On Friday 6th February, my mum and I went to Norwich Theatre Royal to attend a concert comprising of Webern’s five movements for string quartet Op.5, Haydn’s Symphony no.88 in G and Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.3 in C minor, Op.27.
Recently, in my GCSE music lessons, we have been studying minimalism and serialism. The use of discordant notes in all of Webern’s five movements reflected these styles. A sense of foreboding and increased tension was created by the shrill crescendos of the string’s arco bowing, climaxing with a sudden twang of pizzicato. The second movement was more of a lamentation – delicate and hesitant. Use of contrast between arco and pizzicato gave a much more dramatic effect in the third movement – the shortest of them all. Returning to a tender and often shrill melody, the fourth movement’s use of soloists gave a subtle hint at the sense of threat contained throughout. The last movement started softly but gradually crescendoed into anti-climatic sections which petered off into nothing at the end.
Webern’s five movements were short, yet held my interest throughout. By having unexpected melodies and sudden changes in tempo and dynamics, I found that I kept waiting for more. The ending of the last movement highlighted this, because as everything faded, I found myself thinking – this can’t be it? I enjoyed this piece because it was different.
Haydn’s Symphony differed greatly from Webern’s string quartet. I could almost imagine it as background music to a period drama. The first movement became energetic and fast-paced. Seeing all the bows moving exactly at the same time was quite amazing, especially in the faster sections. Multiple layers of melody gave the movement interest, especially the way different parts of the orchestra seemed to be speaking to each other – questions and answers. I found the second movement to begin with – interesting, but eventually, slightly boring. I know that such works use repetition a lot, but I found this movement to over-egg the point. Things looked up in the third movement, returning to a statelier feel. The middle section (like ternary form) was a different idea to the first – more delicate. The first idea returned suddenly and with great gusto. Lastly, the fourth movement was jaunty and dignified. The speed at which some of the string parts played was incredible! I loved the way different ideas deviated from the main one and returned to it in such inconspicuous ways.