10/2/2001

Peter and the Wolf

Peter
Description: the strings play a gay melody led by the violins.
Impression: more than adequate imagery of a mischievous Russian boy. I probably wouldn?t have picked the violin to carry the melody (seems more suited to emotions than people, or perhaps only female people?), but I?m biased.

Bird
Description: the flute plays a ?twittering? line for lack of a better word
Impression: birds and flutes have been long associated, and with good reason. One wouldn?t even need to be acquainted much with our culture, I don?t think, to identify this bird.

Duck
Description: the oboe plays a languid theme
Impression: the sound of the oboe is perhaps better suited to the part than the theme, intrinsically sounding much like a ?quack? while the theme doesn?t on its own conjure many images.

Cat
Description: the clarinet plays a sly, sneaky theme
Impression: this is nearly an opposite example from the previous two ? the theme is a perfect depiction of a crafty, confident, yet not flashy animal, and while the instrument it?s played on is an integral part of its representational success, there?s no onomatopoeia or other similar reason why a clarinet is preferred

Grandfather
Description: the bassoon plays a gruff theme
Impression: the character of the bassoon is perfect for an old man. Its theme I think is more indicative of his mood (somewhat angry at and worried for Peter) than his person, however; one could easily imagine a happier bassoon part depicting a contented grandfather rocking in his chair?

Wolf
Description: the horns play a dark, foreboding theme
Impression: I don?t hear much of a wolf as much as an abstract ?danger? or quasi-Teutonic ?forest? sound. Horns are great for these latter implications especially given the large body of German music that invokes them to similar effect, but to depict a particular animal I think a more distinctive theme and perhaps a change to using the less-clich? trombone would help. One could also try for a more direct representation, e.g. using some orchestration (dunno what) to mimic howling or another well-known aspect of wolf behavior.

Hunters
Description: the kettledrums mimic gunfire
Impression: the representation here clearly works, though the hunters? actions are much more clearly heard than their personalities for obvious reasons. Here might?ve been a better place to integrate the horn section ? to offset the purely percussive theme and give the men some character while fulfilling their more traditional symbolic role.


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