11-10-2014, 11:43 AM
We spent the day hosting our daughter's bday celebration part 1, where she invited three friends from her old school for a beach day. We secured a 1st come, 1st serve fire pit at our local c-brite beach at 2pm and stayed there until 7. Then we let the girls run amuck in c-brite as we went to the symphony.
Bach's Wedding Cantata: A pleasant piece made extraordinary by a guest appearance from soprano Ying Fang, a lithe Chinese ingenue with an operatic voice. She was dazzling. A cellist dropped his bow with a clatter mid-piece. S said "all he had to do was sit there quietly".
Villa-Lobos' Bachianan Brasileira No. 5: Again, Ying took center stage for a piece for voice and 8 cellos. It was a daring piece. I must give conductor Daniel Stewart a nod for taking risks with some modern classical.
Berlioz's Symphonic Fantastique: One of my all-time favorite pieces. I confess that my classical ear is cheesey and bombastic. My first love in any style of music was Wagner, and my limited collection of classical is Beethoven, Holst, and so on. I first got into this piece because of The Shining, which used the most sinister melody in classical, Dies Irae. It wasn't until much later when I learned the historic significance of this piece - a true game-changer in the classical world for so many reasons - and in ensuing years I began to love it all for its sheer brilliance. It's a piece that uses the full orchestra and evokes so many moods in such a short time. I have a Halloween collection that for some unknown reason focuses on the IV movement of Fantastique, the Marche au supplice, when it should be the V, Songe d'un nuit de sabbat, which centers around Dies Irae. Classical compilations, even for Halloween, are silly. Anyways, I have never heard Fantastique live, and the Cruz symphony nailed completely. Half a dozen percussionists, two harpists, and scintillating performances by the wind and string sections. It was mindblowingly awesome.
Beach then Berlioz. Life is good.
Bach's Wedding Cantata: A pleasant piece made extraordinary by a guest appearance from soprano Ying Fang, a lithe Chinese ingenue with an operatic voice. She was dazzling. A cellist dropped his bow with a clatter mid-piece. S said "all he had to do was sit there quietly".
Villa-Lobos' Bachianan Brasileira No. 5: Again, Ying took center stage for a piece for voice and 8 cellos. It was a daring piece. I must give conductor Daniel Stewart a nod for taking risks with some modern classical.
Berlioz's Symphonic Fantastique: One of my all-time favorite pieces. I confess that my classical ear is cheesey and bombastic. My first love in any style of music was Wagner, and my limited collection of classical is Beethoven, Holst, and so on. I first got into this piece because of The Shining, which used the most sinister melody in classical, Dies Irae. It wasn't until much later when I learned the historic significance of this piece - a true game-changer in the classical world for so many reasons - and in ensuing years I began to love it all for its sheer brilliance. It's a piece that uses the full orchestra and evokes so many moods in such a short time. I have a Halloween collection that for some unknown reason focuses on the IV movement of Fantastique, the Marche au supplice, when it should be the V, Songe d'un nuit de sabbat, which centers around Dies Irae. Classical compilations, even for Halloween, are silly. Anyways, I have never heard Fantastique live, and the Cruz symphony nailed completely. Half a dozen percussionists, two harpists, and scintillating performances by the wind and string sections. It was mindblowingly awesome.
Beach then Berlioz. Life is good.
Shadow boxing the apocalypse