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Concert Essay

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Music
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Glendale Community College
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Concert Analysis
The Apollo Orchestra was founded in 2010 and provides a platform for many freelance
classical musicians in and around Washington DC. The Apollo Orchestra held a classical concert
in the Terrace Theatre on May 5th this year, where Respighi’s Trittico Boticelliano and
Beethoven’s C-minor Piano Concerto No. 3 conducted by associate conductor Jeffrey
Neuberger. The Apollo Orchestra performed the works.
The Trittico Botticelliano is made up of three movements, which were inspired by Sandro
Botticelli paintings displayed in Florence in the Ufizi Gallery; La Primavera (Spring),
L’Adorazione dei Magi (Adoration of the Magi), La nascita di Venere (The Birth of Venus). The
instruments used for the orchestration include the horn, clarinet, bassoon, trumpet, percussion,
flute, oboe, piano, strings, celesta, and harp. Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 was the second
piece that was performed at the concert. The piece is a concerto and is scored for 2 horns, 2
trumpets in C, 2 horns in E- flat, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets In B-flat, 2 bassoons, 2 flutes, strings,
timpani, and a piano soloist. World-class solo pianist Peter Orth performed the piece. This work
is an accurate representation of its Romantic Era as it was created in the 1800s. The concerto is
in three movements; Allegro con brio, Largo, Rondo Allegro. The program with notes was

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provided on the Apollo Orchestra website, where I found the pieces that would be performed. I
researched the pieces later on the “Listeners’ Club” website to find out more.
The slow movement of the Largo in Beethoven’s Piano Concerto is not directly linked to
the final movement. Instead, the change to the home C-minor from the distant E-major is
cleverly explained. As the last chord of the slow movement ends, the first violin comes
immediately playing a G-sharp at the top note of the chord, including a B-natural as well. The G-
sharp is interpreted as a part of the scale of the piece’s home key (A-flat), inventing a rondo
theme that feels as if it is growing directly from the closing chord of the slow movement. There
is a charming surprise in the movement, a solo passage where the pianist overtakes the
Orchestra’s A-flat then goes on to repeat it in an “oom-pah” pattern. The soloist then reinterprets
it as a G-sharp again, recalling the key to the slow movement momentarily before the strings
return, hinting that it is time to return to the central theme. There is yet another surprise as the
movement ends. The piece ends in a brilliant and unexpected 6/8 transformation of the
movement.
A skilled listener can recognize that the “Adoration of the Magi” in the Trittico
Boticelliano is the carol “O come, O come, Emmanuel.” It begins with the bassoon and oboe
spinning out a winding melody that is spiced with “Oriental”-sounding chromaticism with their
reedy timbres and resonance. The flute then joins the bassoon and oboe with whirling arabesques
before the central theme is introduced by the strings. The orchestration is colorful and filled with
nuances that mirror the subtlety of the paintings.
I enjoyed the concert very much. The music was beautifully played and it was one of the
best performances of the two pieces that I have ever seen. The Apollo Orchestra really brought

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Surname 1 Name of student Professor’s name Course title Date Concert Analysis The Apollo Orchestra was founded in 2010 and provides a platform for many freelance classical musicians in and around Washington DC. The Apollo Orchestra held a classical concert in the Terrace Theatre on May 5th this year, where Respighi’s Trittico Boticelliano and Beethoven’s C-minor Piano Concerto No. 3 conducted by associate conductor Jeffrey Neuberger. The Apollo Orchestra performed the works. The Trittico Botticelliano is made up of three movements, which were inspired by Sandro Botticelli paintings displayed in Florence in the Ufizi Gallery; La Primavera (Spring), L’Adorazione dei Magi (Adoration of the Magi), La nascita di Venere (The Birth of Venus). The instruments used for the orchestration include the horn, clarinet, bassoon, trumpet, percussion, flute, oboe, piano, strings, celesta, and ha ...
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