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11.11.2008
Czech Filharmony Orchestra
Classical music in the beautiful classicist building RudolfinumMy grandfather and grandmother have bought a season ticket for concerts of classical music. Unfortunately, my grandma is sick now (hope she gets better soon), so I was invited to go to the concert instead of her. It was really an interestign experience
The first thing one notices when one enters the building is the beautiful interior – lots of paintings, decorations and classicism architectonical style. Microphones were hanged from the roof above the orchestra, so it made me wonder whether they record every concert. We were sitting in roughly a middle row closer to the left. The reason why I'm saying this is that my granddad told me they had picked up those seats because they were told that this row is the best in terms of both the acustics and the visibility. If one sits too close, some of the instruments are too loud and on the other hand if one sits too far, one can hardly see the musicians.
The orchestra was playing songs composed by 3 composers – Martinu und Mahler were two of them and I guess you might know them. There were several breaks in between the songs, but one was supposed to applaud only when all the songs by one artists were finished. You're guessing correctly the it was hard for me to find out when to clap my hands and when not. No big embarresment, though :) In addition, it's really funny that when the song is being playes everybody tries to keep quiet (naturaly), but after the song was finished everybody started coughing. It seemed as though everybody was waiting for that moment ... finally be allowed to cough, but I guess some of the people coughed just because everyone else was coughing as well. Why not to cough, if one has the chance now, right? :)
The person that interested me the most was the conductor. I was wondering whether every conductor moves his hands in the same way and if every little movement has its own meaning. I had the opportunity to talk with my granddad's friend who used to play the violin in the czech filharmony orchestra and he gave me lots of interesting answers. To begin with, he said every conductor has his own movements (a famous american conductor used just his right hand fingers, he said, but i'd have to see that myself). Furthermore, it's not really important to make dramatic movements – the orchestra just has to follow the given pace. The conductor's main task, though, is to balance all the instruments and especially balance them in the terms of loudness. Thus, he gives orders to particular players to either quiet down or to play louder. He also prepares this in advance which in turns means that every song is slightly different depending on the conductor. On top of that, one recognizes a good conductor by the fact that one can hear more from the music then what's just in the dots. The song should carry MORE – a message maybe. It could be a message about a struggle or love or whatever else, but there should be something. It's interesting that this kind of an approach is common to all profesionals who really enjoy their work. For example, matematicians find beauty in the mathematical problems that no one else can see (ordinary man would call such a mathematican crazy I guess :)). Mr. Spelina also told me that I probably won't hear this MORE in the music ... and yeahhh, I didn't.
It might look from above that I just focused on everything else but the music. However, I actually really enjoyed it :) It's interesting to close your eyes and just listen. Especially the last part by Mahler was really really good.
I normally don't listen to classic music, but I like going to the live performances once in a while. In fact, the classic music and heavy metal (to which I listen the most) have lots in common. If you listen to bands like Dream Theater or Nightwish you'll find out that lots of things are similar. Furthermore, if one reads the lyrics, one will realize that they are not just a meaningless scream. But this is a theme for another article.