The Beatles are not typically associated with orchestra music, but due to George Martin and the North Carolina Symphony’s performance, I was able to experience the classical side of The Beatles live. In Raleigh’s Memorial Hall, Saturday, April 23rd, I attended the Classical Mystery Tour, which was accompanied by the North Carolina Symphony. The performance featured the Classical Mystery Tour, which is a cover band for The Beatles, that played over thirty revolutionary songs. The North Carolina Symphony performed the symphonic background that was implemented by George Martin, the Beatles producer, who is considered by many to be “The Fifth Beatle”. Although the concert was not solely an orchestra, I believe that the North Carolina Symphony …show more content…
It was beautifully played, and the staccato string notes were like daggers. When the other string instruments played they sustained notes and created a perfect contrast. “A Day In The Life” was another song that the orchestra performed perfectly. They let loose on the dissonant sections that were used to create chaos in the middle and ending of the song. They paid justice to Martin’s dramatic climax that brings “A Day In The Life” and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band to an end. The French horns featured in “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Bank/With a Little Help From My Friends” were a very impactful part of the night. The four horns made sure that nobody left the auditorium without knowing that French horns were an important part of Sgt. Pepper’s. Some of Martin’s instrumentation is very difficult to replicate, there were a few songs where this was obvious throughout the …show more content…
“Yesterday” was not quite as much like chamber music as I would have liked. Even though it was a string quartet on the original recording, it seemed like there were more than four players playing the piece. With the addition of instruments lost some of its warmth and intimacy that Martin was going for. “Penny Lane” was the big disappointment of the night. The trumpeter sounded completely scared of the trumpet solo. He played it very soft and tentatively, as though his greatest fear was missing a note. On the album the trumpeter plays the part with confidence and flourish. The trumpet player on the album was David Mason; he recorded the solo on a piccolo trumpet. The solo was inspired by Bach’s second “Brandenburg Concerto”, and replicates a baroque era style. Another song the orchestra played that has Baroque techniques involved was “All You Need Is Love”. It uses a Baroque era trumpet background and contains a snippet from the beginning of J.S. Bach's "2-part Invention no. 8”. The orchestra sounded great for the majority of this song. It was a little stiff when the saxophone and brass jazz style paying occurs. This is one of Martin’s most innovative songs due to the mixing of songs when the piece fades out. Martin used “All You Need Is Love”, “Greensleeves” by Bach, and “In The Mood” by Glen Miller. Overall the orchestra seemed like they were able to replicate the sound