Concerto In D Major Essay

On Tuesday, October 6th, the Allen High School Philharmonia & Sinfonietta orchestra performed Concerto in D Major by George Phillip Telemann and arranged by McCashin. They also performed, The Explorers by Keith Sharp. The first piece Concerto in D major starts off with a unified chord that slowly transitions to a dissonant chord that the entire ensemble plays, to build tension, which almost instantly is released and becomes a consonant D major chord. The music then transitions into its repeated melody for the first time. During this initial lick the bass and cello have a very quiet and timid sound. This should be played at more of a mezzo-forte in lieu of a piano to add power to this music as well as layers instead of a single melodic line played …show more content…
You could also hear that the violins were not together the entire time but managed to recover towards the middle. This orchestra did an excellent job of blending covering up any potential missed notes. The ensemble does an excellent job of accenting the quarter notes prior to the repeat and changing dynamics adding almost a sense of finality. The repeated portion was great besides inconsistent dynamics on the same parts the second time. The low voices are much more confident and can easily be heard adding a powerful sound and increasing complexity to this piece. The use of accents in the beginning of measures should be used by everyone together, as only a few performers used accents. During the entire performance when the piece revert back to the slow piece, there is not enough vibrato being used to add emotion and color. When the cello enter playing the melody they rush making it sound tense and they did not play it together causing a muddy sound. At the end of this piece the Orchestra did a great job of watching their director and was able to stop together ending with a clear sound which is difficult due to this repetitive piece slowing down so abruptly. The orchestra also did a good job for