Kim, Hyoungjoo
MU106-M03
November 27 2013 Concert Report for My Music Class
I attended the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra’s “Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto “on Sunday, November 3, 2013 at New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark. The hall was much more magnificent than I expected. In addition, the deep hum of a thousand voices work up the excitement of me, I’m not a big fan of classical music concerts though at the entrance. At the beginning of the concert, the orchestra who is armed with tuxedos and full dress was seated on the stage. The concertmaster came out to tune the orchestra, and then the conductor made his entrance. They performed music from Hungary, Germany and Russia. Zoltán Kodály’s Dances of Galanta is the Hungarian work and Tchaikovsky’s beloved Piano Concerto No. 1 is the Russian piece. In addition, they explained these make significant use of folk music, adapting them in individual and compelling ways. By contrast, Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 4, which we hear before intermission, is more in keeping with the Viennese symphonic tradition. The combination of an abstract Germanic formal model with more geographically focused musical content gives this concert its profile.
First, Zoltán Kodály’s Dances of Galanta opens with a cello melody with strong dotted rhythm. After that by the strings, they played the same theme by French horn, and then passed around the orchestra. The next, played clarinet soloist it was brief cadenza before the main theme. The middle of the period tends to play up sharp keys. An extended coda merges a half dozen dance melodies in a blast of wind. It spins around faster and faster. The instruments used in this music are woodwinds in pairs (second flute doubling piccolo), four horns, two trumpets, timpani, snare drum, triangle, glockenspiel and strings.
Second, SCHUMANN: Symphony No. 4 in D Minor, Op. 120, it opened on the dominant of A: arresting, questioning, restrained, mysterious. Its start attracts our attention and very subtle. The introduction didn’t end; it was continuously extended into the body of the movement and ends in exhilarated D major. The slow movement, a classic romance, features an oboe solo. This is the strongest movement from the standpoint of orchestration, it is so lovely. Next comes an energetic scherzo, it was transition to the more contrapuntal finale. it closed in powerful D major, with an extended coda that Schumann equaled only in the magnificent Piano Quintet. The instruments used in this music are woodwinds in pairs, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani and strings.
Finally, TCHAIKOVSKY: Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat Minor, Op. 23. The first movement is B flat minor to B flat major, and the main theme of the concerto is a Ukrainian folk theme. It develops to the primary theme which is the tonic key and the romantic theme in the tonic major. The movement doesn’t return to the tonic minor, but instead leads to a powerful coda. The movement concludes in B-flat major with a drum roll. The instruments used in this music are woodwinds in pairs, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani, strings and solo piano.
In conclusion, it was very special occasion on me because it this was my first classical music concert. I enjoyed the concert and was really surprised its expression. Although I don’t have any sort of prior knowledge of the classical music concert, I enjoyed comfortably. It was very positive experience, and I felt some nameless abundance. From now on, I won’t be awkward to go classical music concert, and I want to try wider and more variety of classical music genres.