Rebecca Prushinski
Pecherek
MUS 1000-01
1 October 2018 Concert Review
Going into this concert, I initially wasn’t too excited. I’ve never thoroughly enjoyed an instrumental concert. The memories I have of band concerts include my mom forcing me to go to my sister’s high school band concerts, and listening to the Princeton High School band while waiting to go on for choir. When I witnessed these concerts, the songs always felt too long and didn’t excite me. Because of these experiences, I had a negative outlook on instrumental concerts, but the symphony orchestra was completely different. Right when I saw the large string section I knew it was going to be different than the high school band concerts I had previously experienced.
The first section was titled “Hollywood Film Music” which I was excited for because I knew I would recognize most of the music. The first song performed was “Themes from 007” which was different music from the James Bond movies. I think this song was a good opener because it started out strong and engaged all parts of the orchestra right from the start. I like that there is a steadiness in the rhythm for a majority of the song in the percussion while the strings carry the melody. The changing dynamics during the different movements of the medley kept the listener engaged so the music didn’t seem as repetitive and stayed interesting the whole number.
The second piece was “Goldfinger” which brought out a guest singer to sing along side the orchestra. I found that with the singer I was more focused on the vocals and didn’t pay as close of attention to the ensemble. I was very impressed with the singer, I thought she had great support through the piece. The song has a medium fast tempo and remains the same for most of piece, as does the dynamics. The singer and the ensemble both had a good energy throughout the number that made it fun to watch. The next piece was “Moon River from ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s.’” This selection contrasted the other two because it was much more calm and the melody was more legatto than the previous ones. I also noticed the brass instruments in this one where before I only really noticed the strings. The next number was “Muppet Medley” which contained three songs: “The Muppet Show Theme”, “The Rainbow Connection”, and “Movin’
Right along.” The “Muppet Medley” returned back to the upbeat theme initially with the
“Muppet Show Theme” but then it slowed down when it transferred to “The Rainbow
Connection.” This movement was more calming and contained longer notes but still had a steadiness rhythm behind it from the percussion. The “Movin’ Right Along” section provided a great contrast and jumped immediately to being upbeat and staccato in the brass as opposed to the legatto “Rainbow Connection.” The fifth piece was “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl”, and this included six songs which were, Fog Bound, The Medallion Calls, To the Pirates Cave, The Black Pearl, One Last Shot. I really liked this piece because I liked the different layers in the string section where some were playing melody and some were playing consistent notes. The beginning is upbeat and exciting but then slows down after the melody was introduced and repeated. Percussion is reintroduced to speed the tempo up and make it more energetic. The dynamics also increased with the more energetic movements. I loved watching the string section in this, I found it mesmerizing to see them all moving in sync. The changing dynamics and tempos made this piece extremely fun to listen to. The next piece was the “Cinema
Paradiso.” This song was a break from the upbeat music we heard previously. I really enjoyed this song, it was very smooth and serene. Even though it was more calming than the other ones, it did not seem boring. The orchestra did a good job of adding crescendos and decrescendos to give shape to the music and keep it interesting to listen to. The final piece before the break was “Symphonic Suite from ‘The Lord of the Rings’” The songs included in this piece were, “The Fellowship Theme,” “The Prophecy (Adpt. Boyens),” “Concerning Hobbits,” “There Is
Company,” “Shortcut to Mushroom,” “A Knife in the Dark,” “Argonath,” “The Breaking of the
Fellowship,” and “In Dreams.” I’ve never seen The Lord of the Rings so I was excited for this selection because I didn’t already have a melody in mind like I did for the other ones. This song was very powerful it had strong chords in it. One of my favorite factors in it was the woodblock in the percussion section. It added a strong rhythm to the piece. This song had many contrasts in the rhythm, tempo, and dynamics. It was very fun to listen to and a great piece to end the first half with.
I was excited for the second half because I was familiar with all the songs and hadn’t heard them for a long time. The First piece “Music from ‘Frozen’, contained five different songs: “Frozen Heart,” “Do You Want To Build a Snowman?,” “In Summer,” “Let It Go,” and “For the
First Time in Forever.” I think this was a good piece to begin the second act with because practically everyone is familiar with the music from Frozen. The music is fun and upbeat. For a majority of the time the music is loud until it switches to the second movement. “Do You Want
To Build a Snowman?” was slower and softer than the first, but had parts that were loud and strong. “In Summer” has a medium tempo and a very steady rhythm during the piece. The beginning of “ Let It Go” was much slower and had longer connected notes than the last section.
The movement is building the whole time to the refrain that is full of strong, powerful chords.
The final movement starts out slow and quiet to give contrast to the end of “Let it Go” and to give the orchestra a platform to build on, which allows the whole piece to be ended in a strong manner. The second piece was “Colors of the Wind” from the movie Pocahontas. The beginning of this piece is tranquil before the vocals begin. The tempo stayed the same for practically the whole piece so the singer and the orchestra both did a good job of using dynamics to add shape to the piece and keep the listener engaged without relying on rhythm to keep the piece interesting. The next piece was “Part of Your World” from The Little Mermaid. This song also starts out peaceful before the vocals begin. I was impressed with the singer on this one, I thought she did a good job being animated while singing and adding stresses to certain words, it was very fun to listen to. The tempo is not fast in this song and the rhythm is simple and steady but the song is still joyful. The orchestra did a good job of building up to the main part of the song where the singer gets her loudest. The fourth piece was “How Does a Moment Last Forever” from Beauty and the Beast. This song had a very strong, full sound to it without being very loud. The harmonies of the chords sounded very good with the tonality of her voice, I really enjoyed listening to this piece. The next song was the “Waltz from ‘Sleeping Beauty’.” This song started out very strong and upbeat. Once it gets into the recognizable melody, it has a steady rhythm with a faster tempo. The dynamics are constantly changing. The orchestra was very good at crescendoing through the long notes to keep the piece moving. The next piece was “Over the
Rainbow from ‘The Wizard of Oz.’” I was surprised to see this one on the program because it didn’t seem very interesting to me musically like the other pieces did, but once I heard it I really liked the arrangement, it wasn’t as simple as I thought it would be. It was very well written and fun to listen to. The harmonies did a great job of adding to the melody that everyone knows. The final piece, “Defying Gravity” from Wicked, was the one I was most excited to listen to. Wicked was the first musical I ever saw when I was little so I’ve been familiar with the score for many years. Every time I hear that song it makes me excited. The beginning doesn’t start out loud and energetic, but just by listening you can tell the song is going to build. It starts speeding up and adding a rhythm in the percussion to add energy. The singer did a great job with this song. She did a good job of pushing through bar lines and adding dynamics to shape the piece. The end was very strong on both the vocalist’s behalf and the orchestra’s. It was a great piece to end the concert on.
We have been talking about music from the Baroque period and before and none of this music was in that category, all of it was from the present day. Although the songs are not from the periods we’ve been learning about, you can still see certain characteristics in the music such as adding harmonies and melodies to the piece. I had a great time at the concert Saturday and would recommend anyone to go see the orchestra. I would still prefer listening to a choir concert instead of an instrumental, but it was still enjoyable. I’m glad I went because now I am more open to exploring instrumental music.