Word: orchestra
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...following piece, Felix Mendelssohn’s verleigh’ uns frieden, opened beautifully, with bassoon and bass accompanying the chorus. This Lutheran prayer for peace was moving and skillfully handled by both chorus and orchestra. There were a large number of musicians on the stage for such a small performance venue, and both ensembles controlled their expression brilliantly, resulting in an emotive and comprehensible dialogue between the instruments and voices...
...piece, perhaps fittingly an overture to Beethoven’s Fidelio, is frequently played—and for good reason. Its mixture of emotive passages from the woodwinds and triumphant cadences from the strings make for an enjoyable and meaningful experience. Though the opening was a little shaky, the orchestra pulled it together for the most part by the middle and end of the overture. However, the winds struggled throughout, as the clarinets and the French horns both frequently botched their entrances and strayed from pitch...
...first movement opens with a series of tonally ambiguous bursts invoking images of creation and the cosmos. For the first time, it seemed that the orchestra was entirely involved with the music, and the result was significant and exciting. The second movement is a difficult combination of duple and triple meter, and it gave the orchestra some trouble. The tempo dragged and notes were often out of place, but the oboes, clarinets and bassoons blended beautifully in the central trio section of the movement. It was the best the winds sounded all evening...
According to conventional symphony form, a slow movement follows the opening, and a light, dance-like movement precedes the final movement. Beethoven switched these in the Ninth to increase the dramatic buildup before his grand conclusion. Beethoven’s intentions were well understood by the orchestra, as the chorus took its place on the stage before the third movement, although they only enter in the fourth, so they would not interrupt the flow...
...theme presented by the winds is rejected by the low strings until the winds finally present a variation of the familiar “Ode to Joy” theme, which is enthusiastically taken up by the low strings, then the violas and the violins, and finally the entire orchestra and even the chorus. The solo vocalists, especially baritone Sidney Outlaw, were superb...