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When the conductor emerged as well, glorious clapping for a minute gave way to absolute silence in preparation for the first movement. It seems as though people who frequent classical music performances always know when to clap to respect the performers. This probably comes through knowledge and experience of the work, knowing the interludes and spaces in between the movements. The concert hall was comparable to a large church in size and was composed of wood paneling, high ceilings, and a large gold decorative piece behind the performers.
On both sides of the stage was seating for patrons, and in front of the stage sat a row of flowers that gave way into a sea of interested listeners. The echo of the music was wonderful coming from the ceiling and the walls, as well as the audience applause. In part, knowing that people have gathered in venues like this concert hall and enjoyed this kind of music for hundreds of years contributed to the pleasure of attending the concert. The work I enjoyed most was Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No.
8 in F Major. Because Beethoven was important in the transition from the Classical and Romantic eras of classical music, the symphony shares characteristics of both periods in the same musical composition. The composition is airy, light, and fanciful; it has many contrasts and variations. In this way, it exemplifies the characteristics of the Classical era. However, in spite of these Classical characteristics, the work is also emotionally expressive, with many highs and lows, and it displays a certain style that makes it immediately identifiable as a Beethoven symphony.
In this respect, it follows the Romantic tradition. These two identities cannot be easily resolved or separated, which complicates the classification of the work as either distinctly Classical or distinctly Romantic. This composition is my favorite precisely because it is so varied and so difficult to define exactly in terms of where it belongs in Beethoven’s repertoire, let alone the history of classical music. The movements are different from one another, which makes the performance not repetitive, but continuously exciting in that the piece is always developing upon itself, always expanding in its complexity and never contracting.
The first movement in the piece, for instance, has its climax in an unusual place. It is not during the development section, as is customary in Beethoven’s works, but at the start of the recapitulation phase. There is a substantial crescendo as the start of recapitulation. This variability and uniqueness in the piece makes it one of my favorite sonatas, particularly in the Beethoven corpus. The instrumentation for the Ninth Symphony is quite large. From one count, there were two flutes, two clarinets, two oboes, two bassoons, two trumpets, four horns, timpani, and some strings, which is a relatively large group of instruments.
Both as a conductor and as a composer, it must be difficult to manage that many performers. However, utilizing a large number of instruments is an important part of achieving complexity in one’s artistry. A polyphonic performance like the one put on by the performers invites complexity more than any other kind of texture. In terms of the mood conveyed by the piece, it seems like most people were emotionally affect at some parts. Being such an artistic composition, and having very high and
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