Chris Berry
21 April 2008
Music 101
Cadek Community Orchestra
“Bugler’s Holiday”
“Symphony No. 1 in C Major, op. 21”
I attended the Cadek Community Orchestra on Sunday April 20, 2008 at 2:00 in
the Roland Hayes Concert hall with a good friend of mine. The Cadek Community
Orchestra is conducted by Hyung Lok Kim. The program consisted of the “Buglar’s
Holiday” by Leroy Anderson and was followed by Ludwig Van Beethoven’s “Symphony
No. 1.” The audience was very small and probably only filled a third of the concert hall.
The orchestra was already onstage when I arrived right at two.
The concert began without any announcements or any introduction by Conductor
Hyung Lok Kim. The first piece was “Buglar’s Holiday” by Leroy Anderson in 1954.
Leroy Anderson was a composer during the modern and postmodern eras and is known
for his numerous light classical orchestral “pops” concerts. “Buglar’s Holiday” is a light
trumpet trio in duple meter. The trumpet players of this piece in the Cadek Community
Orchestra were Zac Schmidt, Tommy Bulman, and Jon Wysong. The piece is in C-major
key and is in the dynamic of mezzo forte, or moderately loud, with a bright tempo. The
piece ended as the audience applauded. The trumpet trio took a bow and exited the stage
to the audiences left as Conductor Kim followed. Two of the trumpet players, Zac
Schmidt and Tommy Bulman came back onto the stage and took their seats in the back of
the orchestra beside the two French horns. Conductor Kim came back onto the stage and
shook two of the violinist hands and without a word started the next piece.
The next piece was “Symphony No. 1 in C Major, op. 21” by Ludwig Van
Beethoven. This piece by Beethoven is an example of a piece from the classical era,
which resembles some of the work of Mozart and Haydn. The Orchestration for this piece
consisted of 7 violins, 1 viola, 3 cellos, 1 double base, 1 flute, 1 piccolo, 1 oboe, 2
clarinets, 1 bassoon, 2 French horns, 2 trumpets, and 1 trombone. This orchestration is
fairly true to the orchestra of the classical period with the exception of the lack of the
timpini by the Cadek Community Symphony. The program gave the name of the tuba and
the timpani but the orchestra personnel did not consist of a tuba or a timpani.
The first movement of “Symphony No. 1” is Adagio molto. This movement is in
quadruple meter. The introduction of this movement begins slowly, but shows great
luminosity. This introduction is followed by two themes that are in sonata form. The
melody in the first part of the first movement include syncopations. The second part of
the first movement opens with the principal theme which after some modulations is
reiterated fortissimo. At the end of the movement Beethoven reiterates part of the
principal theme by overlaying it with the woodwinds.
Andante Cantabile con moto, or the second movement, is also two themes in
sonata form and ends in a coda. This movement to sounded like it was in 3/8 meter,
which I am unfamiliar to. The second movement opens with the melody, which is
answered by the cellos and viola. The second phrase of the movement is a natural
sequence to the first. The second part of the Andante concludes with the delicacy and the
dynamic contrast of the coda.
The third movement is the Menuetto-Trio. The third movement is in triple meter.
This movement strays from the typical minuet form and plays a rapid and jovial scherzo.
This presents a lively movement that is very entertaining. The tone of the movement
appears to be G-major. The second part of the movement modulates this tonal design.
The second part is in pianissimo until this is cut short and the opening scale of fortissimo
is displayed. I found the scale runs by the violins in this piece remarkable. The violins at
one point had to run nearly an octave and a half. Then the Trio exchanges the woodwinds
and the strings back and forth.
The final movement is Adagio, which is duple meter and is opened in the dynamic
of pianissimo which later gets louder. The movement reiterates parts of earlier
movements and establishes a sonata form. The movement opens with a few bars of
Adagio which is followed by a wild session of the violins, which I found to be the most
entertaining section of the whole symphony. Then the opening phrase of Allegro is
presented, which is a violin figure. The scale runs in this section are nothing compared to
the runs of the third movement. The movement concludes with the second theme of the
final movement, which concludes the symphonic cycle that was typical for the time
period.
The conductor turned and shakes the hand of a female violinist as the crowd
applauds. He walks off the stage and immediately returns. He has the orchestra rise as the
audience continues to applaud. A lady then brings Hyung Lok Kim flowers on the stage.
He smiles as the house lights come on and the orchestra begins to leave.
In this symphony Beethoven holds true to the accepted forms of the classical era.
This is why there are many phrases of this piece that reminded me of Haydn’s and
Mozart’s works. Yet there are many other qualities found in this piece that simply make
Beethoven, Beethoven. The Cadek Community Orchestra did a fine job of presenting
these two pieces. I do wonder why there was no timpani, which was typical for the time
period. This concert was very low key but yet very enjoyable.