The Ups and the Downs
Berlin 2013 is an excellent orchestra that performed on Musikfest, Berlin in 2013. The director and the Conductor of the orchestra were Manfred Honeck and the soloist Anne-Sophie Mutter made an appearance, playing the Violin. It was a three-week celebration of orchestral and chamber music, organized around the theme of the beginning of a new season. The organizers of the Orchestras were Janacek, Bartok, and Lutos flaws. The focus of the paper will be on the performance of Chain 2.
Chain 2 was also referred to as the dialogue for violin and orchestra.
The violins of the piece were handled by the notable Anne-Sophie Mutter. She has previously performed the piece, 25 years ago, and based on her performance and mastery of the violin, she has perfected her skills. As they were playing, the violin was accompanied by the sonic events which were from the Lutos.f’awski a technique of the orchestra. The Orchestra tried it best to match the playing of the violin and produced a fine balance of it.
The violins also dominated the third section which was performed in a way that appeared to be a conversation between the violin and the orchestra. However, based on the complexity, the concertmaster was able to navigate the technically challenging piece and led to a wonderful performance. However, it appeared that the violins were slightly overpowered by the horns in this section of the piece.
The conductor of the symphony, Musikfest Berlin was excellent at conducting the symphony, showing every element of mastery of the art through his emotions.
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As he was standing tall, all of the audience was seeing his every gesture and move. His every sweep with the stick move the crowd as much as it moves the symphony. When soft music was played, Honeck was seen crouched down is soft gestures to make the symphony play soft and fluid. It was as if Honeck was taking both the audience and the orchestra to a journey.
The first movement played by the symphony was the string concerto played by Leos Janacek. The six pieces by Janacek were Moderato, Adagio, Andante Con Moto, Presto, Adagio, and Andante. Only string instruments were used to play these six pieces, but a variety was heard throughout each piece.
When Moderato was playing, a medium tone and tempo were used. It was the appropriate tone to start the concert to prepare it for more intense pieces as time goes by. The Moderato, as the name suggests was neither too soft nor too overbearing, but flamboyant enough to get the attention of the audience. Everything about it was soft, from the volume, rhythm, melody, and tempo.
After Moderato, Andante Con Moto was performed. Similar to Moderato, it had a moderately slow tempo, rhythm, and volume. Both the Moderato and Andante Con Moto were simulating a lullaby performance because they were peaceful pieces.
The whole peaceful pieces were then changed when the Presto was played. It was louder than the Moderato and Andante Con Moto, with faster rhythm and tempo. The Presto was played in a rapid and fast-paced. However, the increase in tempo, volume, and rhythm were the climaxes of the story told by the Conductor Leos Janacek.
Things started to slow down again when Adagio was played, again using the strings. Adagio was slow tempo accompanied by cellos which had low tones and varying volume range. However, unlike the Moderato and Andante Con Moto, the piece was dynamic. The tempo was changing from rapid to slow and slow to rapid in seconds, but the string instruments were still harmonizing together with the cellos.
With all the instruments playing at the same time, it was critical to glue your ear to the symphony, so as not to miss a vital component required to write the report. It was not easy to enjoy the performance as a casual listener and at the same time relating with the knowledge from class. I was trying to isolate each instrument to listen to how they were playing to find the unique sound they produced. As the symphony continued, I was able to automatically relate the pieces with movies I have watched which used these melodies at a different section of the movies such as in a fast-paced action, relaxing moment, or scary scenes.
Leos Janacek concluded the symphony orchestra with a string concerto. Similar to what majority movies base their plot on the Hero’s Journey, so was the Ein Heldenleben. There were four unique pieces of the composition namely Des Helden Widersacher, Des Helden Gefahrtin, Des Helde Wlastatt, and Des Helden Friedenswerke.
The Journey started with the audience getting to know the antagonist, Des Helden Widersacher. The melody accompanying the piece was in a soft tempo with woodwinds playing along. The rhythm was also moderate and high pitched. Next entered the helpmate of the hero, Des Helden Gefahrtin, who was represented by a solo violist. In this piece, the string instruments were backing up the soloist with the soft melody of the woodwind solos. Oboe and Clarinet were also heard playing solo in a soft volume but moderate rhythm. The Hero’s Battlefield was then in Des Helden Walstatt, where the softness of the music changed into a loud volume, low pitch, dark, rapid melody to depict battlefields scenes as seen them in movies. Lastly, the movie concluded with the Hero’s mission, Des Helden Friendneswerke. The melody filled the entire concert with high to a low tempo, volume, and rhythm.
Even though I watched the performance via Youtube, and not being physically present at the concert, my experience watching the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in Berlin was quite a show. The entire orchestra showed a magnificent performance in the movement at the one-hour duration at the concert. Even though the composition were from the 19th century, there are timeless creation and everyone who has a passion of symphony will enjoy the performance with the knowledge in class, I was more than a casual listener and was able to isolate the different instruments to listen how they each played individual but at the same time relevant to the entire composition. The music was also able to make my mind wander off as the pieces reminded me of great movies utilizing the symphonies. It is important for all of us to embrace our culture and listen to different type of musical genre to experience what other culture love, and why they love. As a result, we can be able to relate their experience to our own and embrace diversity in our culture.
Work Cited
- Today, Performance. Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra live from Berlin, Opening concert of Musikfest Berlin 2013, YouTube, 23 Sept. 2013, www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyeR-gPakWo.
The Ups and the Downs. (2021, Dec 03). Retrieved from https://paperap.com/the-ups-and-the-downs/
