Michael Daniel

Core C Fine Arts Critique #1 – Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra

02/26/2007

On February 16 the Honors College took a trip to the Pittsburgh Symphony

Orchestra (PSO) to hear the symphony perform for IUP night. The Orchestra perfomed

“Rainbow Body” by Christopher Theofandis, “Concerto Number One in C Major” by

Ludwig Van Beethoven, and “Symphony Number One in D Major” by Gustav Mahler.

I only caught the last movement of “Rainbow Body” because the orchestra

walked onto the stage moments before we arrived at the door to get our seats. The ushers

literally slammed the door in our faces. I was dismayed that the PSO wouldn’t wait less

than a minute for the IUP students to arrive before the performance began, as it was IUP

night. If I did not need to be there to write this paper I would have walked out and

demanded my money back.

I wound up watching the concert on a TV in the small bar upstairs. Another

student was with me. It was a relaxed environment where we could sip our soda and

point out interesting features of the performance to each other without fear of getting

hushed for talking during the performance. We could hear the performance quite clearly

from the bar. To our surprise, we found that the regulars (some call them blue hairs)

found our conversation enlightening. I found that I had a better view of the concert on

the television than I would have had in the hall anyway.

The music almost made up for the venue. I enjoyed the music. The part of

“Rainbow Body” that I did hear was in a major key. It was brassy, happy and upbeat.

The regal horns expressed confidence with their fanfare at the end. Someday I hope to

hear that piece at a venue that knows how to treat patrons better.
 Beethoven’s Concerto Number One in C Major began with the strings playing

phrases of light, airy, soft flowing notes followed by phrases of staccato. The horns came

in, which lent intensity to the piece. The phrase that stuck with me was the horns playing

rum – bum – bum – bum. That phrase acted like punctuation between phrases. The

piano played some flowery music. The strings moved in with happy staccato. The tempo

picked up then the brass played the rum – bum –bum – bum and there was a rubato

pause. After the pause they began with an elegant mood but it was sad somehow. I

wouldn’t call it a minor key, but it didn’t quite sound major either. Then the music took a

turn into a proper minor key and then to a major key. The music built and fell, the piano

came in. There was what I would call a distressed minor phrase which was so extreme

that the brass fanfare barely came thru. The music battled between major and minor for a

while.

The more I listened to this piece the more I became aware of the wood winds. I

had never really noticed the timbre of woodwinds before. The timbre is halfway between

strings and brass and is sometimes hard to pick out, since woods intertwine thru the string

and brass sections so easily. I spent much of my listening energy keeping track of them

and simply appreciating their subtle yet dynamic timbre.

The next part of the song began with the piano playing softly and sweetly. It was

slow yet flowery and the wood winds were heavily used. The rum – bum – bum – bum

was still there but it was more subtle this time. Dynamic phrase changes happen more.

The strings and horns would alternate every two phrases, building on each other. I see

what people mean when they say that Beethoven used deep phrasing. Everything built to

a crashing crescendo followed by another rubato pause. The piano came in with flowery
staccato. When the orchestra came back the authoritative, punctuating horns were

replaced by authoritative, punctuating woods combined with the strings and timpani.

Everything ended with a grand crescendo.

For an encore Chopin’s “Revolutionary Etude” was played on the piano. It was a

wonderful performance. The pianist was very skilled.

After intermission Symphony Number One in D Major was performed. It began

with the sound of the cuckoo being played on the woods. The timpanis rumbled softly

and the strings were layered into the piece. It sounded as if Mahler was painting a picture

with the cuckoo in the foreground and the grand elements of nature in the background. It

was played in a major key, which sounded like a nice, sunny day. It built to what I

anticipated would be a crescendo but the crescendo never materialized. The song simply

kept building and building in volume. Timpani provided punctuation then pause and

cuckoo – cuckoo. The orchestra came in with some major flourishes and then moved to a

minor key. Rather than building in the minor key, which was what I had expected, the

song moved back to a major key, became flowery again and built to a brass fanfare

crescendo. Strings and woods come in, softly building to the brass crescendo then down

again. The song went up and down for a while. Timpanis provided definition and texture

for the piece. The strings came in with a minor phrase that sounded like a Russian gulag

march. I enjoyed the gulag march because I was listening to the woods, which were

heavily used in that part of the song. The song transitioned into a waltz in a major key.

The song battled between major and minor keys, the minor became loud and distressed

and the song ended with a major key in a triumphant crescendo.