Brahms 3d Symphony Summary

The first movement, Allegro ma non troppo, is very fiery and powerful. After an initial flourish of piano solo, the violin brings forth the main theme, a romantic, almost heroic melody. As the theme is developed fast passages create a sense of urgent drama. The middle movement is very unique because of its title Improvisation: Andante cantabile. The tranquil violin passages give the impression of improvisational material.

The primary theme (see fig. 1.4) underwent several thematic transformations in this movement, first being treated in rising sequences. The ‘antagonist’ leaping figures (see fig.1.4) outline accents on weak beat, giving the whole section a sense of metrical disruption. The second theme appeared in B-Flat major, followed by a closing

The Tchaikovsky violin concerto is extremely popular and devilishly difficult to play thus carry the label as the pinnacle of the performance career. Tchaikovsky began his violin concerto in March 1878 and completed it on April 11.Tchaikovsky’s violin concerto was greatly affected by violinist Yosif Kotek during the compositional process. Kotek works with Tchaikovsky in the earlier stages of composition and there is also evidence to suggest that Kotek was the inspiration for the conception of the piece. It sprung in desperation but burst in fame. It is packed with Tchaikovsky’s typically exciting Russian tunes and explosive violin stunts.

It then followed by a phrase of brief horn before heading into the cadenza kind of chords. Later on, the melody generated a gloomy and sorrow mode played by the violins as if they were answering each other in a dialogue. A similar pattern of sudden change in mood happened when there was a quick Vivace (a movement that is in a lively mood) indicating Juliet refused to marry Paris. Compared to the other themes, the dynamic in the Vivace part was louder with a faster tempo that changed the overall mood of the part before it went back to the Andante tempo to close the part. Towards the end, Prokofiev presented the unbreakable melancholy mood of the pieces while presenting a series of brief themes in between.

Evocative of much of the work he composed during his younger years Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Symphony No. 29 is a testament to his genius and mastery of classical musical forms. Written when he was just eighteen years old the composition is a concise and peculiar example of classical Sonata form. Instead of having an introduction before the exposition Mozart ops to present the primary theme of the piece’s Allegro movement at the start of the first downbeat. Exceptionally melodic the primary theme of the movement start with an authoritative leap of an octave in the violins.

For example, Handel adds variations to the rhythm and continues to increase the pitch on the word hallelujah throughout the piece which makes the lyrics extremely powerful. This is due to the fact that since Hallelujah is repeated so many times, it sound extremely monotonous after a while if it had the same lyrical fluctuation over and over again. At the beginning of the piece, you can see that the word “hallelujah” has the emphasis on the HAA and then the rest of the notes are short but explosive. It is also special because while it has a chorus and a bridge, it has a second bridge which is the “king of kings” segment. Each time the singer sings king of kings with the two “forevers” and “hallelujahs”, it rises higher and higher until it reaches the top of the soprano voice range at a high D. This is a magical experience both to sing and to hear it being performed.

Graduate Recital Program Notes: Charles Tomlinson Griffes, Poem for Flute and Orchestra Charles Griffes (1884-1920) was the director of music at the Hackley School in Tarrytown, NY from 1907–1920. He studied piano at a young age, to continue his education he moved to Berlin, where he studied piano, composition, and counterpoint at the Stern Conservatory. Griffes’s early compositions were influenced to some degree by German Romanticism, especially German Lieder. He never reached atonality in his music-making, however, at the end of his career he adopted an abstract phase that many critics among them Paul Rosenfeld, and Nicolas Slonimsky acknowledged to be impressionist and orientalist. The Poem for Flute and Orchestra (1918) originally written for Georges Barrère demands high lyrical virtuosity from the performer.

The six quartets of Op.33 were first played on the 25th of December, 1781 in Vienna for the Grand Duke of Russia, which so lead the nickname, the ‘Russian’ Quartets. The Ariel Quartet were formed in Israel but moved to America in 2004 to continue their professional studies. The Ariel Quartet has won many professional prizes in

(Marriage of Figaro (Mozart) Mini Guide p^^^^). This leads the pair into a Recitative where Susanna expresses her concern in the typical speech-like style of a recit. The phrases start long with a question and answer effect but they progress into shorter phrases as the tension builds as Susanna and Figaro start to argue. The chords throughout this piece are all heard in first inversion in order to make shifts between keys easy, however, each cadence is played in F major. Chords move through the circle of fifths starting on G and ending with Bb, with chords changing at the end of each statement on the last syllable.

Similarly, Copeland also critiqued the traditional canon but through making his music relevant to the time. Copeland's symphony "Fanfare for the Common Man" (1942) reflected the europhic spirit of the country at the time as the US entered World War II (Lecture, 2/1). Through this symphony, Copeland changed the sound of the traditional symphony, a genre that at the time was largely dominated by German musicians and made it sound American (Lecture, 2/1). The point that Copeland wanted to make was that music should have a message and should reflect what is going on at the time. Overall, both of these composers were making the point that music needs to be relevant to the time in which it is being produced instead of sticking with what is traditional and repeating the same message over and over