Music is the other world, where people think about nothing but the sounds they hear, feel nothing, but the surrounding atmosphere and see nothing, as music fulfills all the soul and person can percept nothing else. Classical music is absolutely different from modern music as classical music is immortal, a lot of generations have been enjoying this music and it continues to please a lot of people all over the world. The confirmation that classical music is alive and continues to please people is the annual Vienna Philharmonic Summer Night Concert. The immortal pieces of music by the greatest composers of the previous periods are directed by Daniel Barenboim, the world’s acclaimed conductor.
Considering the program of the concert, it is significant to mention Daniel Barenboim, who is the conductor and under which supervision such great pieces of music will be performed, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “A Little Night Music”, Johann Strauss’ “A Thousand and One Nights” Waltz, Modest Mussorgsky’s “A Night on Bald Mountain” and Spanish composer Manuel De Falla’s “Nights in the Gardens of Spain”. The concert’s length is one hour 27 minutes (The Vienna Philharmonic Summer Night Concert, 2009). The concert is devoted to the night theme, and the place of its performance allows seeing the beauty of the night.
Before watching the concert, the information is necessary to be searched for about the composers and the conductor. Daniel Barenboim is going to be one of the main members of the concert, and his duties are going to be of the highest response. It is significant that being 66, he has been performing on the stage for 58 years. The numbers tell about his talent and the desire to be involved in the musical process. It is impossible to enumerate all his merits, but at the same time, it is impossible to mention that now he is the general music director of the Berlin State Opera and its orchestra and was the music director of the Chicago Symphony and the Orchestre de Paris. Having possessed such a loud name, Daniel Barenboim is the guest conductor at the Teatro Alla Scala in Milan (Kimmelman, 2009).
To understand the concert fuller and with a great amount of sense, it is significant to consider the other works of the mentioned composers. Mozart is a great composer of his time, moreover, he is considered to be a genius and created the profound music of his times. His music is concise, but at the same time impressive. The combination of strings, winds, brass, and timpani make his music rather emotional and full of sense. Listening to his pieces of music, it is possible either to laugh or to weep, the emotions overfill (Schaefer, 2008). Johann Strauss is the other great composer of his time, who is famous for his waltzes, and even as he was not the inventor of waltz, he could have become one of them, as his music created something new, he put something fresh in the waltz.
Modest Mussorgsky is the Russian representative of classical music. His pieces aimed to introduce people and events through sounds. His music may be characterized by the color and rhythm of Russian speech, instrumental operas about people and history were created by him. His works were not so numerous, but impressive and full of sense (Boyden, Kimberley & Staines, 2002). Manuel De Falla’s is a Spanish composer, who as if created the new music out of the existing directions. He managed to do this by putting all musical directions of his time in one and then dividing them according to his personal tastes. It seemed as if he had taken the features of different directions and created his own neoclassicism. The rhythm and the catchy melodies are the main characteristics of his works.
Considering the program notes of the concert, the impression was the Vienna concert hall wanted to combine the music of different directions (Romantic, classical, and XX century), but at the same time joining them under one theme, night. The impression about the program notes was supported by the very concert and after listening to it the concert overcame all expectations. The music was magnificent, listening to it, it was like the time has stopped and all appeared in the other reality. The atmosphere was magnificent, all was like of the same structure like the concert hall was created for the performance, and the music made it possible to hear, to feel the night.
The compositions by the famous composers about the night were incredible, the musicians managed to transfer the mood and the ideas of the composers to the music. Mozart’s “A Little Night Music” is one of the most popular among his pieces of music, but the impression was that it listened for the first time. Considering the movements of the musical piece it is possible to divide it into four parts. The starting part is allegro, the music was fast and impressive. Next, it was the slower part, where emotions were the main consideration (romanza movement). Menuetto movement is the third part of the musical piece and the fourth one is the Rondo, which may be closely associated with the first movement, the same lively and impressive.
Johann Strauss’ “A Thousand and One Nights” Waltz is a work that is the combination of pressure, fast movements, and at the same time tender and sensitivity. The introduction is the clarinet music, which is rather loud and energetic, which comes slowly to the less energetic music and then again returns to it. The middle part of the waltz is the light music, the feeling to stand up and to swirl occupies. The middle part is the longest one. Being tender and at the same time emotional, it slowly transfers to the fierce ending, which makes it rather emotional, breathless, and powerful. The music is overfilled with the chords, drum rolls, and brass, and the insertions of a piano make the music magnificent.
The composition “A Night on Bald Mountain” by Modest Mussorgsky is moving, it expresses the fears and the dangers of the night, it seems as if the good and devil fights on the Bald Mountain, as the music transfers all the movements, and the pauses give them time to think over all and then again absorbs in the mysterious world. Considering the instrumentation composition, the music is full of strings, woodwinds, brasses, and percussions. It is possible to mention violins, flutes, clarinets, cornet, tuba, bass drum, tambourine, and timpani, but it is not the whole collection of the instruments.
Manuel De Falla’s “Nights in the Gardens of Spain” is one of those impressive compositions. The piano part was magnificent, in spite of the fact that it was not dominant in the musical piece. The collection of instruments is also variable, strings, horns, oboes and flutes, cymbals and clarinets give the impression of appearance in the garden.
In conclusion, the concert is the incredible and magic transfer of the theme of the night through music. The compositions of the famous composers under the direction of Daniel Barenboim made the night of the concert fairy in the modern rude and unemotional world. The Vienna Philharmonic Summer Night Concert of this year was a magnificent night of instrumentation music, and the performances of the famous composers prove that classical music is immortal and a lot of people continue to enjoy it.
Reference List
Boyden, M., Kimberley, N. & Staines, J. (2002).The rough guide to opera. Rough Guides, New York.
Kimmelman, M. (2009). “Daniel Barenboim.” The New York Times.
Schaefer, E. (2008). Catholic Music Through the Ages: Balancing the Needs of a Worshipping Church. Liturgy Training, Chicago.
The Vienna Philharmonic Summer Night Concert 2009. (2009). Great performances.