I'm sorry I haven't posted recently. I've been a little weary. But I notice my brother, who has sorta been through the fire this last week is posting. What a good example he sets!
Tonight my son and I attended the Wichita Symphony Orchestra concert. We have season tickets again this year, and I enjoy it very much. Of course, going with Dan is always an adventure. He's really the classical music specialist of the family. This evening as I listened to Rachmaninoff's "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini", Op. 43, I admired the guest soloist, Lilya Zilberstein. She's a Russian pianist now living in Hamburg, Germany and what an extraordinary talent! The second half of the concert was the "Symphony No. 5 in D Minor", written in 1937 by a modern Russian composer, Dmitri Shostakovich. Take note of this, from the description in the concert program: "Emotional release comes in the form of a Scherzo. Here, Shostakovich's wry, sardonic sense of humor comes through, possibly taunting his worse critics." Did you know that Shostakovich had a wry, sardonic sense of humor? It's amazing what music communicates to the listener. I'm glad I read the entire description of this symphony before I heard it played - it was an amazing work.
The other work played, which I just wanted to briefly comment on, was one I had never ever heard of. It was called "Iron Foundry", composed by Mosolov. In 1926-1928, Masolov, a Russion composer, wrote a ballet called "Steel". It was intended to highlight the surge of industrialization going on in the Soviet Union during that time. "Iron Foundry" is a piece from this ballet. During this amazing piece you can close your eyes and imagine a steel factory, with all the noise from the machinery coming at you loudly and discordantly. The orchestra uses percussion and dissonant violins to create this illusion. I noticed one of the percussion players waving a large piece of sheet metal, which added even more realism to the experience. It was an odd piece, but one I won't soon forget.
2 comments:
I have learned, over the course of years, to appreciate most music...even country. I am much less inclined to generalize any specific genre of music with a good or bad label.
I'm still working on polkas and ballet, though. Maybe if I live long enough, I'll appreciate them, too.
Bluggier should check out the "Big Joe Polka Show" on RFD-TV (channel 379 on DirecTV). Maybe it's my German roots, but how can you not love it?
Post a Comment