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Chelsea Vincent
MUL1010
Essay #1
11/19/2014

Pages: 4
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The Dreyfoos Philharmonic concert, “A Night at the Movies”, was on Tuesday, October
7, 2014 at 7pm in Meyer Hall, and included 9 selections. This was a special concert because it was dedicated to two fallen schoolmates of our Alex and Jackie Berman. The concert started off with the piece “Symphony No. 7, Movement II: Allegretto” by Beethoven. Allegretto started off really quiet and soft with only the cellos playing. It suddenly intensified and got really loud, but then got soft again. I really enjoyed the contrast between the tempos. I also liked the dynamic contrast where it’d go from pianissimo to fortissimo over the course of maybe 10 measures. The way the cellos were in this song gave it a nice warm sound that I really appreciated.

The second piece really depicted its title. It was a salute to MGM’s “That’s
Entertainment” arr. by Ian Polster. I feel like this song depicted its title because right from the beginning, it was loud and fast. I liked that because I feel as though it really got the audience’s attention because it was such an eye opener. A little into the song it gets quiet and legato which is nice because you get to relax a little and catch your breath because of the startling entrance. I absolutely love how it later changed to more of a jazzy style. It had more of a laid back style right in the middle. It changed again to a swing vibe, and once more to the legato feel. The small part of “Somewhere over the Rainbow” that was played made it feel more

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Disney­ more like home, and that made me connect to it even more. My favorite parts of this piece were the ones that made you want to bob your head and snap your fingers­ simply enjoying the music. Those parts weren’t too complicated, yet not too simple. It was written perfectly. The third song they played was almost my favorite one. It was the 29th Century Fox
Fanfare. It was amazing. It was really short, but the use of the percussion was truly spectacular and was by far my favorite part of the piece. The intense dynamics and key changes really kept you awake. The fourth song they played was Suite From ‘the Magnificent
Seven”. This song was really cool. They played the opening to a movie, and the background to a horse riding adventure movie. They even played a video in the back that went along with the theme. My eyes were transfixed on the movie for the most part and I think that’s what they were going for because it was like you were at the movies­ making it that much cooler. The best part of this piece wouldn’t be from the song itself, but from the instrumentalists. There were a few times when I would look down from the movie I got stuck watching them perform and I was blown away because they were so indulged in what they were doing. The way they were sat up straight, legs crossed under their chairs, bows moving in the same direction­ it was truly amazing.
The next piece was by far my favorite: Gonna Fly Now (from “Rocky”) by Bill Conti. It sounds cheesy, but I felt like I was sitting there watching the movie. In this one they also had the film playing in the background, which made it great. This piece actually had me in awe because I was pleasantly surprised at how well they were able to replicate the piece. The dynamics, tempos, intensity­ everything was spot on! If I didn’t know that I was at a high school performance I would honestly think they were professionals. The next piece was
Raider’s March by John Williams. This song hit me more on an emotional level than any of the

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other songs they played. I was also surprised on how well they did this piece because it was the same, yet it was different. I love how they interpreted it­ some parts they took slower than
normal