Concert Review - String

5 Pages 1164 Words

When I first started this semester I thought I knew the basics about music and its history. I felt comfortable with the amount of exposure I had to music, plays, and various instruments. When our music class was assigned the concert review paper, I thought that I would be attending a concert that I would consider a good experience. However, after walking out of the concert this past Tuesday, I couldn’t believe that I had never attended a concert before. It was really a wonderful experience that was different from what I have imagined, and I’m quite convinced that everyone (at least once in their lifetime), should attend some type of concert.
I was a bit unacquainted with how to prepare for a concert, but I wanted to make sure I understood what I was going to be listening to and watching. I reviewed the notes from class about what to wear, when to clap, and what to expect. It was important to me that I learned about the composers and compositions being played before walking into the concert. On May 1st, I went down to the recital hall and copied the names of the composers down from the program on the wall. I went home later that night and researched about Sibelius, Franck, Ravel, and Sarasate. I learned about their styles, time period, and what their music sounded like. I know that these composers really represent a transitional time in music. Their music was based in the Romantic period, but began the transformation to 20th century music. I have never heard of these composers, but I did find one composition name rather familiar. I researched Sarasate’s, Carmen Fantasy, because I had this name as a ring tone on my cellular. I was excited that I was going to be hearing a melody that I was going to recognize and I wondered if it was going to sound like what I expected. I found out that Carmen Fantasy (1883), was for the violin and orchestra, and it makes use of themes from Georges Bizet's opera Carmen. With all of this information ...