AMD2, Bryce Schmidt

For my second AMD assignment I decided to watch the Berlin Philharmonic perform Gustav Mahler's second Symphony. Mahler is considered to be one of the greatest if not the greatest German composer of all time. He lived from 1860 to 1911 and was most well known during the late romantic era (1880's to 1920's). It was very interesting to not only listen to one of the most well respected symphony orchestras in the world play but also to hear their conductor Simon Rattle give his concert notes on the work while reading the German subtitles. It was interesting to see what words I could recognize and to see the sentence structure (which I tend to have the hardest time with). I also had a fun time looking at the differences between the classic American orchestra as opposed to the classic European orchestra such as the use of rotary valve trumpets as opposed to piston valve trumpets which are the standard here in the United States. This was very insightful not just in furthering my knowledge of the German language but also German culture and to be more accurate German classical music culture.