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Concert Report I attended the Pacific Symphony Orchestra’s classical concert series “Beethoven’s Fifth”, conducted by Carl St.Clair, the internationally renowned American conductor, on Thursday, January 31, 2001 in the Segerstrom Hall (Orange County Performing Arts Center). The first half of the concert was introduced by a short and lively movement Rondo in D major of Mozart, and continued with Bernstein’s Symphony No. 2. The second half of the concert was devoted to the four-movement work, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C minor. The concert was scheduled to begin at 8:00 p.m., but I arrived at the hall one hour earlier for the preview. The hall was much more crowded than I expected. Everybody dressed nice and talked quietly. Moment later the concert host came out and gave a brief description of the piece that was about to be played. It was very informative and fun. I was impressed by the way the host handled some of the questions asked by the audience. After the preview the musicians came out and tuned their instruments, cued by the concertmaster. The orchestra was seated on the stage; the men wore tuxedos, the women wore black dresses or pants. At exact 8:00 p.m., the conductor Carl St. Clair came out with the guest piano soloist Benjamin Pasternack, they were applauded by the audience. The conductor shook the hands of the first violinist. There then was a moment’s pause for complete quiet and the concert began. Mozart’s Rondo in D major, K.382 This piece was composed by Mozart in 1782, when he lived in Vienna. It has a homophonic texture, and its form is a concert rondo, which Mozart used as the new finale of his first original piano concerto (K.
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