Rodgers and Hammerstein Celebration

The second concert I attended was again at Benaroya Hall in Seattle. The Seattle Symphony was performing collaborations from Rodgers and Hammerstein. The concert took place on March 7th.

This time I was seated on the third tier and as close to the stage as possible. During the first performance I attended in Seattle the angle provided from certain seats in the second tier allowed for other attendees' heads to be in the way and blocking as much as a quarter of the symphony. So, that being said, the angle provided on the top tier prevented such an occurrence. The show offered that night was a bit of a treat. The University of Washington's choir was on stage performing along with three Broadway soloists to sing portions of the musical pieces.

Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein worked together to create Broadway musicals. Some of these works included: The Sound of Music, The King and I, and Oklahoma. Rodgers and Hammerstein first began working with one another in the 1940s. Rodgers composed the music while Hammerstein wrote the lyrics. This time in history was known as the golden age of musical theater. I would give credit to both Rodgers and Hammerstein for providing such excellent works that their contributions helped this time in history to be given such a title.

It seemed to me that musicals tend to be more centered around singing. Most of the pieces included some singing, although there were a couple that were instrumental only. It is surprising how much the instruments took a background role for this performance. Comparing it to the concert I had seen the weekend prior, where I watched the Seattle Symphony perform Mozart's piano concerto No. 22, it was a complete contrast. Most often the instruments were working to accentuate the singer's performance.

A lot of the musical numbers usually had a fairly good introduction. The singers would not make their way past the conductor to the front of the stage until it was nearly time for them to sing. So they were often sitting for the first portion of the piece. This gave the instruments an opportunity to shine and set the mood for the number. The music tended to end in a big fashion. What I mean by this is, the singer would be holding some big note really bringing up the energy of the performance and the instruments would mirror that and all the while the conductor is staring directly at the singer so he can time the end of the music perfectly. You can imagine the singer getting red in the face using up every ounce of air in their lungs while the conductor's head is no more than a foot away from their own and as soon as the singer nods during his final attempts of holding out the conductor signals to end the music and they both stop simultaneously.

It was great to experience the choir as well. The range of voices and the harmonies produced by the University's choir was outstanding. There was a piece that was featured that allowed the choir to take center stage and really show what they've got. They were passing around a microphone under their booklets containing their sheet music. This was done so that certain individuals in the choir could perform solos throughout the piece. So they were having to concentrate on passing this baton like object while still maintaining harmony with one another.

All in all it was a great opportunity to experience some newer compositions while getting a feel for the origins of the film adaptations of the Broadway musicals that Rodgers and Hammerstein helped make a success.