Alabama Symphony Orchestra

Alabama Symphony Orchestra

Today I attended the Alabama Symphony Orchestra at Bevill State Community College. It was part of the Alabama Symphony Orchestra on the road tour. It was a Symphonic Celebration with Christopher Confessore, the conductor of the orchestra. According to their website they have 54 members and will perform over 100 concerts in 2004-2005. Each year they perform about 10-12 free concerts and today I was able to attend one of those free concerts and I am going to tell you my thoughts of it.

At first I really wasn't sure if I would like it or not. Most of the time I don't have any type of interest in something like this and would usually not attend but I couldn't pass up 70 bonus points. I would like to say that I recognized a lot more of the compositions than I thought that I would. The performance in general was really good and I really enjoyed it. Now I really know nothing about music instruments but I am going to try and tell you some interesting things that I wrote down on the program.

The first composition they composed was "Thunder and Lightning Polka" by Strauss, Jr. It was a piece that he said he just put into the show at the last moment because he said he hasn't been able to play it much lately because of what is going on in New Orleans.

The next composition they performed was something I recognized from watching Bugs Bunny when I was a kid. The composition was called "Overture to The Barber of Seville" by Rossini.

The next composition that they were going to perform was suppose to be "Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana" by Mascagni, but they had to cut that from the program because somebody was sick and wasn't able to be there today.

The next composition they composed was my favorite of all the ones they performed today. It was "Peer Gynt Suite No. 1" by Grieg. I have never heard this, but I really enjoyed this piece for some reason. It was really upbeat and fast paced and for some reason I liked that one the best.

The next piece was "Slavonic Dance Op. 46, No. 8" by Dvorak. This composition had a mixture of contrast and rhythm. It was really had to keep a good rhythm to this one like he told us before they performed it.

The next composition was something that everyone should have recognized; it was "Pomp and Circumstance, March No. 4"