Mozart And Brahms Concert At The Walt Disney Concert Hall

On Friday, November 25, 2016, at 8pm, I attended the Mozart and Brahms’ concert at the Walt Disney Concert Hall’s Los Angeles Philharmonic in Los Angeles, California. This was a very nice venue with a mixed crowd. They offered a student rush discount ticket which was amazing because they were pretty good seats for $10. The concert was held on “casual Friday.” People were still a little over dressed for being a casual night. As soon as I walked into the concert hall, I noticed an organ straight ahead with beautiful architectural modern design. The concert lasted around 1.5 hours and had no intermission. The first performance I want to write about was Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5, “Turkish.” This piece was composed in 1775. It is broken into 3 movements: Allegro aperto, Adagio, and Rondeau. It lasted around 30 minutes, contained more than 200 bars and played in major mode. The orchestration included 2 oboes, 2 horns, strings, and a solo violin which was performed by Augustin Hadelich. The conductor was named Krzysztof. He looked very young, in my opinion. Since I had previously learned about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, it was interesting to hear this piece and connect what I learned to it. The first movement, Allegro aperto, the orchestra opened with a joyful sound and starts with the main theme introduced by the violins. It goes into the second part of the movement introduced by the solo violin. This is a calmer melody with a short cadenza included. You only hear this interlude once in this movement and then transitions back to the main theme, the Allegro aperto, which is where you will hear a bigger cadenza. This first movement was in sonata form. The second is movement is the Adagio. This is a much slower movement with a slow tempo. It is in the third part of this movement, The Rondeau, where you hear the “Turkish” style music. It started with the Rondo them introduced by the soloist. You are able to hear a couple of cadenzas and then you hear the changes in modes, as well as changes in meter and tempo throughout the movement. There was a full orchestra but what I enjoyed more was the sound of marching band sound. I’m not sure if the instrument were drums, it played only a few times, but was what made this piece the most enjoyable for me. The second performance I want to mention is Brahms’ Symphony No. 2 in D Major. Op.73. It was composed in 1877. This piece is broken into 4 movements: Allegro non troppo, Adagio non troppo, Allegretto grazioso, and Allegro con spirito. This piece had a duration of 40 minutes. Orchestration included 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, and strings. The first movement, Allegro non troppo, in sonata form and included 2 different motives which later combine together. It started calm with dissonance sound but intensifies as it progresses with the introduction of more instruments leading to …show more content…
The first performance, Mozart, I would say was my favorite of the two. The part that was most memorable to me was the last movement which included the Turkish style music with added marching sounds. The second performance, Brahms, was all over the place. At times it felt as though it can easily put an infant to sleep, to something more dark, then cheery and full of energy. Although, I still do not feel as though it was good enough for my particular taste. In other words, I would not attend a concert in the future if they were playing these same 2 symphonies. But, I still have hope that one day I will find something I will fall in love with. For my particular style, I think I would enjoy a piece that kept me on my toes, with more intensity. I long to attend an Opera, with actual vocalists. Instrumental music is beautiful but I personally do not see the true beauty in these 2 pieces. Not saying I did not enjoy them, because I did, but I did find myself yawning a few times. The whole experience was good. It was my first time attending this venue and I was with good company. I have entered into a whole new world when it comes to this style of music, classical