The Concert Conductor George Manahan - Essay Example

The concert by ‘The Stony Brook Symphony Orchestra’ took place at 8.PM sharp on Saturday, 9th March 2013. The Concert Conductor was George Manahan. The program comprised of ‘Scherzo a la Russe’ (1945) by Igor Stravinsky (1882 -1971) a ‘Viola Concerto,’ Op.37 (1979) by Miklos Rozsa (1907 – 1995) and the Concerto Competition Winner for 2011 – 2012 – Chieh – Fan Yiu, Viola that took place before the intermission and this was followed by ‘Enigma’ Op, 36 (1899) by Edward Elgar (1892 – 1955) comprising of ‘Variations of an Original Theme for Orchestra.’

Another noteworthy thing about Manahan is that he has excellent leadership qualities which help him to have a good rapport with the orchestra, emoting with them and bringing out the best in their performances. He was also honored by the American Society of Composers and Publishers (ASCAP) four times for his contribution to the field of music.
Chieh – Fan- Yiu, (viola) a Taiwanese-born Canadian is one of the most enterprising young violinists on the music scene today. He is an extremely talented soloist who was the recipient of many awards and one of them being ‘The Stony Brook University Concerto Competition in 2012. Presently he is the featured soloist for the Stony Brook Symphony Orchestra.

Igor Stravinsky’s ‘Scherzo a la Russe’, (1945) comprises a pair of trios and a Scherzo and therefore has three contrasting sections whose march-like rhythm integrates well with lyrical themes. The energetic rhythm was created by the disruption of a regular pulse with accented off-beats, hence sounding march-like. The first trio was a combination of harp and piano that created a romantic mood. However, the second trio comprised the 1943 sketches of the composer that was reminiscent of festive Russian Folk songs.

Edward Elgar received international recognition for his “Enigma Variations” also called “Variations on an Original Theme for Orchestra, Op. 36. This musical piece is considered to be one of the best-loved British works that took him to the forefront of British composers. This piece comprised fourteen orchestral variations, each of which represented the portrait of a friend by the person’s general character and a specific attribute, which he captured in music.
The piece of this discussion is ‘Scherzo a la Russe’, (1945) by composer Igor Stravinsky whose meticulous knitted composition is interesting as it is appealing. The music begins in Allegretto punctuated with staccato notes to give it a March-like tempo that is both vibrant and energetic. In sharp contrast to this is the second part of the piece that flows into a soft and slower rhythm from the piano while the background in this portion of the piece remains rather rhythmic in the Mezzo- piano (mp) style with a moderately paced tempo (Allegretto) followed by a couple of staccato notes and after by long drawn out moderately loud notes (Mezz0-forte (mf) before shifting back to the first tempo comprising of a March- like tempo full of energy and vigor. This tempo gave a feeling of happiness and made the listener feel like dancing along with it. In this portion of the piece, the loud and soft musical sounds alternated with each other to lend expression to the piece and make it more meaningful. The staccato beats were interwoven with longer notes by different instruments, very skillfully by the composer which made the entire piece very appealing.

The next part of the piece had a lot of improvisation by various instruments such as the piano, trumpets, etc. that included a sprinkling of trills that lends beauty to the piece. The tempo here was moderately fast-paced and accentuated in places to emphasize certain portions. In some places, the soft playing of instruments was contrasted with loud playing to add color to the composition. The finale once again had the March tempo which was highly rhythmic and joyful, making the piece complete.

In my opinion, Igor Stravinsky’s composition ‘Scherzo a la Russe’, (1945) was a masterpiece in itself as it was wholesome listening. I liked the March-like portions because it was rhythmic and I felt like dancing too. Read More