Last night I had the opportunity to usher the Keweenaw Symphony Orchestra
(KSO) and their performance "From Russia with Love." The show featured
pieces by Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Shostakovic, all Russian
composers with very different composition styles. Overall the
performance was a wonderful experience and left me entranced in the
haunting melodies of Tchaikovsky and inspired by the almost satirical
styles of Shostakovic.
Though all of the pieces were
performed extremely well, the mixture of back-story and execution of the
Shostakovic made it stand out from the other numbers. Raised in in
Russia directly following World War II, Dimitri Shostakovic wrote
musical numbers for the government and the Communist Party. After
expressing strong feelings of dissent towards the Communist Party, most
of Shostakovic's music was banned from Russia. In response to this ban,
Shostakovic began to compose musical pieces that would start with
strong, militaristic movements shortly followed by weak, almost
cartoon-esque endings. This was emphasized in the KSO by having the
brass section play loud, oppressive notes (representing military
oppression) and following these sections with high, quickly resolved
chords by the strings and high wind instruments.
Though all
of the movements were performed well, I feel the Keweenaw Symphony
Orchestra did an especially fantastic job on the Shostakovic movement. I
look forward to seeing more performances by the KSO, and would
recommend the shows to anyone who appreciates good orchestral music or
is interested in them. If interested, you can get tickets with your
experience tech fee with no cost if you pick the tickets up early. Hope
to see you there!
-Charlie
