Concert Report

The opportunity was given this semester to attend two orchestral performances. The two assignments chosen for this assignment were both performed by the Chattanooga Symphony & Opera (CSO). The CSO was chosen due to its historic record of excellence and their entertaining and highly informative conductor-Maestro Robert Bernhardt. The concerts though both classical were vastly different musical experiences. The following examines each concert individually, and then concludes with an overall examination of experiences of this semester.

On February 29, 2008, the CSO performed Rachmaninov Symphonic Dances, which also included selections by Strauss and Bruch. The entire evening had a whimsical, romantic overtone beginning with Strauss’ Don Juan piece. While I was unfamiliar with Bruch’s work, he was more popular than Brahms in his day, according to Maestro Bernhardt. The Rachmaninov Dances followed intermission, and the orchestra swelled to its fullest at over 120 musicians. Mainly percussion and horns were added to the multitude of strings already on stage. The configuration of players was the standard arch consisting of the following: violins front stage left, clarinets and oboes front center, cellos and basses front stage right, percussion rear stage left along the shell, and brass and horns rear center and right stage. The Rachmaninov piece was very festive and spirited with a fast tempo and bursts of tempered pace. One could easily picture Russian men with their arms crossed over their chests kicking up a storm across the stage. While the three pieces were from different historical periods, they were all indicative of happier times when culture, community, and peace were the order of the day. All three pieces were of similar style of taking a constant tempo, whether it be fast or slow, and tempering it with bursts of the opposite speed. For example, the Don Juan piece was a steady constant tempo with bursts of speed, allowing the listener to imagine Don Juan escaping an angry husband and then returning to slowly make love to another’s wife.

This past March 29th, the CSO and CSO Chorus performed Brahms German Requiem, including a chamber piece by Phillip Glass. A requiem is traditionally a funeral mass or devotional. Brahms wrote his requiem in the 1860s following the death of his mother. There are three solos in the piece; two for baritone and one for soprano, these were the melodic height of the piece. The chorus did an outstanding job