Vivaldi's Four Concertos

Shortly after George Gershwin’s premier of his iconic Rhapsody in Blue in 1924, a conductor named Walter Damrosch commissioned Gershwin to write a piano concerto that was based on a Classical concerto with orchestration. Like it’s rhapsodic cousin, this piece is a unique fusion of Classical and Jazz styles and is great fun to both play and listen to. Like the traditional concerto model from the 18th Century, this concerto was written in three movements in this order: fast, slow, fast. Another flashback to the past that is unconventionally evident in this concerto is “organicism,” which in music, means that all of the movements of a piece are thematically related. Typically, in the Classical tradition, those recurring motifs

George Frideric Handel was a great musician who composed many operas and oratorios especially in London. He is an inspiration of many due to his hard work in both music and other fields. For instance, in Hanover, Handel was made the Kapellmeister to the Elector, George Louis who favored him and sent him to visit England for twelve months. During his first visit in London, he was received at Queen Anne 's court and stayed there for the first eight months. However, his great interest was in Vanbrugh’s new opera house.

There is a staccato chromatic descent repeated in the chords and then the strings leading to violins in piano with rapid ascent and crescendo. Cellos and basses are also in piano descending with long low tones introduced (Kamien, 2014: 297). A death bell of sonorous bells creates an amazing atmosphere to the next section of the movement. This melody is the medieval chant Dies irae which is traditionally 8 sung in the mass ceremony for the dead. The chant melody is soon shifted up to a higher register and is played by woodwinds and pizzicato 9 strings in a quick dance-like rhythm (Kamien, 2014: 297).

The versatile clarinetist, saxophonist, and composer, Don Byron, opened the fourth day of the festival, which brought a higher magnetism in terms of concerts. In his very own style and using a cathartic, loose language, Byron started with a dedication to Ornette Coleman, playing one of his tunes. Along the way, he still had time for another tribute, a beautiful ballad, this time in honor of the recently deceased Allen Toussaint. For this freewheeling gathering, he brought the Cuban-born pianist Aruan Ortiz, the veteran bassist Cameron Brown, and the unpretentious drummer Bruce Cox. The performance occurred at the New School Auditorium.

They were derived from: the suite; sonata and concerto grosso; Italian overtures, the “sinfonias”, that were played in the beginning of Italian opera. The “sinfonia” is also the origin of the term “symphony” (The Early History of the Symphony: Origins and Evoloving structure, 2013). The first symphonies were played by smaller orchestras consisting of twenty-five to thirty people; they were shorter in length – the duration generally lasting up to ten to twenty minutes; and they consisted of three movements. The three movements generally followed the form of “fast – slow- fast”. The first movement was generally referred to as “allegro”, the second movement “andante”, and the third and last movement was generally a dance e.g.

Brahms Symphony No.1 is one among the four symphonies by Johannes Brahm, a German composer and pianist of the Romantic period mastered in symphonic and sonata style. Greatly inspired by Ludwig van Beethoven’s symphony, often called as “Beethoven’s Tenth”, Brahm has managed to blend traditional structures and ideals of classical era with the rising beauty of Romantic era music in this symphony. It uses instruments like flute, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, contrabassoon, horns, trumpets, trombone, timpani and violin. It consists of four movements: Allegro (quick), Andante Sostenuto (walking pace), Un poco Allegretto e grazioso (a little quickly, carefully) and Adagio. As I tuned into Brahm’s symphony, I made sense of that this piece included evolving

Just like a dancer passing from person to person, the melody was passed from instrument to instrument, each getting their turn to be the center of the ball. The movement as a whole also followed a wavelike flow of volume and energy, slowly rising in volume and incorporating features such as glissandos and harsher instruments, before quickly falling back down. Each “wave” throughout the piece was shorter and reached higher than the previous, continuing this pattern until the very end of the piece. With the single wave of the conductor’s arms and 3 stuttered notes from the orchestra, the concert came to an end as abrupt as its beginning. The audience erupted in applause before the final notes had even begun to fade from the concert

Beethoven 's 9th Symphony "Ode to Joy" Movement IV belongs to the Classical period of music.The visual aspect plays a major part in the video and draws the viewer in.The set-up of the instruments consists of ; cellos, double bass, violins, violas,contrabassoon,piccolos,flutes,clarinets,horns,trumpets,trombones,timpani,bass drum,triangle,cymbals.The Symphony also features a choir.The emotion and body language of the conductor sets the mood for the scene. The four soloists perform vigorously, but the two women soloist seem to give more emotion.Another great aspect of the video is the feeling of anticipation, waiting to see which instruments perform

Haydn’s Symphony No. 100 in G major came in one of those ups and downs mentioned earlier. But out of that tough time, Haydn’s Symphony 100 “enjoyed a career-high success. His Military Symphony was the 1794 season’s third and final premiere… “The audience demanded an encore after the second movement, which introduced ‘Turkish’ instruments previously only heard in the Opera House” Haydn’s Symphony is a loud robust piece. It is amazing.

This is a transitory section that leads to a much more flourishing 4/4 – 5/4 section in half time. In all my years of appreciating music, this section has impressed me the most in any piece. As Mackey’s work begins to fall into the conclusion of the piece more and more sections intensify, and then the shift to the ending results in a very grandiose return to a modified half time section. The band begins an internal call and response from brass and woodwinds and there are background trumpets calling back and forth to each other. As the tribute to Stravinsky’s “Firebird” (according to Mackey, that is what this piece is) closes, what more could be appropriate for the piece than a brilliant horn rip to signify regality and also finality?

George Walker was a successful man. He conducted, wrote, and played a part in many different pieces of music in his day and age. In November of 1945, Walker played in the third piano concerto by Rachmaninoff along with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Eugene Ormandy, the music director and conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Walker then went on to conduct his String Quartet No. 1and Lyric for Strings in 1946.