On February 22nd 2013, I had my first bargemusic at Fulton Street pier in Brooklyn. Bargemusic is an old barge that converted into a chamber music hall. It was a great pleasure to have such a terrific concert on a Friday night. The internal of the barge was so classical with aged wall chairs. In the middle of the room is a stage with a piano that was shining when lights were facing above it. A stupendous view of the Manhattan skyline out the glass wall was placed behind the stage which gives a perfect background of the performer.
The performer was a piano musician called Olga Vinokur. The convert was officially started at 8:00pm after her short introduction. “Nocturne Op. 27, No. 2 in D-flat Major”, composed by Frederic Chopin, attracted me since the performer pressed the first note on the piano. This music was passionate and sexy and displaced dialogue without using any words. It started with slow and soft motions as its exposition, and then it raised the speed up with instable and repeatable notes during the development stage, after that it went back to soft and slowly motion as its recapitulation.
This piece reminded me of the theme song of Titanic, which presented a love story behind. Plus, the floating motion of the barge made me felt like part of the story. I found listening to this a worthwhile experience since I haven’t ever been to this kind of concert before. And it was a fantastic beginning to the bargemusic concert of my life. “Scherzo No 4 in E Major”, also written by Frederic Chopin, was a beautiful piece of music. The rhythm of it was continuously repeated at the beginning and seemed to get faster like a heartbeat by the climax.
As the passion of the song heated up, I could tell clearly that the performer added her own feeling into this piece. Plus the night image that created by the lights from lower Manhattan on the background, made this scene unforgettable. The melody of it was happy and bright throughout the rest of the piece. It made me felt relaxed on some parts and more cool in the others. This kind of melody occurred for about 6 minutes and switched to slower-beat movement for an ending.
“Preludes Op. 11”, written by Alexander Scriabin, was the next one. OlgaVinokur selected No. , 2, 3, 5, 20, 21, 23, 22, and 14 to perform on the stage. No. 1 began with soft and lovely melody. However as it repeated itself, it went louder and faster with a loudest note as its ending. No. 2 was played in A minor, with the pattern as No. 1. The differences were it didn’t give me a feeling of lovely, and it ended with a lower note. No. 3 was a really short piece, it started with fast-beat and it kept constantly and continuously to the end. No. 5, 21 and 22 are totally different from No. 20, 23 and 14. In my opinion, they were the opposite of each other. No. 5 and 21were played really soft and slow.
However, when No. 20 and 23 were loud and fast, but both two pairs did end up with a lower-beat. At then end, because of the order she selected, I loved listening to the changes from soft, slow to fast and loud. In all, the concert was enjoyable and full of great music with incredible scenes. I would definitely come back in the future for more. And this evening made me realized that all music has its own playing style and the performing environment can make people become part of the music.
Work Cited
- Lesser, Wendy. “Back at Bargemusic.
- Social Media Today, Jan 23. 2011 http://www. bargemusic. org/reviews. html
