The New York Philharmonic symphony performed Antonin Dvorak's "New World Symphony"

and was directed by Alan Gilbert. The stage is very beautifully decorated with flowers on each
side of he stage. The violins make up most of the orchestra but there are the usual instruments in
addition to. The violins and violas are placed in the front rows on the left and right side of the
conductor. Behind them on the right side are the cellos and double basses. The percussion is in
the back on the left side. The flutes and oboes are behind a couple cellos in the middle section.
Then the bassoons and clarinets are behind them. Then finally the tubas, trumpets, trombones,
and french horns make up the last part of the middle section and a little bit on the sides of the
orchestra. In Adagio-Allegro molto the beginning starts out piano lead by the stings. At 0:49-
0:52 the clarinet holds a low forte note. Right after that at 0:54 the French horns burst in then
decrescendo a note. Then the oboes and flutes play a melody together while others are silent
(1:00- 1:21). There is a short pause and then the violins start a dramatic sequence involving
timpani and French horns that is repeated four times. Directly after the sequence, the cellos hold
a low dark sounding note. In 1:44- 1:59 the oboes and flute play upbeat notes and alternate with
the French horns and violins playing dark notes while they crescendo. From 4:29 to the end of
the first section (9:54) there is a phrase that is played multiple times on multiple instruments. The
phrase/melody would often be played back to back and would either crescendo or decrescendo
when another instrument played it. The only transition between movements was the players
turning pages in order to be ready for the next movement. Largo starts with the brass section
playing mezzo piano notes and then crescendo into a drum roll (10:10- 10:38). The violins play
pianissimo notes before an oboe player performs a dynamic solo that is then mixed with a
clarinet (10:38- 11:44). Then there is a mezzo forte bassoon solo that is then mixed with an oboe
(11:45- 12:11). A clarinet then has a solo that gets passed to the flutes and is mixed with a couple
other instruments and crescendo into a note that is held out in forte (12:12- 12:55). The violins
and violas then play pianissimo melody that slowly crescendos to piano (12:56- 13:45). After
that the oboe, bassoon, and clarinet make up the melody that is then played back by the french
horns. At 14:47 the french horns decrescendo their last note and it ends up flowing into a flute
and oboe solo. The double basses pizzicato their notes while the woodwinds play the melody. At
16:14 the violins and the woodwinds create a call and response melody that crescendos and
decrescendos until 17:10. The violins have the melody throughout the rest of the movement and
is sometimes accompanied by other instruments. The third movement Scherzo (molto vivace)
starts out with a dramatic forte entrance that leads to a dramatic melody (22:22- 30:00). This
movement is very vivace in tempo until 23:55 when the tempo slows down for a bit but then
returns back to vivace. This happens again at 25:22- 26:00. This movement was very dynamic all
throughout by changing tempos and it started in a dramatic tone and ended in a dramatic tone.
The final movement Allegro con fuoco starts out almost the same way as Scherzo (molto
vivace); short dramatic forte notes (30:03- 32:00). The beginning reminds me of music you hear
in horror movies when the killer is going to do something. There is a lot of call and response
throughout the movement. In addition to, there is a lot of tempo and dynamic changes
throughout. At the end of the movement the violins and violas play staccato fortissimo notes and
then a brass instrument plays the last note in forte and holds it out until the conductor releases the
note. At the end of the concert everyone stands up and the conductor shakes hands with the
players in the front row. He then acknowledges the rest of the players and then gets back on his
podium and takes a bow. All throughout the piece, the audience is engaged in listening and
watches all the movements. I do not notice anyone getting up or moving during the performance.
At the end the audience gives them a standing ovation, cheers, and applauds the orchestra. Each
movement tied into another and created a story that was told by the dynamics throughout each
movement. This was the first time I have actually watched a classical concert and I didn’t
completely hate it. It was however too long for my attention span towards music.