Music Concert Report

Music History Concer Report

On December 5th I attended a concert hosted by La Maison des Jeunesses Musicales du Canada in Montreal. The musicians were all students from La Conservatoire de Musique de Montreal. The compositions presented were three pieces by Johannes Brahms: Sonata in F major for �Cello and Piano, Op. 99, Sonata in F minor for Clarinet and Piano, Op. 120 No. 1, and Trio in A minor for Clarinet, �Cello and Piano, Op. 114. The performance of Sonata in F major for �Cello and Piano, Op. 99 Allegro Vivace was truly an amazing experience and was my favorite piece of the concert. The piece started out fortissimo: violent and frantic. Within twenty measures it faded to pianissimo. During the entire piece, the dynamics ranged in and out of this spectrum. The tone color of the �cello was sharp, uplifting, and eclectic while the piano part’s tonal characteristics represented power, joy, grace, and sorrow. The pitch of the number varied from soprano to bass although it stayed mostly in the baritone register. The piece was in 3/4 time. There was some syncopation involved when the �cello would deviate from the beat set by the piano. During the piece, both the piano and �cello would imitate each other in a counterpuntal fashion. It seemed as though at times the �cello would command the piano and vice versa. The texture of the piece was homophonic of course but there was definetly some polyphonic parts to the piece as the two instruments imitated and responded to one another on the different themes. Overall I give this concert four and a half (out of five) stars. It would have been perfect if only the artists had added more passion to their work. They played the pieces beautifully but showed little outward emotion. This, I believe is crucial to any great performance and enhances the experience and emotion of the entire piece by getting the audience involved; making them not only see, but feel the passion that the composer expresses through his work. Where and when the Conservatoire de Musique de Montreal has another concert, I will be sure to attend it and bring a friend too. I

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