Choose one of the following two options to write about this week:
- Choose a line or some lines from one of the Tales of Hoffmann that we read and write at least 15 sentences explaining why your selection is important to the overall plot line of the story.
- Write at least 15 lines explaining your thoughts on the performance of Carmina Burana. You can write about the orchestra, the chorus, or anything else about the performance.
As always, don't write about what some one else has already written about. And, be creative, thoughtful, and wilding imaginative
Desirae Lopes
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"On the floor in front of the smoking hearth lay b=my father, dead, his face burned black and fearfully distorted, my sister weeping and moaning around him and my mother lying near them in a swoon."
This is an important visual concept. The little boy imagines the Sand Man as a big mean scary ugly dark figure. When he figures out who the Sand Man really is, that image starts to go away. Just as he is about to forget about the Sand Man, his father is killed and his appearance becomes one similar to the Sand Man. It leaves you wondering who really is the bad guy in this story. Why did the father have private meetings? Why did he let his friend treat his son so poorly? Maybe the father is the real Sand Man. The legend of the Sand Man is that he comes in the night and scares children and makes them cry. Naturally, that would also make their mothers cry and be upset as well. After the father's death, his children and their mother cries around them, much as they would if he had hurt them. This is an important part of the story because it brings two different ideas together. One idea is of the scary Sand Man, and the other is of the 'loving' father.
Isabelle Carson
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“Coppelius laughed shrilly and replied, “Well then, the boy may keep his eyes and whine and pule his way through the world; but we will at any rate examine the mechanism of the hand and the foot”
This quote is from The Sand Man. It is the part when Nathanael got caught watching his father and Coppelius working together. Coppelius insists on having Nathanael’s eyes but is convinced otherwise. I find this to be very important to the overall story. From this one line, the reader can tell how cruel the character of Coppelius is. It’s the first mention eyes, one of the major themes in the story. Eyes are continually brought up and play a part to the character Olimpia. This quote also gives a small clue to the rest of the story. Coppelius wants to see how the hand and the foot move. This is similar to a doll maker, who would need to know how the human body moves in order to make a doll. In other words, the story will most likely have something to do with dolls. Coppelius also states that Nathanael could keep his eyes but he would whimper his way through life. This could mean that Nathanael will most likely not be successful in life and in love.
Arthur Gulledge
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Today’s performances were excellent. I always love music in performances, and this one did not disappoint. My parents were both in bands, and played for their schools. I started learning piano when I was about ten with my Mom, and eventually found a real teacher. She was nice, but I wasn't very coordinated, and couldn't learn past two hands. I dropped out of the class, but never stopped loving music. The scale of the performance is what really made the music powerful. I counted over seventy people just in the choir, and about fifty in the orchestra. The children were fantastic, and could sing as well as the adults. The soloists were fine, but not as good as the opera singers we saw in Daughter or Rigoletto. My favorite song was the Tempus est iocumdum. It had a great mix of choir and soloists. The beat also was upbeat, and very bouncy, and reflected the words well. I also liked the castanets, as they added a debonair flair and passion to the song. Overall, this has been my favorite performance.
Madison Ferris
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This week I am writing about Carmina Burana. I thought the performance was very good! The first thing I noticed was that all of the orchestra was a little older. I figured this was due to experience, they had to be at a high level to play at such a big venue. I thought it was interesting then how the chorus had kids who looked as young as 6. I was so amazed at all of the talent in both the orchestra& the chorus. Not that it was part of Carmina Burana, but one of my favorite parts was in the 20 minute performance. I loved the guy who hit the drum with a bundle of bronze sticks and hit the drum that was on its side. It made such a cool noise. It added a cool effect! But in Carmina Burana, my absolute favorite part was the beginning and ending O Fortuna pieces. I loved how loud and dramatic they were. They were so powerful I could feel it. The acoustics at Benaroya really made the performance too. The orchestra and chorus were so talented, you could tell they practiced for a very long time. They also looked so dedicated and passionate about music. It was a nice introduction to symphonies for me and I am glad I got to go.
Kristina Lebakken
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I'm going to be writing about todays performance, Carmina Burana. Overall I thought the performance was really good. Hearing it live is so much different than just listening to it on a recording in class. Being ale to see all the different types of instruments that are put into it and seeing how many there are. My favorite ones were the two O Fortuna. I liked that it both started and ended with that. I was watching TV just the other day and that song played on a commercial for like nutella or some chocolate spread. I just thought it was interesting because I actually knew what it was. I loved how intense the song was. It was cool how it would go from being really quiet to really loud and dramatic. I'm sure everyone has heard that song somewhere and it was cool to hear it with the rest of Carmina Burana. Something else I thought was interesting was that they had kids in the chorus singing. I was really impressed with how professional they were and how they stayed there through the performance.
Mack Ohnemus
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Before today's performance, I wasn't super excited for it. I think this was because I kept thinking of our last time at Benaroya Hall. But now, I think it was great! I thought it was much better without the narration. The two different parts of today's performance were very different. I liked the first part, but i really liked Carmina Burana better. Instead of just music being played, there was also singing involved. I was surprised at how much of an age difference there was within the chorus. There were boys who were very young all the way to balding men. With the choral readings we did in class, I wasn't able to fully connect with the music and hear in my head how it actually went. But while hearing it today, I loved how much of a variety the music had. From slow spring music to fast paced, loud, intense music, such as the opening and closing song, which was my favorite.
Elena Wagar
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I thought Carmina Burana was an excellent performance. The choir and orchestra were both great! my favorite songs they sang were number 1 and 19.These songs were great because it was more fierce than the other songs, it would be quiet then all of a sudden get loud and passionate. I liked the guy soloist over the girl because he had a faster tempo and you could understand him better. The girl soloist was a little slow for me. It was cool seeing little kids being included in this performance, they were very talented. This was my first symphony and I loved it!
Chris Root
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Todays performance of Carmina Burana was not disappointing in the slightest. Everything seemed to flow perfectly and kept me focused. I liked how the music differed, from being quiet and simple to loud and dramatic. The choir fit right in with the music making it a better experience. It was way more intense and exciting than listening to it in class. It was hard to stay focused and be able to understand the meaning of the music, but now that Iv'e heard it live i found myself to really enjoy it. It was cool to see all the different instruments that are incorporated in Carmina Burana too. I liked watching the certain times the instruments would come into the song and how they individually changed the flow of the music. I noticed that everything was done very professionally. The choir all stood with good posture and were dressed sharply. The orchestra was in good posture as well and played extremely well. Everyone came on stage well prepared and confident. This was one of my favorite performances we have seen yet. I liked the dramatic music and would like to see it again sometime.
Claire Kennedy
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Although we read Carmina Burana in class, I still didn’t recognize any of the songs when they were being played or sung. Besides the first one, but I just knew that beforehand anyways. So regardless if I had read or not, it sounded like something completely new. Since there wasn’t much to look it, it wasn’t as interesting as most of the shows or plays. I thought they were all performed very well and the music sounded great, but it might have been more interesting if there had been something to look at. Like The Tristan Effect. I think part of the reason I didn’t enjoy this as much as others was because there wasn’t anything to follow. Like a story line or plot. It was just music basically. Also it seemed to be very methodic and consistently the same throughout most of it. It was hard to tell the difference even when looking at the lyrics in the program. I’m sure it takes a tremendous amount of time, effort and talent to be able to perform Carmina Burana, so I completely respect every one of them. However, it just wasn’t really something I was very interested in.
Julia McMichael
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I really loved today's symphony performance! My favorite part was the second act with the carmina burana music! I liked the choir and singing with the music. I was in choir when I was younger and it would have been such a neat experience to perform and sing with the Seattle symphony like the young kids in the choir. I liked when the music was much sweeter and soft for the springtime. I also liked the intense music at the end of the second act! It was very powerful and full of emotion. I feel like I was able to appreciate and understand the music more during this symphony compared to the last when people were talking!
Andrew Park
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I enjoyed the performance "Carmina Burana" today. It turned out different than I expected after reading it in class and acting it out. When the performance got started, I didn't get why the chorus didn't appear the whole time. After reading in class and listening to the audio clips in class, I thought the whole performance was gonna include the chorus at every aspect of the symphony. However, I liked how the music in the first part before the intermission gave a calm feeling of nature. I think it also showed the purpose of my group choosing natural themes as a background when we had to act our parts out. In the final part after the intermission, I like how the chorus brought the intensity that matches with the music. I also saw some patterns. At one point, the music seems very calm and then all of the sudden it gets intense and the cycle keeps repeating. Sometimes, I found the suspenseful parts at unexpected times. I enjoyed it since if it's too quiet the whole time, it would have put the audience to sleep and defeat the purpose of the performance. One other difference I saw was the speed of the music after the scene "The Court of Love". It was a little slower than the clip played in class. However, the performance today at Benaroya Hall was not expected to be identical to the one we listened in class. Both of the versions we listened to were intense and great to listen to.
Jace Brandmeier
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I thought the symphony today was pretty good. The intro in the first 20 minutes, I thought was pretty boring. But after intermission it defiantly got better. I thought the first, 18th and 22nd were the best ones of all. I like the beat and how the songs were played. Also I thought that the choir did a really good job. It was cool to see such a large choir. I had never seen a choir like that before. It was also neat to see so many kids singing along with the adults. I thought they did a very good job. For the orchestra I have no complaints. I didn’t hear any mistakes and it all sounded good. Something else I noticed was the violinist with the Si Robertson styled beard, which made me laugh. All in all I thought the performance was pretty good. With the exception of the introduction, even though they played well.
Ashley Barnett
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I really enjoyed Carmina Burana. I thought the singing and music was very pretty. I really liked O Fortuna the singing and music was very powerful and cool. I also liked how it is played at the beginning and the end to show the cycle of the wheel. The other song I also really enjoyed was the song about the swan. I liked that the singer guy was moving around and ran out after, I thought that was very funny. I also liked that it had the translation in the program. I was able to follow along with the songs which was nice. I did notice that their translation and ours was a little different. But I think our version summarized what they were saying better. I was kinda hoping they would have a movie thing that would play in the background like the Tristan effect. The first song they played was also good. However in the first song I didn’t like the rat-a-ta-ta sound the guy was making on his drum. Overall I really enjoyed Carmina Burana. I think it was a good ending symphony for us.
Arezu Abdollmohammadi
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Carmina Burana was amazing!! It exceeded my expectations. O Fortuna was my favorite part out of the whole performance. I kept humming it for the rest of the day, it was stuck in my head. I really liked the orchestra and how they were really getting passionate about the music they were playing. Some of the violinist were really getting into the pieces by swaying with the music while they played. The chorus was also amazing. I was surprised there were little kids in the chorus, and was surprised at how good they were. One of the soloist chorus guys, to me, wasnt all that great. It might of been me, but i just found his singing to be quite annoying and irritating. Another thing I was bummed about was that i couldnt see the whole stage and all the performers playing their instruments. But overall i was blown away by the performance! I absolutely loved it. And it really helped doing the project prior to seeing the performance because it was nice being able to tell which song was which and what the whole thing was about.
Abbey Folsom
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Out of the two performances we have seen at Benaroya Hall this has to be my favorite. Starting out with Haydn Symphony No. 100 in G major. I thought that was great and you could tell the Baroque repeating influence in the music. Carmina Burana was much greater than I thought it was going to be. I thought it might be boring a little. However, I was on the edge of my seat from the beginning to the end. It helped a lot to have done the choral readings because I could just watch and listen to the performance instead of reading the translations the whole time and trying to keep up with the performance. I was impressed with the boys choir as well. The entire chorus' voices blended very nicely. Also the chorus and the orchestra blended so well that it sounded like one sound. I think my favorite soloist was the tenor. He really played his part very well for Olim lacus colueram. This was a great performance and all the songs/poems were done very nicely.
John Ross
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performance of Carmina Burana started off slow. the intro was repeatitive and no singing made it dull. after intermission the music as a whole was elavated to an enjoyable level. Everything seemed to flow perfectly and kept me focused. I liked how the music differed, from being quiet and simple to loud and dramatic. the singing highlighted the music and vice versa fit right in with the music making it a better experience. It was way more intense and exciting than listening to it in class. It was hard to stay focused and be able to understand the meaning of the music, but now that Iv'e heard it live i found myself to really enjoy it. It was cool to see all the different instruments that are incorporated in Carmina Burana too. I liked watching the certain times the instruments would come into the song and how they individually changed the flow of the music. I noticed that everything was done very professionally. The choir all stood with good posture and were dressed sharply. The orchestra was in good posture as well and played extremely well. Everyone came on stage well prepared and confident. This was one of my favorite performances we have seen yet. I liked the dramatic music and would like to see it again sometime.
Alison Mowry
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Personally I don't find symphonies very exciting, and didn't really know what to expect walking into the performance today. However, i was presently surprised at how interested i was in the performance. I thought the beginning and the end of the second half was really cool, and very well done. I was also able to pick up on the parts that we read in class. Another aspect of the performance that i enjoyed was how it started with the orchestra playing then transitioned into opera and the orchestra together. I enjoyed listening to both rather than just the orchestra or just the opera. Although i found this performance to be interesting i prefer going to the performances that are plays rather than symphonies or operas because they can feel repetitive and a bit long.
I quite enjoyed the Carmina Burana performance. I like the symphony because unlike a play there isn't much thinking involved. I like being able to just relax and take in the beautiful music. My favorite instrument was the big drum where the guy was hitting the top of it with sticks, it gave a very unique and interesting sound. I also found it interesting that the choir was split, the men were on the right side and the women and children were on the other. I'm not sure if that is a normal thing but it was an observation that I made. I think my favorite song was the one that was the opening and closing. I really enjoyed the man with the long beard. I was almost hypnotized by the synchronization of the bow's playing. I found the singer's very entertaining as well. The first guy was pretty funny but I'm glad that they switched up the singer's. All in all I really enjoyed the performance, it was much better than I had anticipated.
ReplyDeleteGrace Nelson
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Danielle Knapik
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I enjoyed the performance today of Carmina Burana. Though symphonic music isn't my number one choice to play off my iPod, I find it fascinating to watch people create beautiful sounds right in front of you, and that the sound you are hearing is coming from the movement of all the people in front of you as well. I am glad we listened to Carmina Burana in class, because as I mentioned, though it isn't going to be my first choice, having recognition of the music made it more enjoyable. Every song is little better when you can sing along, and that's how I felt today when they played pieces that I could recognize. I felt more involved and interested because I had previously heard it. The O Fortuna opening and ending pieces are very intense and I was impressed seeing that played live. As well as the musicians, the woman singing the opera was very talented. Overall, I did get more out of this performance than I thought I would have and really think listening beforehand in class helped my interest level by a landslide.
Laney McFarland
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Today's performance of Carmia Burana wasn't the most exciting thing to endure for 2 hours. I feel like a symphony/choir needs some sort of visual or it begins to put you to sleep. The music was beautiful it really gets into your soul and portrays alot of emotions in it. I don't have any past experiences to compare this to except I will say I prefer an opera because of the visual effects. The Choir was very harmonious sounding and I find it interesting how they incorporate kids and older people so they can get the varieties in tones.Going over the lyrics in class also really help, I had a much better understanding for the play than i would have if I hadn't read the English translations prior to seeing the show. And I was able to follow along with the lyrics quite well. Over all the performance was good and it felt short and sweet which made it much better.
Austin Stenberg
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During the performance today there was a couple things I noticed. One was when there was 2 main singers right in front of the conductor, when they had a solo the lady seemed that she was being over powered by the instruments and was being drowned out also. It only happened a couple times but it really took away from the performance when that happened. The male singer did a little better job at keeping the tone even with the instruments but still at times he got over powered. The instruments complimented the chorus very well. At times they were very quite but then came back with a bang so to speak, very startling at times. The orchestra did a very good job of projecting the parts that needed it and held back at the appropriate times as well. I also enjoyed how the children in the chorus complimented the rest of them when they sang in harmony all together. But in the end, I actually enjoyed the orchestra the best because it wasn’t too much going on at one time.
Alex Rees
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I enjoyed Carmina Burana today. The start of the symphony was great. The music was deep and I thought it was more of an experience listening to it in person then it was in class. You could see the whole thing in motion coming together to make this amazing piece come alive in a sense. To see all the strings and wind interments come together and the drums was a great warm up to what came next. Then having the choir show up and sing with all that movement up in front with the band was incredible. It was a sight to see I thought. O Fortuna was very intense, and having all that come together was a lot more of an experience than in class. Overall I really enjoyed this symphony today. I can't compare it to anything really because this was the first symphony I have been to but it was a great one to start out with.
Ilya Bauer
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Now the real show was not the impressive symphony playing two masterfully done pieces. The real show sat in the row in front of me. I got front row seats to the real entertainment of the afternoon as I watched my skin-daddy put on a real performance that made my jaw drop. The beautiful lady that manly man brought had no chances of escaping his subtlety and skillfully maneuvered advances. And man I'm telling you the real climax of the show happened after they left the theatre if you know what I'm meaning. Too bad the tickets to that were sold out.
But back to Carmina Burana. I thought when you put all of the songs together the complete piece really made your emotions go in a wheel. The power of the O Fortuna song gave me chills at some points. I loved it. You had the slow love songs that you know schindler used to his advantage and then you had the fast past drinking songs. The songs of spring made you happy but then you also got depressed during the songs about the fall.
Plus the whole thing was pretty easy to follow along which was pretty nice because no matter how great the songs were it was nice knowing when it was going to be done. I wasn’t so sure about the combination of two different performances though. I’m not quite sure what else you would perform before Carmina Burana but I just didn’t feel like the symphony was all that cohesive or maybe that’s just me.
With three amazing performances in the matter of just two and half hours I was well content when I left the theatre. I can’t wait to discuss more of this tomorrow in class.
Carmina Burana was very enjoyable for me, something about not actually watching a performance and just listening made it much more relaxing. I found the intro less appealing than the actual performance of Carmina Burana but it was still one of my only symphony experiences so I still enjoyed it. The size of the choir seemed unusually large but it worked out well because of the changing nature of the scripts themes. One thing that really bothered me was in the first act, the man to the far right of the stage playing the big drum, would also hit it with a bundle of sticks. The sound that made seemed much louder than it should've been and stood out to me so much that it ruined a lot of the song.
ReplyDeleteI thought the symphony sounded nice. I felt extremely young around all of those old people. I personally don't see why they would all pay so much to come see this. It wasn't much of an actual performance, I feel like it would be just as good listening to a CD. The words of Carmina Burana were a bit hard to follow. I kept getting lost. The music was pretty powerful though. Each person in the chorus created to much sound. It was cool how they each worked together. There seemed to be a small group of young boys in the chorus. I wonder why they were separate? Was the chorus a couple choirs combined? Overall, this was not one of my favorite performances. I guess I am just not a symphony person.
ReplyDeleteSean Rankin
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I really enjoyed Carmina Burana, every time we go to the symphony it amazes me what a group of people with instruments can do . The singing was loud and clear. When we first listened to O Fortuna in class I thought it was pretty good, but when you here it live its just on a different level. It was an amazing experience and definitely worth going to. It kind of just hits you in the face the noise is enough to shake the room and you feel the emotion of the music. I found it interesting how the chorus was split up male on right side and female on the left. The two soloists also followed this. It made me wonder if all performances of Carmina Burana are like this. I started to follow along with the singing around poem 18 and it was kind of cool to see what they were actually singing. I liked how paced it was it started with some faster songs followed by slow ones and then finishing up with O fortuna again. Probably one of my favorite performances so far this year.
Taryn riegel
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I enjoyed the performance at benaroya hall. The sound was amazing and unlike any recording. I could recognize the music that was played. I was a little confused about the sound system there. I saw microphones hanging and people singing into mics. I feel like that takes away the "acoustic" feel. Another thing I was confused about was the fact the main/lead musicians read off of sheet music. The singers had a book right in front of them and turned the pages. Whenever I had to prepare for a large performance, I had to have all my music memorized. It would have looked more professional if it looked like they knew what they were doing. Incorporating kids in the choir was a neat idea because their voices really had a distinct tonal difference from the adult singers.
Sophea Thach
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Carmina Burana was fun to listen to! I found it very interesting that the orchestra was full of old(ish) people and that the director was young. I just thought that someone older would be directing the orchestra. And then I enjoyed that the choir was really big! Having all those people make the room sound very full with their voices. The acoustics sounded great. I liked how the whole choir included old people and even young people, like the little boys who stood in the front row! The part when the "drunk" guy was coming in and then singing his part was really funny; the older audience sitting by me were laughing their heads off. My favorite was the beginning and end when they played/sang O Fortuna. It sounded so dramatic and intense, it gave me goosebumps listening to it being played live.
Hannah Hunt
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Tonight, I'll be writing my post about the symphony Carmina Burana. I thought today's production was wonderful! I was suprised to see so many people onstage, both in the orchestra and choir. It was cool to see young people in the choir too, especially the group of boys in the front couple of rows. It must take a whole lot of courage and talent to stand up in front of so many people and sing. I'm glad that we went over the lyrics before in class because I couldn't follow what was happening in the performance. Obviously, I knew the opening and closing songs and those were the most enjoyable because I knew them previously. Overall, it was an amazing show with so much talent and expertise. I'm glad we were able to see it.
Spencer Read
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Carmina Burana was an amazing performance. Growing up, I spent a lot of time driving with my Dad. He grew up a farmer, and was into the Eagles and all of that music. However, he has always had somewhat of a taste for classical music. So, going to this performance was a cool experience. It was cool going back to when i was younger. In the classroom it is hard to focus, but when in a quiet theater listening to nothing but the performance was amazing. Much like going on a long drive with my dad, the classical music playing and the quiet drone of the car softly in the background. Personally, I really enjoyed the choir. In music, the vocals are always my main focus. The intricacy of the vocals and perfectly emphasized notes were amazing to me. I found this a very enjoyable symphony to listen to. Of all of the performances we have been to, this was my favorite so far. It was so much easier to pay attention to for me. Rather than following multiple story lines in a different language, it was simply sound. All it was was sound for our minds to intercept and interpret in our own way, according to our different tastes in music and ways of putting music into emotion.
Mimi Gerhardt, Period 4
ReplyDeleteGoing to the Carmina Burana performance, I wasn't too thrilled. After reciting the same poems over and over again in class, they began to grow old and I was disinterested in them. However, I actually really enjoyed today's performance! The chorus sounded incredibly fantastic. I found it odd how they all had books of their lyrics, rather than having their music memorized. Typically, when I use to go to Benaroya Hall frequently, the choir almost always had their lines memorized. I was really able to follow along with the lyrics very easily. It was very easy to recognize the music as well; I felt as though the sound of each song was very appropriate to the corresponding lyrics. For example, during "In Taberna Quando Sumus", the music was very fast paced, like you would expect a drinking song to be like. You were really able to recognize the feeling of each song. The orchestra played extremely vibrant this afternoon. The way they played was very full of emotion and contrast between each song. Their piano and fortissimo were so incredibly different, and I loved it. You could definitely tell that they were passionate about what they were performing.
Mark Gibbons
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I'm going to write my blog on Carmina Burana. I thought the performance was good and I really liked the orchestra. Listening to the play live was a lot better than in class. I also understood it better and it was easier to follow along with. The orchestra was one of my favorite parts because they where so good and there where so many different instruments. It was impressive with everybody synchronizing there instruments together. The song was very dramatic and added a lot to the performance. Overall, I thought the performance was pretty good but it wasn't my favorite. I like the performances that are more funny and less music.
Maddy Nehme
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I thurougly enjoyed todays performance of Carmina Burana! Although i didnt care much for the first piece that the symphony played, i thought carmina burana was exciting and fun! I found it very interesting the way they set up where the different singers were standing. They had most of the women on the left, most of the men on the right, but then there was an odd group of young children in the front! I was very surprised to see such young kids singing in the opera! I also found it interesting how their were more men than women in todays performance. Anyways i think the symphony did a great job with all of the music, i cant even imagine all the hard work that gets put into these performances. My favorite part of carmina burana is definitely the very first piece. I actually got excited the last time they played it because i knew when to expect the big changes in the song! Im not going to lie, i had it stuck in my head for a few hours after the show! All in all, i thought todays performance was great i enjoyed it much more than i thought that i would.
Brandon Penoyer
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I was told by a large number of people that Carima Burana would be amazing when experienced live, and I have to agree with all the people who told me so. The music shifted emotions and themes so well and fluidly between songs, with little to no pause between them, I was extremely impressed. Following along with each song with the translations helped with the emotions portrayed, but even without the text available, the chorus did an amazing job of telling stories with each song and setting the mood of the poems. I was especially impressed by the main three singers that stood next to the conductor. To stand up in the lead in front of an enormous crowd must have been a lot of pressure. And yet, all three of them were able to perform very well even after such a long period of time. I feel bad for anyone who wasn't able to see the performance live today, as they'd be missing out on an experience no CD could replicate.
Chris Reed
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This was honestly one of my favorite performances we've attended all year. Maybe it was the fact that I had always heard O fortuna but I had never really known what it was, or maybe it was the fact that hearing it live was so intense. Either way my favorite part by far was listening to O fortuna, at the beginning and at the end. Overall the music was tremendous and the choir singing was also spectacular. I didn't particularly care for the single people who sang, they certainly were not as good as other performances we've attended. I also took notice to the difference in age between the members of the choir, it seemed as if singers of all capabilities were needed in order to make the singing and the orchestra mesh. Anyways, I seriously did like it and I would enjoy going to more performances similar to it here after.
Mano Barkovics
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I have seen extraordinary performances and presentations throughout my life, but todays Carmina Burana performance at the Benayora Hall was absolutely fantastic and breath taking! I heard O Fortuna quite a lot before and its always been one of my favorite compositions so I was incredibly excited to see and hear the actual real performance. I was also excited to hear Tempus est iocundum since Mr. Schindler always sings "oh oh oh, totus floreo" in class and I start to sing it in my head too for the next hours, days, and weeks because its so wonderful and its an ear worm! During the performance I payed close attention to the percussion instruments and have noticed that the orchestra ensemble and the percussion ensemble were closely and precisely working together and for some of the songs they used special techniques that I have never seen before! It was truly a wonder to see it! Also, its unbelievable how the musicians can play for an hour straight without any breaks or rests. I'm in percussion ensemble and even playing two or three songs continuously is really wondeful and exciting, but wow it's sure is exhausting and nerve wracking to make sure I'm on the beat and dont lose the counting. Those musicians have great experiences and they are truly the professinals. I'm pretty sure that they have been practicing and rehearsing for months or even years just to get Carmina Burana perfectly performed. Hats down to those musician's and the effort they put in. The symphony hall was amazing too (I loved the enormous pipe organ in the background, its so beautiful), its truly a fantastic place to express music due that sound waves reflecting from the smooth and edgy surface and project the waves to every space of the hall. I could feel the bass vibrating the seats and the chimes and the bells ringing the hall. It was beautiful and unforgettable. It's definitely a percussionist dream to hear this performance and I'm so lucky and glad that I could be there and live in that dream!
Riley Schroeder
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I really enjoyed going to Carmina Burana today, and it is one of my favorites from this year. The symphony played it excellently and it was such an epic and full sound, as it was intended to be played. The soloists sang with such vigor and emotion, everyone did just the soloists stood out more, conveyed the emotions of each line beautifully. The baritone soloist had such an amazing range that rang through the hall as he hit all those low and high notes. While his singing didn't strike me as much as the other soloist, I really enjoyed the soloist who stumbled out on stage and gave such over the top gestures to match the song and made that part of the show so lively and fun to watch. I was happy with the decision to play the military march first, as it gave the finale such a powerful end to the show. I was curious as to how Haydn's symphony would fit in, and I think that it gave a nice contrast of sounds between the two pieces. The show was done so well and everyone played their part so well, and all the instrument groups blended so well. The groups fit together so that you could always hear everything which is nice when you like picking apart and listening to the different instrument groups and how they fit into the entire piece. The trombone section had a cool part that sounded fun to play having those notes that play well in the mid to low range, playing falls and moving while still being the baseline. For me, being a trombone player, it was cool to be able to pick out this line and hear while still hearing the whole performance. The choir did an excellent job as well, and everyone did a good job singing their parts, from the men to the women to the children, i liked how diverse the choir was, yet they all fit together to give such an amazing performance. This was such a great show and everything was done so well, all the dynamics were done with such contrast that everything seemed amplified yet they kept control of sound and didn't distort while getting those epic fortissimo's then quickly to pianissimo's. I've really been looking forward to this show and the symphony did not disappoint in the slightest. It is definitely up there for my favorite performances from this year, and i am very happy that we got to see it.
Joshua Scheck
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Carmina Burana seemed very good in almost every aspect. My favorite parts were the beginning and the end since it felt so powerful. I really liked how the incorporated every group of musicians. The choir had several groups including a group of young children who were used specifically for one of the pieces. Every group was also very large and being a musician for 8 years in the past really made me remember how difficult it was just to direct one group of musicians such as the choir. But to direct this many groups was insane. I remember in the past how each group needed to listen to each other and keep pace, which was extraordinarily difficult, but it was nothing compared to what transpired today. The musicians and the director there must be top class. Amazingly there were no visible errors and because of that I really think that this performance was very stellar. The only problem I had was that I felt as if the soloist were sometimes a tad bit quite but it was very minor. Everything seemed on the most part to be very balanced and on tempo which is very amazing with that large of a group. Another minor problem for me was the dress one of the soloist was wearing. It was green while everyone else was wearing black. I just feel like all the groups should be matching on the most part since you are trying to make music in unison. Other than that I thought the whole performance was very amazing. Everything was well balanced and every musician there seemed to be very skilled and experienced. I will remember this performance for sure and it will be hard to find one to beat it in the future.
Noah Manns-Taylor
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I really didn't enjoy the Haydn we listened to before the actual Carmina Burana started. I liked the upbeat part at the end but other than that it was kind of boring. As for the songs of Carmina Burana itself, obviously O Fortuna was my favorite, other than that they kind of lulled on and melded together. It was interesting to hear the songs that my group did a choral reading to, they were obviously very different when there was a full choir singing them.
Wyatt Smith
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Commenting on what my friend Ilya Bauer said, I thought you two made a cute couple as well. If I could have bought'n some tickets for that show Ilya was talking about, I would have been front row. As far as the performance goes, I thought it was a very stimulating piece. My favorite song i would have to say is O Fortuna and In taberna quando sumus. I thought the choir was amazing, the way the band played really complemented them as well. I also like how the music really made you feel like it went in a cycle, beginning and ending with my favorite song O Fortuna. Over all it was a great performance. Don't forget Dumbledore
Lily Kristjanson
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Overall, I would say I enjoyed Carmina Burana. Having analyzed the songs prior to the performance in class, made the performance that much more entertaining. My favorite song of the entire symphony was O Fortune. I loved the intensity of the singers ands their voices. I found it interesting how distinctly separated the different sections of the choir were. I also found it interesting that one of those sections consisted solely of children. For many of the songs they sat down, but they had a large role in O Fortune, which I also enjoyed. I thought the orchestra did a fabulous job playing together and staying on tune the entire performance. I especially enjoyed the violin player on the far left side of the stage, with the long white beard. Though, I didn't enjoy the solo singers. I thought the songs sung by the entire choir sounded better than the solos. They were more empowering and impactful.
Lily Kristjanson
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This Blog is in response to the post from March 23: The Importance of Being Earnest. This past Saturday, I was able to attend The Importance of Being Earnest. The show was completely sold out and I was lucky enough to be put on the waiting list to get in. The show being completely sold out gave me a hunch that it must be good. In fact, The Importance of Being Earnest did turn out to be a good show. I believe I caught every aphorism throughout the play. I enjoyed the simplicity of the set and that they were able to change it enough to create a new scene after every intermission. My favorite character was Cecily, the niece of earnest. I found her to be the most entertaining on stage. Though, overall I think that all the actors did a great job with their performance, staying very true to their characters. My only complaint about the play would be its length. I felt like the story could have been performed just as well in a shorter length of time. Since it lasted for such a long time, at points throughout the play, I began to lose interest.
Katie Daniels
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Today's performance of really Carmina Burana i enjoyed much more than i expected. I thought the singing and music was very well done, and they all were very professional and exact on each note. The orchestra was very powerful, and i actually liked it better than i thought i would. I also liked how it is played at the beginning and the end to show the cycle of the wheel. I also enjoyed the small parts of comedy that gave us all a laugh as a man was once moving around and ran out after. I also liked that it had the translation in the program. I was able to follow along with the songs which was nice. I thought the choir in the back did an amazing job as well. I was able to recognize songs played and sang, and was so surprised how exact on they were compared to just hearing the track. Overall it was a great experience for me, and they did a great performance.
i thought the symphony today was pretty good except for the first part. the first part was really out of place and I thought contained some poor decisions. there were some out of place progressions and I thought the instrument choice was absurd at times. in addition it put not only me, but also the old man sitting next to me to sleep. I don't know why they threw that in but I would have preferred a 45 minute shorter performance. once the actual carmina burana started it was extremely good. the effect of the boys choir was pretty cool and they sounded really good. o furtuna was very good and I hadn't realized how many songs are on other things, over all a B+ performance, fairly good but not amazing
ReplyDeleteTaylor Ingrum
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The music in today's symphony Carmina Burana, was beautiful. I have heard the songs in class before, but they were nothing compared to how they sounded today. The musicians were all very uniform and professional which was a nice change ehrn compared to last couple of more casual plays we have attended. O Fortuna was by far my favorite piece. I am familiar with it outside of school from movies like Jackass, but hearing it in a setting like today made it even better. It was so powerful and beautiful I really felt like I was able to appreciate symphonic music for the first time today. I thought it would be cool to have a backdrop to go along with the show because it was a little boring at times for me, but other than that I thought it was very well done. I think that everyone should experience a symphony like this to truly understand and appreciate how beautiful it can be.
Michael Stiles
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I absolutely enjoyed the performance of carmina burana. My favorite song of all was O Fortuna. I like how the song is slow in the beginning with the tempo and then it speads up with the vocals getting deeper and louder. I like how they are able to incorporate bell in many if the songs we listened to. I think part of the experience of the symphony is being able to share it with many of your friends and even the strangers I sat next to. I think its far better live then if we were to just listen to it in class.
Sarah Porter
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I actually ended up enjoying the performance we went to today. I had only been to one symphony before when I was really young and don't remember much of it, so I wasn't sure what to expect from Carmina Burana. Having some musical background it was interesting to both listen to and watch each song the orchestra played. Not only did they play seemingly perfect and together, but they also got into each song they were playing. I saw the same thing with the choir and soloists as well. You could tell by their facial expressions and body language that they were interested in and just really felt the songs they sang. Also, I was super glad we had listened to and talked about the whole symphony before in class. Though we hadn't listened to each song being played in class, it was nice to have heard a song or two from each section. I thought that was really important so we could both understand and be able to follow along with some of the songs. Overall I enjoyed Carmina Burana, and thought it was a great performance.
Mallori Lindberg
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The performance today was magnificent. I have never been more blown away in my life!!! The orchestra was dressed nicely. Every single one of them had black shoes on. Very classy. I was distracted by the guy in the front that looked like Dumbledore. The opening was very long. It was better to see it live than in the class. I'm more of a visual learner, so this was great! Visual sensation. I was thankful for the pamphlet they gave us to follow along with the lyrics. The opera singer had great voices. Lots of American Idol potential. I liked how they acted out their characters. Overall it was so fun, love my class and my friends!! Glad I could meet your friend!
Ashley Glinn
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Because I could not attend the performance of Carmina Burana, I will write about The Sandman by Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffmann. "I will honestly confess to you that, according to my opinion, all the terrible things of which you speak, merely occurred in your own mind, and that the actual external world had little to do with them". This was said by Clara in the letter that she had written to Nathaniel. Nathanial had been spooked by the old woman who was a sort of nanny to his youngest sister, when she had told him that the Sandman would tear children's eyes out and feed them to his own children up on the moon if they didn't go to sleep when told. And because of his gullible state of mind, being a child then, he completely believed her and the thought of the Sandman catching him and taking out his eyes took over his train of thought. Nathanial's only focus was on the Sandman, and once he found out that the man who would appear at night after the children went to bed was his father's friend Coppelius, he immediately believed that he was the Sandman. This quote from Clara captures the essence of the entire story. Because Nathanial would let certain beliefs and thoughts control his actions and daily life, he was living in a constant state of fear and distress. Focusing on only the things that he feared, or his unusual obsession to Olympia due to a mystical pair of glasses, he lets his thoughts control him. This got the very best of him in the end, when he could only see Coppelius when looking through his glasses as his love Clara, which caused him to almost kill her by throwing her over a railing ledge of a tower out of anger and rage, and then he himself flipped over the railing after seeing Coppelius down below staring at him, and thus ended up killing himself. Stories such as The Sandman have important morals such as reminding yourself to not let your fears and thoughts get the best of you and control your life.
The performance of Carmina Burana was, to say at the least, amazing. I thoroughly enjoyed the second half of the performance. Having a musical background myself i was able to identify how hard the orchestra and chorus as a whole worked on this production in order to make this such a great performance. The chorus was very on point with all the articulation of the words, and the projection of the choir as a whole was great to see. Something that bothered me was the fact that the female solo was not matching the rest of the performers, instead she was wearing a bright green dress. This threw me off from watching the rest of the performers because she stood out like a sore thumb.I think that if the soloist did this on purpose then all of the other 3 soloists should have done the same thing, that way it would have looked more planned and coordinated. But instead she was a distraction from the rest of the performance, at least for me it was. Overall though i did enjoy the performance. I have never heard such a good choral singing in my life, i would definitely go again if i had the chance.
ReplyDeleteJoey Keating
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I really enjoyed Carminba Burana. To me this play was one of the better plays we went to because of the bands performance. The orchestra performed very well the entire time. They were very on beat the entire time. Also the whole time they played with very boastful and sharp notes. This gives the play much more of a smooth and precise kind of movement. Next, the chorus of the music was a great reference point to go back to during the play. It gave people a time to catch up and think about what is going on in the play.
Maiah Swigert Period 3
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed Carmina Burana. I thought it was absolutely amazing, at first it was kind of boring (the Haydn piece) but once it actually got to Carmina and the chorus... it was great! I love orchestras and choruses, especially together. I was impressed and I would absolutely love to see Carmina Burana again if I can in the future!
Bryia Madison
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This is my make up blog. I will be talking about the performance of Mozart at Benaroya Hall. This was a lovely performance. The conducter was so into the music and everyone around me seemed to be very into the music too. I thought that the pianist and the violin players were just wonderful. The pianist blew me away. His fingers were so fast and the sound they made was just so pleasant to listen to. I had no idea that drums were involved in Mozart's music but after watching this performance I had a new found respect for the sound that different types of drums make and how they can add to a song.