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Concert

I attended a performance of the Pacific Symphony, where they performed Schnittke’s ‘(Not) A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, Rachmaninoff’s ‘Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini’, and Stravinsky’s ‘The Rite of Spring’.   I found all three performance interesting, and good examples of 20th century music, as all three pieces experiment with atonality and many different themes.   I attended the concert with the intention of coming as a critical listener, critically breaking down each piece with the full orchestra in sight.   I found, however, that by the end of the last performance, I was sitting back in my chair, referencing the times I’ve heard these melodies before, particularly Stravinsky’s ‘The Rite of Spring’.
Schittke was performed first; we heard ‘(Not) A Midsummer Night’s Dream’.   What stuck out first was the violin beginning the piece, with just an accompaniment from the piano.   The same melody is then repeated, but this time a flute played the lead, backed by a harpsichord.
Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody was next.   The orchestra was accompanied by Gabriela Montero on the piano, who really was able to pull off the difficulty of these Rachmaninoff variations.   Obviously, this piece was centered around the piano.
Finally, ‘The Rite of Spring’ ended the concert.   A projector screen named the parts as they were being performed, and it was interesting to see how, if read as a story, the parts really do take on the qualities of those fictional pagan events.   This explains how this piece contains so many asymmetrical rhythms and different times and speeds; each section of the piece (14 in all) represents the dramatization of a religious pagan ritual into music, so naturally they are as different as much as they connect.
I found this concert assignment to be much more fun and interesting that I thought.   A preview talk was held the hour before, and hearing a little history behind the pieces really put them into historical perspective.   It’s probably natural for someone that doesn’t...