Hey folks!
Here are my little notes on the pieces for tonight's performance of the philharmonic:
(Post was made with a phone so excuse the typos)
Mr. Smigell's fun little link list to the symphony :)
We are going to see and hear Sibelius 7th symphony and Das lied Von Der erde by Mahler (the song of the earth)!
ITS GONNA BE AWESOME
TIPS FOR GOING TO THE SYMPHONY AND ENJOYING IT:
1. Be polite to those around you. Don't talk during the music (between movements is fine). DONT USE YOUR PHONE FOR THE LOVE OF EVERYTHING HOLY!!!
2. It is ok if you are bored sometimes! I have two degrees in music and I get fidgety sitting through an hour's worth of symphony! It's alright! You will find that you become refocused in a little while. When music is that long, here are times when the composer is. "Working through" themes to get to the interesting parts. Try to listen to what the composer is doing with the theme.
Things to look at when between important parts of the music (you are bored)
-look at all the bows going up and down together!
Look at what each instrument player does when they are a pro!
-try to see if the players are doing what the conductor wants. Does the sound follow his hands? Does the orchestras movement match his movement?
-try to see if the conductor ever makes a mistake! Sometimes they do!
-watch the percussionists! They sit around a lot but when they do stuff, they are so precise and incredible!
3. Don't clap in between movements! When in doubt, wait to clap until everyone else does.
4. We will have been going hard since 8 that morning! You might get a little sleepy... That's ok. Happens to the best of us.
5. Don't feel bad if you don't understand everything that is going on. Many many MANY season ticket holders don't know either (they just pretend to).
6. You know a lot more about music than you think. Just because you don't know the vocabulary doesn't mean your enjoyment is any less than an expert! If you enjoyed yourself, that's genuine!
7. You might just find out you love classical music! Don't worry, I won't tell a soul ;)
Here is a YouTube of Leonard Bernstein conducting the song of the earth!
Check out this video on YouTube:
http://youtu.be/idRevTkIPts
And here is the YouTube of Sibelius symphony #7, again with Leonard Bernstein conducting! (He is one of my very favorites!)
http://youtu.be/dfwLm1rW14Q
THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT SIBELIUS 7:
- It was the last big thing Sibelius wrote even though he lived for 33 years afterward!
- It's short for a symphony... about 23 minutes all in one movement!
- It is considered to be one of his greatest achievements!
- It has lots of big epic parts and beautiful quiet parts, try to find the themes and when they come back a little different!
- It has plenty of wind instruments playing in it! See if you can hear yours when it plays! Listen to the sounds they are making! Isn't it great?
- This is an upbeat little symphony that is big on sound and tries to show "the joy of life and vitality"
If you want to read a lot about it with both audio and musical examples, Wikipedia does a great job:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_No._7_(Sibelius)
Soooo... On the the song of the earth
THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT SONG OF THE EARTH IF YOU WANT TO ENJOY THE MUSIC AND BE OBLIVIOUS TO THE UNDERLYING THEMES
-the music is epic!! Mahler is many classical music fans' favorite composer because his music contains so much passion and emotion. The highs are so high! The lows, so low. He is definitely regarded are one of those once or twice in a century kind of geniuses like Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, etc etc.
-ITS REALLY LONG! about an hour!
-a lot of the lyrics are inspired by Chinese poetry. I also think that some of the music has a teency bit of a 19th century composers taste of "Chinese music" in it too here and there.
-many many big time experts regard this as his finest symphony.
-ever heard the curse of the 9th symphony? There is a running superstition amongst composers because many great composers died after they wrote their ninth symphony (cough cough.. Beethoven) so he purposefully did not give this symphony a number, as it was his ninth. (Read the bummer spoiler for more details)
Only scroll down if you want the whole story... It's a bit of a downer :-/
You sure?
Ok
THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT SONG OF THE EARTH IF YOU WANT TO KNOW THE WHOLE STORY (spoiler, it's a bummer)
-the symphony was written during a very sad time of his life. His daughter had died, Mahler was near the end of his life and he knew it.. He had just been diagnosed with a heart condition that was eventually going to kill him and it stopped him from doing the two things he loved most, conducting and hiking.
-The lyrics to the pretty songs are a bummer, but they are heart-rendingly poignant and beautiful.
-even though Mahler tried to avoid the curse, it got him anyway. He never finished the tenth symphony (which he tried to call his ninth)
-the symphony is about Mahler contemplating life and a lot of his own mortality (death). Unfortunately (fortunately for us) many times an artist will do their best work when They are suffering the worst. This is it for Mahler, his finest work. The bittersweet combination of good memories, regrets, joy! fear of dying, and in the end, finding peace and redemption. The last movement is called abshied.. Farewell. I cry every time at the end. If you don't know what it's about, it simply is the best lullaby you've ever heard. I bet half our group is asleep at the end, especially with the day we are going to have!!
GOOD NEWS? Unless you understand German, most of the sadness will be lost on you :)
This one is the link to the NYP's actual page of the event: it has some brief (somewhat depressing when talking about mahler) program notes, and a little link to listen to some of it. It also has the nyp maestro Alan Gilbert talking about the pieces :)
http://nyphil.org/concerts-tickets/1516/gilbert-sibelius-mahler
And here is the link to the wiki of song of the earth:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Das_Lied_von_der_Erde
Here are my little notes on the pieces for tonight's performance of the philharmonic:
(Post was made with a phone so excuse the typos)
Mr. Smigell's fun little link list to the symphony :)
We are going to see and hear Sibelius 7th symphony and Das lied Von Der erde by Mahler (the song of the earth)!
ITS GONNA BE AWESOME
TIPS FOR GOING TO THE SYMPHONY AND ENJOYING IT:
1. Be polite to those around you. Don't talk during the music (between movements is fine). DONT USE YOUR PHONE FOR THE LOVE OF EVERYTHING HOLY!!!
2. It is ok if you are bored sometimes! I have two degrees in music and I get fidgety sitting through an hour's worth of symphony! It's alright! You will find that you become refocused in a little while. When music is that long, here are times when the composer is. "Working through" themes to get to the interesting parts. Try to listen to what the composer is doing with the theme.
Things to look at when between important parts of the music (you are bored)
-look at all the bows going up and down together!
Look at what each instrument player does when they are a pro!
-try to see if the players are doing what the conductor wants. Does the sound follow his hands? Does the orchestras movement match his movement?
-try to see if the conductor ever makes a mistake! Sometimes they do!
-watch the percussionists! They sit around a lot but when they do stuff, they are so precise and incredible!
3. Don't clap in between movements! When in doubt, wait to clap until everyone else does.
4. We will have been going hard since 8 that morning! You might get a little sleepy... That's ok. Happens to the best of us.
5. Don't feel bad if you don't understand everything that is going on. Many many MANY season ticket holders don't know either (they just pretend to).
6. You know a lot more about music than you think. Just because you don't know the vocabulary doesn't mean your enjoyment is any less than an expert! If you enjoyed yourself, that's genuine!
7. You might just find out you love classical music! Don't worry, I won't tell a soul ;)
Here is a YouTube of Leonard Bernstein conducting the song of the earth!
Check out this video on YouTube:
http://youtu.be/idRevTkIPts
And here is the YouTube of Sibelius symphony #7, again with Leonard Bernstein conducting! (He is one of my very favorites!)
http://youtu.be/dfwLm1rW14Q
THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT SIBELIUS 7:
- It was the last big thing Sibelius wrote even though he lived for 33 years afterward!
- It's short for a symphony... about 23 minutes all in one movement!
- It is considered to be one of his greatest achievements!
- It has lots of big epic parts and beautiful quiet parts, try to find the themes and when they come back a little different!
- It has plenty of wind instruments playing in it! See if you can hear yours when it plays! Listen to the sounds they are making! Isn't it great?
- This is an upbeat little symphony that is big on sound and tries to show "the joy of life and vitality"
If you want to read a lot about it with both audio and musical examples, Wikipedia does a great job:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_No._7_(Sibelius)
Soooo... On the the song of the earth
THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT SONG OF THE EARTH IF YOU WANT TO ENJOY THE MUSIC AND BE OBLIVIOUS TO THE UNDERLYING THEMES
-the music is epic!! Mahler is many classical music fans' favorite composer because his music contains so much passion and emotion. The highs are so high! The lows, so low. He is definitely regarded are one of those once or twice in a century kind of geniuses like Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, etc etc.
-ITS REALLY LONG! about an hour!
-a lot of the lyrics are inspired by Chinese poetry. I also think that some of the music has a teency bit of a 19th century composers taste of "Chinese music" in it too here and there.
-many many big time experts regard this as his finest symphony.
-ever heard the curse of the 9th symphony? There is a running superstition amongst composers because many great composers died after they wrote their ninth symphony (cough cough.. Beethoven) so he purposefully did not give this symphony a number, as it was his ninth. (Read the bummer spoiler for more details)
Only scroll down if you want the whole story... It's a bit of a downer :-/
You sure?
Ok
THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT SONG OF THE EARTH IF YOU WANT TO KNOW THE WHOLE STORY (spoiler, it's a bummer)
-the symphony was written during a very sad time of his life. His daughter had died, Mahler was near the end of his life and he knew it.. He had just been diagnosed with a heart condition that was eventually going to kill him and it stopped him from doing the two things he loved most, conducting and hiking.
-The lyrics to the pretty songs are a bummer, but they are heart-rendingly poignant and beautiful.
-even though Mahler tried to avoid the curse, it got him anyway. He never finished the tenth symphony (which he tried to call his ninth)
-the symphony is about Mahler contemplating life and a lot of his own mortality (death). Unfortunately (fortunately for us) many times an artist will do their best work when They are suffering the worst. This is it for Mahler, his finest work. The bittersweet combination of good memories, regrets, joy! fear of dying, and in the end, finding peace and redemption. The last movement is called abshied.. Farewell. I cry every time at the end. If you don't know what it's about, it simply is the best lullaby you've ever heard. I bet half our group is asleep at the end, especially with the day we are going to have!!
GOOD NEWS? Unless you understand German, most of the sadness will be lost on you :)
This one is the link to the NYP's actual page of the event: it has some brief (somewhat depressing when talking about mahler) program notes, and a little link to listen to some of it. It also has the nyp maestro Alan Gilbert talking about the pieces :)
http://nyphil.org/concerts-tickets/1516/gilbert-sibelius-mahler
And here is the link to the wiki of song of the earth:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Das_Lied_von_der_Erde
