Fresh Look: The Symphony Exposed

We begin with the basics, the fundamentals, the nitty-gritty of it all. Up first, just what it is that conductors do up there on the podium, and how their decisions can transform the music. Then we move our attention to the musicians who make up the orchestra and the instruments they play. We’ll go over how the orchestra developed into its current form, and we’ll listen to the instruments of the orchestra, both alone and together.

He’s the Head Honcho, the Big Enchilada: Ludwig van Beethoven practically invented the modern conception of the artist and wrote a series of orchestral works that stand at the very summit of Western art music. He’s all about the symphony—that substantial composition that serves as the kingpin of many orchestra concerts. We’ll also bring in his beloved and utterly distinguished predecessor, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who also had a lot to do with orchestral music in general, and symphonies in particular.

Beethoven ushered in the Romantic age, a time of triumphant individualism that saw a massive expansion of the orchestra. This was the era when the modern civic orchestra came into being, and with it arose bigger, grander, and more expansive symphonic works. We’ll look at Beethoven’s younger contemporary Franz Schubert, then move ahead to late Romantic masters who play such an important role in today’s concert halls: Brahms, Sibelius, and Mahler.

Here we are in the third decade of the 21st century and the orchestra is still going strong. But a lot has changed. We’re far more inclusive nowadays than in the past, with women and minorities playing an increasingly important role in the musical scheme of things. Music itself has gone through massive changes, the orchestra has grown and evolved, but through it all we’re still making music with the same joy as our predecessors. And as a capstone to our Fresh Look series, we’ll have a performance by members of the California Symphony.