Academy of St. Martin in the Fields

The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields presented and preformed exquisitely three separate works: two concerti by Bach and Haydn and a string arrangement based on a Schubert quartet (arranged by Mahler). All three performances included the virtuosic Joshua Bell playing the violin with the orchestra and also solo.

Concerto for Violin and String Orchestra No. 2, in E Major by Johann Sebastian Bach was the first concerto preformed. Written in the Baroque period, the piece follows the Italian style of Vivaldi. The first movement, Allegro, was both light and upbeat. The musicians played higher notes and there was often a switch-off between solo and tutti. This particular movement must be very famous because even a person like me, whom has never been really introduced to classical music, can recognize some parts of the piece. The second movement, Adagio, was a much slower and more somber movement. Throughout the movement one could detect a very low undertone being played by the orchestra even when the soloist, Joshua Bell, played slightly faster or higher notes. Allegro assai was the third movement and had the same tone and pace of the first movement in order to end the piece on a high not

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” Within the movement there are five variations of the way the poem is portrayed, but all are quite calm, yet dark and heavy. There are four movements in this work: Allegro, Andante con moto, Scherzo, and Presto. ” Gustav Mahler took the string quartet version, added a baseline and more musicians, made a few modifications to the tone of the piece, and turned it into a symphony. What I wasn’t expecting (though I was pleasantly surprised) was the encore. But after these mood changes the piece always reverts back to the dark mood. 1, in C Major was the second work preformed by the Academy. Once again, to end the piece the third movement, Presto, was energetic and wonderfully enjoyable. Not just written in the Classical period, all three movements were stylistically classical as well. This leads into Andante con moto, the movement based on “Death and the Maiden.

Overall the concert was very enthralling. It was no surprise to me when the audience gave a standing ovation and called Joshua Bell back to the stage four times for applause. This piece was originally a string quartet by Franz Schubert and it was named after the second movement that is a musical version of the poem “Death and the Maiden. Allegro opens the piece dramatically.

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