Gian Francesco Malipiero
Vivaldiana
Gian Francesco Malipiero, 1882-1973, was an Italian composer. Malipiero studied in Vience and in Bologne, and taught at the conservatory in Panama. He did studied Italian music and did important work on composers such as Montrverdi and Vivailda. Vivailda was an ordained priest and was famous for his concerto form. No piece is a better representation of that influence than the piece I decided to listen to, Gian Francesco’s “Vivaldiana.” This work is played by the Vento Philharmonic Orchestra with Peter Maag as the conductor. This piece consists of three movements, the first movement is entitled Adagio-Allegro.
The first movement starts off slow, with the cellos and basses playing the down beats in 4/4 time. I thought that this part of the song was very boring. The adagio sets up the allegro section nicely. One effective way this work does that is by having the adagio section not very long, and by having the adagio section ending cadence be a V to I. This makes you believe the tune has ended. After the cadence the Allegro section takes off with a simple theme. This theme is echoed and passed throughout each section of the orchestra. In fact, in some sections of they would play a round. This is a unique effect used throughout the first movement. Also the dynamics in the Allegro section are apparent. There is a good shift from metsso forta to fortissimo.
The second movement of the piece is entitled “Andante piu lento un poco.” This movement I thought was musical and sensitive. The strings enter at a soft dynamic while an oboe solo occurs. The entire movement never gets above a metsso piano. The piece comes off sensitive by creating space in a soft dynamic. For example, the strings hold notes for up to three to four counts. This allows space to occur was a soloist or another string player can play. The strings at a soft dynamic allow the space to be more of a listen to the space and the attack of the notes, and allow the tone of the individual instruments to fill in the space. This is opposite from the hold note with a crescendo that gives me the feeling of whets going to happen next. Another characteristic of the second movement is the use of an echo. Throughout the piece the one instrument would play a melodic line for a bar while another instrument played that same melodic line the following measure. I thought this characteristic help move the movement along.
The third and final movement of the work is entitled “Allegro, Allegro molto”. One characteristic that caught my attention was the use of the woodwinds. In this movement, Malipiero use the woodwinds to outline the chords and harmony. This was done by giving the woodwinds continuous eight note runs. In the middle of this of the movement the strings and woodwinds switch roles. The woodwinds have the melody while your strings outline the harmony. Also the use of an echo is apparent in this movement as well. Towards the end of the piece Malipiero has the strings playing while the woodwinds sit out and woodwinds play while the strings sit out. So he gives both groups roles, then they switch roles, after that they play separately, and finally at the end they play together. This movement is well organized.
Overall, I found this work to be average. I thought that everything I heard had been done before. Also the music seemed to up and down. It did not really have a taste to it. I mean it seemed by the book. I would not consider this for the canon because of these reasons. Also, He uses a lot of the same elements in all three movements. It was hard to even write about it because of this aspect and because each movement seemed short in length.
Vivaldiana
Gian Francesco Malipiero, 1882-1973, was an Italian composer. Malipiero studied in Vience and in Bologne, and taught at the conservatory in Panama. He did studied Italian music and did important work on composers such as Montrverdi and Vivailda. Vivailda was an ordained priest and was famous for his concerto form. No piece is a better representation of that influence than the piece I decided to listen to, Gian Francesco’s “Vivaldiana.” This work is played by the Vento Philharmonic Orchestra with Peter Maag as the conductor. This piece consists of three movements, the first movement is entitled Adagio-Allegro.
The first movement starts off slow, with the cellos and basses playing the down beats in 4/4 time. I thought that this part of the song was very boring. The adagio sets up the allegro section nicely. One effective way this work does that is by having the adagio section not very long, and by having the adagio section ending cadence be a V to I. This makes you believe the tune has ended. After the cadence the Allegro section takes off with a simple theme. This theme is echoed and passed throughout each section of the orchestra. In fact, in some sections of they would play a round. This is a unique effect used throughout the first movement. Also the dynamics in the Allegro section are apparent. There is a good shift from metsso forta to fortissimo.
The second movement of the piece is entitled “Andante piu lento un poco.” This movement I thought was musical and sensitive. The strings enter at a soft dynamic while an oboe solo occurs. The entire movement never gets above a metsso piano. The piece comes off sensitive by creating space in a soft dynamic. For example, the strings hold notes for up to three to four counts. This allows space to occur was a soloist or another string player can play. The strings at a soft dynamic allow the space to be more of a listen to the space and the attack of the notes, and allow the tone of the individual instruments to fill in the space. This is opposite from the hold note with a crescendo that gives me the feeling of whets going to happen next. Another characteristic of the second movement is the use of an echo. Throughout the piece the one instrument would play a melodic line for a bar while another instrument played that same melodic line the following measure. I thought this characteristic help move the movement along.
The third and final movement of the work is entitled “Allegro, Allegro molto”. One characteristic that caught my attention was the use of the woodwinds. In this movement, Malipiero use the woodwinds to outline the chords and harmony. This was done by giving the woodwinds continuous eight note runs. In the middle of this of the movement the strings and woodwinds switch roles. The woodwinds have the melody while your strings outline the harmony. Also the use of an echo is apparent in this movement as well. Towards the end of the piece Malipiero has the strings playing while the woodwinds sit out and woodwinds play while the strings sit out. So he gives both groups roles, then they switch roles, after that they play separately, and finally at the end they play together. This movement is well organized.
Overall, I found this work to be average. I thought that everything I heard had been done before. Also the music seemed to up and down. It did not really have a taste to it. I mean it seemed by the book. I would not consider this for the canon because of these reasons. Also, He uses a lot of the same elements in all three movements. It was hard to even write about it because of this aspect and because each movement seemed short in length.
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