I attended Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra concert on Thursday night, April 3rd , 2003. The orchestra group consisted of different age musicians and was conducted by an artistic director Nicholas Armstrong.
The concert was held in a Brooklyn College Whitman auditorium. I was very surprised that the concert hall was not full at all and consisted mostly of elderly people. From the program brochure I learned that it was an Evening of Russian Works. Stravinsky's, Wiprud's, and Rachmaninoff's pieces would be performed.
The first work , Symphony in C composed by Stravinsky began. It had four movements. The work was abrupt in its changes from one section to another. Perhaps, because first two pieces had been composed in France, while the last two in Europe.
The first movement, the Moderato alla breve, began with strings declaring the rhythmic insistence pervading the movement. The main theme, heard first from the oboe, revolved around G rather than C, and was built on a B-C-G chord.
Philharmonic Orchestra of Jalisco (Guadalajara, Ja...
Photoportrait of , Russian composer.
4 First bars of Beethovens "Moonlight" sonataLyrical passages in the winds contrasted with the urgency of the pulsing strings, and it ended with a repeated sonic punch from the full ensemble. The second movement was presented with a tune stated mainly by oboe. Eventually the strings interrupted with an agitated theme, soon moderated by bass and woodwinds. The section ended quietly in a three-note rhythm immediately echoed by the low strings at start on the next movement, the Allegretto. The driving rhythms of the beginning relaxed at the end, the strings restating the original fourth softly and at half speed. The fourth piece began slowly with the bassoon chanting quietly. The theme was repeated slowly until, with several long pulses, the piece faded to an combination of the C and G chords, rather than C major.
The next work was Hosannas of the Second...