Concert Report Essay

Thesis statement This report will simply discuss how Ludwig van Beethoven integrated old and fresh musical ideas into his work, thus creating an unconventional but superior and influential quartet, based on the String Quartet No.9 in C, Op. 59, No.3 Razumovsky performed on the concert.On 22nd Nov, move Quartet, ace of the worlds fore closely chamber ensembles, performed two musical works. They be Ludwig van Beethovens String Quartet No.9 in C, Op. 59, No.3 Razumovsky and Antonin Dvoraks Piano Quintet No.2 in A, B. 155, Op.82. In this report, I will focus on discussing Beethovens work.1Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic period in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential icon for all composers. His best-known compositions include 9symphonies, 5 concertos for piano, 32 piano sonatas, and 16 string quartets. 2The String Quartet No.9 in C, Op. 59, No.3 Razumovsky was pen in around 1805-1806, when Beethoven was aged 35 and was at the height of his productivity. It is called the Razumovsky quartets because it is commissioned by a Russian count of that name, who was the Tzars ambassador in Vienna, a keen amateur violinist and a confirmed music lover. The quartet consists of the following four parkways1. Andante con moto all toldegro fast (C major)2. Andante con moto quasi allegretto (A minor)3. Menuetto (Grazioso) (C major)4. Allegro molto (C major)I will focus on discussing how Beethoven integrated old and new ideas into the second, troika and final movements The second movement brings us to an unconventional territory. Beethoven tried something radical and that is an entire Russian movement. The exotic flavor of this movement is easy generous to hear in the augmented second intervals of the opening violin melody, the frequent pizzicato accompaniment of the cello in which as if it imitates a folk cock such as guitar of harp and especially in the long passages of static harmony. Indeed, Beethoven is successful in conjuring up thissense of geographical blank that the movement sounds very similar to the nationalist inspiration from decades later, by Romantic period composers like Dvorak or Borodin or Chaikovsky. But the extreme modulations and patient system of logic of the tonal return betray it back to its time and composer. enchantment the second movement gives an unconventional feeling and goes for something new during that time, the third movement gestures in the reverse gear direction. During Beethovens middle period, he tended to avoid the Minuet and collar format and try to use the robust Scherzo in his works but here he returns to the somewhat-old-fashioned form, in a movement with a characteristic rhythmic motive in the opening seamlessly exchanged between instruments. As if to complete the old-fashioned mode, the Trios uncomplicated dance character and rising ending melodies even bring us back to the wor ld of early Haydn, who is a Classical tip composer. Everything in this quartet has been a surprise so far, and the last movement is no exception. It is led by a gentle coda to the third movement that ends on a question mark.But then, of all things, we are presented with the start of a traditional fugue, led off by the viola at a furious tempo. Again we have a sense of traveling between the new and the old. Fugues were by now an ancient, learned device but Beethoven integrates this one into the most extrovert and public of moods as a display of evident virtuosity for the four soloists. What is more, as soon as the four entries have been completed, there are not any formal counterpoints and Beethoven explores instead the grandiose, symphonic modes, especially that flamboyant celebration of an enormous C-major space on all four instruments.All in all, Beethoven is so successful in integrating old musical ideas, coming from the Romantic or even the Classical period, and his new though ts into this quartet. While I listened to it, it acts like a time machine, bringing us to travel between old and new. No wonder it is regarded as one the most transcendent quartet composed by Beethoven.