Tempo

Concert Report: Mivos Quartet The Mivos Quartet performed at the Conrad Prebys Concert Hall on the campus of UC San Diego on the evening of October 12, 2016. The four-membered string ensemble - consisting of Olivia de Prato and Lauren Cauley on the violin, Victor Lowrie on the viola, and Mariel Roberts on the cello - played three modern composition in a concert that lasted about one hour. The quartet opened their performance with a piece titled Serashi Fragments composed by Lei Liang in 2005.…

In Copland’s “Piano Variations” the piece is quite simple but darkly colored with 20 variations and a coda, giving a sense of dramatization in continuous variation form, which were originally played on a piano and are now placed into the orchestra which gives it a more lively and colorful perspective on the piece. It opens up in heavy, ominous manner but then more into the piece the chords are struck heavily to give this sensation of engrossment. You’re captivated by everything that is thrown at…

As we learned from the previous assignment, Alvin Lucier is a composer of experimental music. This work August Moon is consisted of three instruments, which are horn, piano, and a string instrument that might be a cello. Entire music is composed of the similar patterns of playing. Piano, horn, and cello are playing as a trio every seven seconds. During the duration of the music, which is about fifteen minutes, the similar playing is repeated and each instruments paly their own role. The piano is…

The piece opens with a long low somewhat ominous blowing in the woodwind section. The string section accompanies the woodwind, building the shadowy dark tension. Gradually this sound builds and builds into a great rumbling crescendo. The music then gallops off from there into a cheerful frenzy that rises and falls like dancers in a colorful dance. It is played predominantly by the strings along with woodwind. The feeling is light and happy. A slight rolling in the percussion builds excitement.…

For this final project, several classmates and I have assembled an eight-part vocal ensemble, accompanied by a pianist. We have chosen a piece that also has eight-parts, to add variety and layers on the basis of each vocal part. This piece we are performing as an ensemble is titled “Weep No More,” arranged and composed by David N. Childs, and adapted from a poem by John Keats. David N. Childs is a well-known freelance composer of music, with his ideology being, “music has the power to transform…

1. What mood do the opening stage direction and setting description create? What effect is created with the music of the “blue piano”? The opening stage direction and setting description create a calm and soothing mood of the town. I felt a mood of soothing when the text stated, “You can almost feel the warm breath of the brown river beyond the river warehouses with their faint redolences of banana and coffee. This illustrates how the atmosphere of Elysian fields is pleasant and peaceful due to…

I. Mars, Bringer of War- The use of dynamic changes like crescendos and decrescendos really create a sense of excitement throughout the piece. The triplets played by all of the horns also add to this excitement. It seems as though John Williams, the composer for the Star Wars movies, took a lot of inspiration from this piece of music. The low reed sound at around 3:20 creates a mysterious and almost foreboding feeling. The finally with the sharp staccato rhythm really brings the piece…

With all of the problems we experience daily and hear about throughout the world, it would appear that humanity is falling apart; that the values of peace, love, and equality, among others, are no longer relevant. In 2003, the Black Eyed Peas released their lead single from the album Elephunk entitled “Where is the Love?”. This song became popular for it inspirational lyrics and its uplifting and “funkafied” beat. The song starts out with two guitars and a bass line that induce a soft and…

On Saturday April 9th, I attended the Austin symphony’s showing of Schubert’s Unfinished symphony “The Sounds of Hope”. The Symphony was filled with incredible pieces by Verdi, Schubert, and contemporary composers Nigel Westlake and Lior Attar. The evening began with Verdi’s Nabucco from his opera that follows the plight of the Jews as they were subsequently exiles from their homeland by the Babylonian King Nabucco. The next piece was Franz Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony, Schubert started this…

The piece I chose that I believe speaks most about grace and mercy is movement five, “Und went die Welt doll Teufel war”. This movement was later added into this piece after it was finished along with movement one to add timpani and trumpets. In this movement, the choir sings in unison, and the trumpets all play similar parts, with the violins playing counterpoints. The violins play this joyful and freudig run of sixteenth notes throughout most of the movement, creating a vision of swirling…