classical Concert Report

I attended a concert played by the San Diego Symphony on Sunday, March 29. The concert took place in Copley Sumphony Hall. The concert was conducted by Pinchas Zukerman. 

3 pieces were played at this concert: Serenade in E Flat Major, Op.7 by Richard Strauss; Concerto in D Minor for Two Violins and Strings, BWV 1043 by Johann Sebastian Bach; and Symphony No.10 in E Minor, Op.93 by Dmitri Shostakovich.

The concert began with Serenade, a piece of Strauss’ early works that brought him recognition as a composer. I was surprised to see very few people on stage, but then realized this is a piece only for wind instruments. I was sitting far but judging by what I could tell, there were 2 bassoons, 1 tuba, 4 F horns, 2 flutes, 2 clarinets and 1 oboe. This piece was quiet, slow, gentle, light and calm. Its flowing melodies remind me of a river stream. The loudest this piece got was about a Mezzo Forte. At a few places there were modulations to minor keys but it would always come back to E flat major. Most of the melodies were played by the woodwinds, such as the oboe and the flutes, while the brass instruments mainly played as accompaniment. The piece took about 10 minutes to play.

What followed this all wind piece was an all string piece, the famous Bach’s Concerto for strings featuring 2 violins. I heard of this piece many times and was very excited to hear the familiar melodies. What greatly surprised me was that the conductor himself played as one of them! The other violin player was the Asian concert master David Chan. The rest of the strings stood behind the 2 soloists and played accompaniment. There was one bass cello, one cello, and the rest of them were violins and violas. It was fascinating how these two beginning pieces were completely the opposite- The serenade was quiet and calm, while the concerto was loud and exciting. It’s even more interesting that the quiet and calm piece was played by the usual loud and exciting wind instruments, while the other piece was the other way around. 

After intermission, the entire orchestra sat together for the first time in this concert, and played a relatively darker piece as the last tune of the concert. Shostakovich’s Symphony No.10. It began so quietly that it was almost unhearable for me for a few seconds, but then it gradually got louder. At some point it started to become really dramatic, percussions joined in and raised the volume by a lot. A flute solo entered soon leading the rest of the orchestra into an almost creepy minor section. The piece went through a few major dynamic changes in the rest of the piece, sometimes playing extremely loud creating surprising tension and a frightening mood, sometimes playing so quietly that I felt like I had to hold my breath, which in a way proves how great the orchestra was. Overall this piece was quite atonal to me, the keys were hard to identify, sometimes even the melody. This piece took almost an hour. 

Throughout the concert, the musicians impressed me deeply with not only their highly trained skills on their instruments but also their interpretation of the music. The orchestra showed great control of dynamics and the atmosphere of the music. I enjoyed the soloists’ performance very much, not only their excellent playing but also the confident way they behaved on stage. I was also very pleased with the audiences; this was one of the best mannered groups of audiences I’ve ever sat with. Not a single sound was made during the performances, not even a cough. At some point a child near me was bored and tried to speak, but his mother took him away immediately. Usually some of the audiences would try to applaud in the middle of a piece, for example between movements, but not this time. However after every piece was over, everybody gave the musicians his most enthusiastic applause and cheering.