Beethoven 7 Plus Rachmaninoff The Bells Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 - Essay Example

Beethovens Seventh Symphony and Rachmaninoff The Bells The performance of Beethovens 7th Symphony took place in the Kansas Kauffman Centre, which is a beautiful and modern new hall with amazing acoustics. The piece on which I will be writing lasted almost one hour. Also featured on the program was Rachmaninoff The Bells. The Seventh Symphony was in four movements. The Bells is operatic, and is performed in four movements. Beethoven composed the 7th Symphony, while Rachmaninoff composed The Bells.

The conductors name was Michael Stern. A full orchestra performed both of these pieces. The tenor in The Bells was Juan Diego Florez and the mezzo soprano for the piece was Vivica Juneaux. There was not any special reason why these pieces were played, as they were a part of the overall Kansas City Symphony lineup. Rachmaninoff is a modern composer, and his music sounded modern. It sounded like the score of a movie through much of it. Beethoven was a composer that was between the Classical and Romantic eras in music.

The mood of the Beethoven piece alternated between light-hearted and happy, and dark and angsty. The Rachmaninoff piece did the same, although much of it was light and springy. The pitch varied between soprano, alto and tenor throughout, and these changes in pitch went along with the changes in mood. My general reaction to the concert was an almost visceral reaction. I appreciate music for how I hear it and how it moves me and makes me feel. In the case of Beethovens 7th Symphony, I have always loved the second movement.

I love Beethoven, in general, for the drama and the passion that is in every piece that he does. Rachmaninoff is the same, although his piano concertos are always my favorite. The musicians did an excellent job, which is not surprising, as they are professional musicians. There was not a note out of place in either of these concerts. The musicians played rhythmically together, and they were all in sync with one another. The soloist singers performed excellently, with a lot of energy and passion.

The energy level was right for every piece that was played. This means that in the forceful and the dramatic parts, the allegros, the musicians displayed high energy. During the adagio parts of the music, the musicians scaled back and played with less energy. They seemed very well-prepared and professional. In fact, I detected a certain Celtic flair to the piece, which surprised me. Then I discovered that Beethoven was heavily influenced not just by Celtic music, but also folk music of German and Austria, so this made sense (Travis, 255).

As noted above, the second movement of Beethovens 7th Symphony has always been my favorite movement of any of Beethovens pieces, even before I came to see this concert. So, I was happy that this symphony was the one that I would see. I love the flow of this piece, and the dramatic air that it has. This is a piece that is neither adagio nor allegro, but somewhere in between. This movement did trigger an emotional response in me, as I associated it with one of my favorite movies, Immortal Beloved, which is a movie about Beethoven that features that piece, among others.

It also brought pictures into my head of thunderstorms and rainy days, which is something that I love, in general. It also fit the mood I was in. The lighter movements in Beethovens Seven Symphony did not suit my mood as much, as I was very much in a serious mood, so these pieces did not speak to me as much as the second movement did. Likewise, on the Rachmaninoff Symphony, there were parts that actually brought me back to good times in my life. This was a much more modern piece than I was used to hearing from him, and almost sounded like the musical score to a light-hearted movie through parts of it.

Other parts reminded me of Christmas and sleigh rides, although I had never taken a sleigh ride. This was just the image that it conjured up in my mind. So, I found myself actually being uplifted out of my serious mood while I listened to The Bells. This performance was an artistic event because it is something that is fairly new to me, so it was something that was more like a special occasion for me. Reference Travis, James. "Celtic Elements in Beethovens Seventh Symphony." The Musical Quarterly 21.3 (1935): 255-265.