Justin Marquez

MUS2207 20th Century Music

Dr. Charles Porter

May 2, 2012

For my assignment I chose to attend Bargemusic

concert, which was located in Brooklyn by the water. To

my surprise the event happened to be a very enjoyable

experience, surpassing the insipid expectations I had set

before I witnessed the performance. Not only was I

pleased with the aesthetics of the area, but also I found

that the water provided a great backdrop as I enjoyed the

music. As I mentioned before, I was no where near excited

to waste my time at a musical event I felt I would have no

connection too until I heard the musicians start playing.

The string quartet was extremely talented and executed

each piece beautifully. The overall intimacy of the event

was calming as the size of the venue, in my opinion,

played a part in how quaint and personal a public music

event could be to an individual. It was as if the musicians

were playing just to entertain me, likewise to those who

similarly enjoyed the performance as much as I did. The

concert was about an hour and thirty minutes with a

fi fteen-minute intermission, covering the music of Debussy.

It was lifting how well each musician played and how

much heart they put into their musical outlet. Upon close

observation of the musicians, many would be able to

discern how much they truly enjoyed what they were

playing by these jovial facial expressions that only

captivated the crowd more. I enjoyed the whole

performance; the only thing that I did not like was the

rocking of the boat and the noise of the harbor, which I felt

disturbed the tranquil setting. After seeing this

performance it has changed the way I look at music in a

general sense. I have realized that I should be more open

to all music, rather than being closed minded and only

listening to just one type. Music is everywhere and in

order to fully embrace it, an individual needs to give the

given genre a fi ghting chance to prove its worth by just

listening and not being eager to judge. All in all, the

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performance was very pleasant and I would love to attend

another concert at bargemusic.

Debussy was a great composer and it is seen through

the pieces, which were played at Bargemusic. The string

quartet played a number of pieces and the once which

stuck out me were Anime ET tres decide and Assez vif et

bien rythme. The musicians started off with Anime ET

tresdecide, as they started to play you could already feel

the strength of the music the power coming from the

strings. You could here the deep sounds coming from the

cello and the complex working of the violins. The piece

started off fast and heavy and changes to a slow simple

past. The piece changes tempos very often and goes from

a simple to a more complex chord progression. As the

violins played together the cello was used to give a deeper

background to the music. As the music progressed so did

the mood of the music. The at some points all the

instrument played in harmony which was then followed by

the cello changing its melodies. There were constant

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changes in this piece, which gave it life and very diff erent

emotions.

The second piece played was Assez vif et bien rythme;

a piece which diff ered immensely from the fi rst. This piece

contained very unique tempos and chords, which placed

the song on a level of its own. The piece was slow yet

strong and contained strings being plucked. To me this

gave a running type of eff ect to the music. With all that

was going on it was hard to understand the piece, but at

the same time it is very intrusting. As the cello kept the

same pace throughout the piece, the violin and the viola

were consistently changing their tempo. At some points the

instrument beautifully harmonized, only before their

discourse changed dramatically. As the piece went on it

happened to slow down to almost a complete halt, where

all that could be heard was the simple plucking of a viola.

The piece then began to pick up momentum and sounded

as it reached the climax of the composition.

The performance of Debussys work was very

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entertaining and beautiful. All of the musicians did a

wonderful job through their expression of music. Each

piece seems to have life and help to make the concert as a

whole great and provide a vivid picture of how amazing

composition could be. Barge music was a great place for

the concert and set an amazing atmosphere to hear the

works of this prestigious composer. Overall, the

performance of Debussys work was nothing short of

entertaining and beautiful. All of the musicians

performing at this event did a wonderful job through their

expression of music. In addition to their inclined musical

brilliance, each piece seemed to have had life and help to

make the concert, as a whole, great while providing a vivid

picture of how amazing composition could truly be. Barge

music was a great place for the concert and set an

amazing atmosphere to hear the works of this prestigious

composer. As I stated earlier, I never felt before this

concert that I would ever fi nd a personal connection with

this genre of music. I have to stress what a catalyst barge

music has been in regards to my personal preference when

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searching for an outlet to aid emotional relief through self-

identifi cation with music. As not only a lover of music, but

a sort of composer myself, I could already sense the

infl uence Debussy will have on my process and where it

will lead me. Music calls for an open-minded outlook, and

even though things are easier said than done, I feel that

because of my attendance at this event, my horizons have

already broadened.