Concert Report on Tempest Trio On Thursday April the 4th, the Brooks Center presented the Tempest Trio.

The performance drew a nice crowd of people and at promptly around 8 pm the lights were dimmed, the crowd got quiet, and the performance began. The trio consisted of Ilya Kaler on the violin, Amit Peled on the cello, and Alon Goldstein at the piano. The group was very professional; all three men were very skilled with their respective instruments and all seemed genuinely excited to be there performing. The first piece that was played was Trio in B flat for the Violin, Cello, and Piano. Ludwig van Beethoven originally performed the piece in 1797. This particular piece consisted of three movements. The first movement was Allegro con brio, followed by Adagio, and finally theme with variations: Allegretto. The first movement, Allegro, had a quick, bright tempo. This movement created a happy and uplifting mood for the performance. The first movement reminded me of music that would be played in the background of a cartoon as the character is happily moving from place to place. As the piece moved on to the second movement, the tempo slowed down noticeably. The tempo in the second movement gave the music a relaxing feel, putting the audience at ease. The use of the cello in this section was evident in creating a peaceful melody with a smoother touch. The final movement of the piece, theme with variations: Allegretto, picked back up with the faster tempo. The tempo was faster than movement two but not quite as fast as the first movement. The opening of the third movement reminded me of some patriotic music played to gain support for soldiers during World War II. Having remembered the class discussion on Beethoven and his impact on the history of music, I enjoyed hearing some of the works performed live just as he intended on them being heard.

The next piece was the theme from Schindlers List for Cello and Piano. This piece was a much later work coming from the 1993 film. This work was much shorter and was not broken into movements like the first piece. This piece contains a slow tempo with a smooth, flowing feel to it. The use of the piano and cello compliment each other nicely. The piano seems to be in the background as the cello carries the piece forward. The piano gives the piece a very gloomy, sad feeling to it. The cello adds a more dramatic feeling to the music, while still maintaining the gloomy feel. Overall, this is a very depressing sounding piece, which goes along with the story line of the movie. This piece showed me that music in movies is more than just a way to set the stage, so to speak, but instead, is a work of art in itself that can be played very beautifully with classic instruments. The third piece of the night was a paraphrase on Verdis Aida (Dance and Finale Duet), S. 436. Franz Liszt, who adopted it from Giuseppe Verdis opera entitled Aida, composed this piece in 1879. This piece was a piano piece that had a relatively fast tempo and upbeat feel to it. The pitch of the notes seemed to change from high chirpy like pitches to low, deep dramatic pitched notes. The piano is not always capable of playing long drawn out notes so this piece consisted of choppy, short notes to go along with the quick tempo. I enjoyed how you never knew what was coming with this piece; the change from high to low notes brought a distinct dramatic feel to the music. I really liked this piece because I have always enjoyed the sound of a well-played song on a piano, and this piece was an excellent example of this. The next piece of the night was Scherzo in C minor from F.A.E Sonata for Violin and Piano. Johannes Brahms originally created this piece in 1853. This piece seemed to

alternate between a slow and relatively fast tempo throughout. The first part of the piece consisted of the fast tempo, which had the pianist and violinist playing very quickly with many short choppy style notes. Just as with the second piece the two instruments in this piece, piano and violin, seemed to compliment each other perfectly throughout the work. In my mind, the piece sort of mirrored a good book. It went from slow, smooth sections to fast upbeat sections, which seemed to depict how a good book always keeps you guessing as it moves through the action. This piece kept me on the edge of my seat as to what was next the way the music seemed to flow throughout the piece. After the intermission, the three instruments were brought back to together for the final piece of the night. The final piece was a trio for Violin, Cello, and Piano in F minor, Op. 65. Anton Dvorak originally produced the work in 1883. Just as with the first piece, the final work was also broken up into movements. However, this time there were four movements: Allegro ma non troppo, Allegro grazioso, Poco Adagio, and finaleAllegro con brio. The first movement, Allegro ma non troppo, had a somewhat fast tempo, but not as fast as normal allegro tempo. Just as before, the fast tempo creates a lively, upbeat feel to the movement, which helps to grab the audiences attention. The second movement, Allegro grazioso, continues with the fast, upbeat tempo but changes the way it is performed. The difference between this movement and the first movement is the music here seemed to be less choppy and more elegant, so to speak. The cheerful mood continued into the second movement. The third movement, Pocco Adagio, slowed the tempo of the overall piece down. It was not a dramatic change, but the slower tempo was noticeable for sure. Just as with the first piece, the slower tempo seemed to have a calming effect. The third movement made me want to just sit back in my seat and relax.

The finale movement, Allegro con brio, picked back up with the fast tempo from the first two movements. This final movement had a very energetic feel to it, more so than the first two movements. The transition from the third to fourth movements was like when someone is sleepy and then drinks a double shot of espresso and gets a lot of extra energy. The final movement captured your attention if you became too relaxed during the show. Something about this piece reminded me of music I have heard at weddings before; parts of it just had a formal, graceful feel like you hear in wedding music. It was a great piece to end the performance on due to most of it having a fast tempo, especially the final movement, which seemed to be like a grand finale at a firework show. I have never really been to a professional performance of this caliber before and was impressed at how good it sounded without flaws or mistakes. It was entertaining to have a live performance of some of the works we have discussed in class this semester. Overall, I enjoyed the performance and have a new respect for the work that goes into performing such classical works of art.