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Live Western Music Concert Report

Definition of Western Classical Music

Western Classical Music refers to all the songs that were composed during the late 18th

and 19th centuries. All these songs had similar characteristics that include Mozart’s sonata. Also,

this form of music derived its originality from beauty, elegance and balance and significance

contracts in dynamics, pitch, key, and mood. Today, Western Classical Music is defined as any

other form of music considered to be a serious work of art apart from jazz and pop music. Most

classical music was composed for religious purposes including glorifying God.

Western Classical Music to Be Performed

The major classical music performers in the concert include Steve Reich, Philip Glass,

and John Adams. Reich is an American-born minimalist musician who specializes mainly in

minimal classical music that is a new form of traditional western classical music. He is known

for using repetitive figures, canons, tape loops, and simple audible processes. Reich has ancestral

links to the Jews and that is why some of his music including Pendulum (1968), It’s Gonna Rain

(1965), and Come Out (1966) have some historical Jewish themes(Pymm 250). He has more than

50 compositions that touch on family values, love, human relationships, and ethical issues. Glass

is also an American music composer and pianist who is highly respected among the 20th-century

classical musicians linked to the minimalist group. His main areas of specialization include

operas, symphonies, concertos, string quartets, and film scores. On this day, Reich was
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performing It’s Gonna Rain (1965) that describes the end of the world using Noah’s story ad a

prelude. This song was composed by Glass to make people aware and warn them to be prepared

for the second coming of Jesus Christ. Glass's musical career was largely influenced by his self-

taught father and an accomplished classical musician(Groth 690). Glass has close to 100 mainly

piano-based compositions. This composer considered education, religion, relationships, and

family core issues in promoting ethical behavior in society and that is where his main themes

were derived from. His works and passion for music were largely influenced by Franz Schubert

who is still his favorite composer. On this day, Glass was performing The Trial (2014) that

describes the moral and professional decadence affecting the judicial system and how societal

norms have been eroded by immorality. Adams is also an American minimalist classical music

composer and occasionally conducts opera sessions. He has more than 60 compositions that

mainly depict the minimalist and post-minimalist sentiments and themes. Adam’s musical

journey was largely influenced by John Cage’s book Silence (1973), the Darmstadt School of

Twelve Tone compositions and Serialism that were major events during his youthful

life(Johnson 49). On this day, he was performing A Flowering Tree (2006) that tells of a story of

a young Indian couple undergoing a ritual to cement their union through discovering the true

meaning of love embedded in folktales.

The Performance

All these three performances Adam's A Flowering Tree (2006), Glass's The Trial (2014),

and Reich's It's Gonna Rain (1965) depict similar characteristics and style. Adam, Reich, and

Glass are all minimalists followers and grew up almost during the same time and although they

were influenced by different personalities and events, the themes and styles reflected common

features that define the western classical music genres. First, I listened to the tempo and speed of
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all these compositions and realized that all were slow-paced with loops and the Mozart sonata

beats. The combination of both stringed and non-stringed instruments such as guitar and piano

respectively changed the whole presentations to a mixture of ancient and modern classical music.

I remember how the musicians transitioned from one stanza to the next through prolonged

acoustic beats that were periodically interrupted by natural sounds such as a dove taking a flight

in Glass’s music. Also, I remember the beats in all these three music were all accompanied by

slow body movements that could also go well with opera presentations. Another unique aspect I

discovered about these presentations was that there was a lot of repetition. The artists repeated

both words, beats, tunes, and pitch, making the music seem like around the song. The

presentation was exactly what I was expecting since I have been a classical music fan for a long

time now. I was very happy and even the audiences around me were also excited by the

performances. The performers did great work and I think the experiences they have in the

classical music industry is unrivaled.

Lessons

From both my research and attending the musical concert, I have learned that western

classical music is the mother of all forms of music today. All these other new genres of music

originated from classical music. I have realized that it is not easy to compose classical music and

that is why there are few composers. Composing classical music takes time, requires patience,

hard work, commitment, and resilience. In addition, I have realized that although classical music

sounds old-fashioned, listening to it is the best form of entertainment and at the same time

learning some important aspects about cultures, relationships, and societal ethical issues. Given

another chance, I will choose to attend this concert every time it is held because I enjoyed the

music and learned a lot from both the composers and their compositions.
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Works Cited

Groth, Sanne Krogh. "Composers on Stage: Ambiguous Authorship in Contemporary Music

Performance." Contemporary Music Review 35.6 (2016): 686-705.

Johnson, Timothy A. John Adams's Nixon in China: Musical Analysis, Historical and Political

Perspectives. Routledge, 2016.

Pymm, John. "‘English is the Only Language Which I Speak’: New Narratives in Reich’s My

Name Is (1967)." Contemporary Music Review 38.3-4 (2019): 247-270.