Concert Critique - The Doctoral Recital essays

Concert Critique - The Doctoral Recital essays The Doctoral Recital was the second concert I ever attended within the US. The instruments played were the clarinet, bass clarinet, piano, and percussion instruments. The performance started with Carl Nielsen's "Clarinet Concerto," Op. 57(1928). It lasted for about twenty-seven minutes. The whole symphony was in a continuous movement. The symphony started with the clarinet and then continued on until the piano entered in later and was joined by percussion. The performance began with a firm Allegretto which seemed like a run and chase sequence of a "Tom and Jerry" episode; it was very lively and fast, and the clarinet produced even more of an element of entertainment to the music. This was followed by Adagio and with the tempo was being slowed down with greater focus upon percussion and piano. Lastly, Allegro Vivace struck, lively and very fast, but the piece ended in Adagio, which was calming. Almost thirty minutes passed in blink of an eye, and the performance was commendable. Next, there was intermission. The second performance was Johann Sebastian Bach's "Suite No.1" for Solo Cello, BMV 1007(c. 1720). This began with a soft, light sound that was very calmly paced. It seemed hearty, welcoming, and almost playful. This first movement is called the Arpeggio Prelude in which the composer outlines a succession of chords note-by-note; the effect sounds like harmonic tensions followed by relaxation. There are pronounced lower notes after the higher notes, creating the sad feeling that we can be heard in this piece. The performers in this concert came back to low notes and the duplicating of the previous sad melody, though it seemed much more misgiving with the lower notes preceding it, still at a fast tempo. A gushing Allemande followed. There was an upbeat play with high notes and a low note mutter, creating a somewhat confused and spooky sound. Next, it was zippy sounding, as in the beginning, and then a solid note was held o...