Orchestra Concert Report Sample

October 25th, 2015 in the Austin High School Knowlton Auditorium the Austin Symphony Orchestra performed Pictures at the Orchestra at 2 o’clock in the afternoon. This performance featured Jacob Dalager on trumpet, piccolo trumpet, and cornet. Jacob Dalager performed a solo part in four of the five songs that the orchestra performed on October 25th. Knowlton Auditorium was recently renovated and put off a great sound. In this auditorium the audience could hear all the instruments very well and very clear. The auditorium was a pleasant place to be. Most of the other people attending Pictures at the Orchestra were from an older generation. I feel that there were people from the older generation because orchestras and band performances were more

The members of the orchestra are very good at working together and producing wonderful sounds. Attending this concert was very cool and was definitely something I was not used to, but I enjoyed the performance. I enjoyed the performance because it was different than what I was used to and it always kept me interested with all the dynamics and different instruments that were playing from time to time. The two pieces I like the best from this performance were Trumpet Concerto by Alexander Arutiunian and Stars in a Velvety Sky by Herbert Lincoln Clarke. The first piece I will be discussing, Trumpet Concerto, by Alexander Arutiunian, is a great example of a Modern 20th century style piece. The other piece that I will be discussing, Stars in a Velvety Sky, by Herbert Lincoln Clarke, is also a 20th century piece for solo trumpet and band arranged in 1919. Both of these pieces are coming from the 20th century modern music time. Arutiunian and Clarke had other great composers with them during this time like; Claude Debussy, Igor Stravinsky, Charles Ives, and George Gershwin. Each composer made an impression on the development of music to what it has advanced to

This piece was written in 1950 by Arutiunian. Some major characteristics of the 20th century music are the use of glissandos and polychords. A glissando is a very quick slide up or down a chromatic scale. The harmony was mostly made up of the polychords where an audience member may hear two main harmonies at the same time. At this time there was a high intensity on irregularity and unpredictable rhythms (Kamien). Trumpet Concerto starts out with an allegro energico tempo, then slows down to meno mosso, and finishes off allegro. Along with this changing tempo, there was terraced dynamics. There was also some gradual dynamic changes but mostly all of them were large dynamic changes. There was a couple repeated sections that were altered a little each time. The melody was always changing and was switched from instrument to instrument between the trumpet solo sections. While the melody was bouncing back and forth from the instruments the harmony was mainly expressed in the strings and brass sections, but these also served the melody once in a while. While the brass section had the harmony most of the time there was different parts to the harmony and the audience could hear the use of polychords that was happening in the orchestra. At times there was also some homophonic texture. There was always a good balance between orchestra and trumpet, when they played together. Also, when the