It began a little bit dramatically which caught me off guard, and I noticed the orchestra was using low strings in order to create the sounds, unlike the second movement, adagio, which used high strings. Instead, adagio had a softer contrast, as proven through the smooth and delicate movements of Honeck conducting the piece. Next came andante con moto and I personally enjoyed that the most because the tempo was not too slow, not too fast, and sounded relatively happy. Afterwards, was the presto and it was super quick, then slow, then fast, and repeated that pattern, being set around a D note the entire time. The dynamics were constantly ranging, giving me the element of surprise throughout the entire section. An adagio came afterwards once again, being slow then picking up the pace until it ended off with the same tempo. The slow rhythm it contained was very peaceful and delicate in my opinion. At last was the andante, played in a B minor which ended off the piece on a good note (no pun intended) as the tempo and dynamics shifted back and forth, keeping the audience on their toes.
The second program, which was the longest being almost fifty minutes, played at this concert was Ein Heldenleben, (A Hero’s Life) Opus 40 composed by Richard Strauss, a legendary German composer. Strauss was known to be a very controversial man in relation to his work from the beginning to the end. This was regarding his “daring harmonies, bold scoring, and hermeneutic challenges” (Zychowicz 1) as program music at first and further emphasized provocative scores in his later works when he shifted onto focusing on opera. This segment played in the concert was one he first composed in the year old 1899 when he was just thirty-four years old, categorizing it as a romantic piece. The piece began with an E flat key with wind and string instruments being the shining stars transitioning to a B major key. Very recently in chapter nine, I have learned about the dominant 7th chord, which I recognized here. Continuing on forth, eventually low strings and winds start to dominate the piece and the keys become a G flat, recognizing the beat as ¾ and shifting over to 4/4. This piece ranges slightly in regards to different dynamics, never taking a break.
The last program was “Chain 2, Dialogue for Violin and Orchestra” composed by the famous Witold Lutosławski. He was a Polish composer who usually had typical structural concepts “with interlocking themes creating a “chain” structure, a formal principle evident in three numbered compositions titled Chain” (“Witold Lutosławski”).
Watching a video of this full concert honestly allowed me to gain a greater appreciation for the art of classical music. Before taking Music 101, I had never even known any composers let alone how a piece was constructed and listening to this concert made me clarify how much new information I have actually learned and liked. After hearing three different pieces, all with various similarities and differences, I got a feel for each composer and their style. In my opinion, I personally loved the first program by Leoš Janáček due to the large range there was, however, I greatly appreciated the other two. This assignment was an honor to complete because it not only allowed me to put my knowledge to the test by analyzing a professional orchestra concert, but it led me to be interested in string instruments, thus, hopefully pushing me to at least play in the future.