10-07-2018, 10:39 AM
Season opener and we have new seats at the very back against the wall behind the soundboard. Great view and sound, not as percussion heavy at last year. This season is off to a fine start.
Overture to Ruslan and Ludmilla - Glinka: This was short and tight, nice way to start
Fidl-Fantazye: A Klezmer Concerto - Bendix-Balgley: A new composition with composer and violin virtuoso Noah Bendix-Balgley sitting in. Wow. Noah can play. He was 1st concertmaster of the Berlin Phil, so there you have it. Klezmer always sounds a little like gypsy music to me but this was really all about Noah's mad violin skillz, just him showing off with the kind of fireworks that only a true master of their instrument can explode. Totally stole the show.
Symphony #4 - Mahler: I don't really care for Mahler. He tends to meander. In the first movement, I imagined riding in the English countryside in an open horse-drawn carriage. I've never been to England, and I don't recall ever riding in a horse-drawn open carriage, but I've seen it on BBC shows and it looks pleasant. Then by the 2nd movement, I was drifting off, thinking about work, about stuff I'm writing now, about how annoyed I am with VRV's lack of S2 for Man at Arms, about what I was planning to do tomorrow (today, and it's snake the bathroom sink - yay - which explains why I'm procrastinating posting here). The orchestra was off - tired perhaps. Stewart dropped his baton once and the lead French horn totally missed a significant punctuation note, sounding rather flat and flatulent. The last movement had guest soprano Zhang Meigui. She had to come out long before her part, in a ravishing glittery silver evening gown, and just sit. Best seat in the house, and she's very easy on the eyes, so she just sat and swayed to the music, which provided the entertainment when I wasn't thinking about snaking the sink. Then she sang her part at the end, in German, a weird ode to heaven on how St. Luke chops us lambs with an axe and how tasty the asparagus is. That was nice.
Still luvin SC symphony. Each year they get even tighter. Makes me proud of my community here.
Overture to Ruslan and Ludmilla - Glinka: This was short and tight, nice way to start
Fidl-Fantazye: A Klezmer Concerto - Bendix-Balgley: A new composition with composer and violin virtuoso Noah Bendix-Balgley sitting in. Wow. Noah can play. He was 1st concertmaster of the Berlin Phil, so there you have it. Klezmer always sounds a little like gypsy music to me but this was really all about Noah's mad violin skillz, just him showing off with the kind of fireworks that only a true master of their instrument can explode. Totally stole the show.
Symphony #4 - Mahler: I don't really care for Mahler. He tends to meander. In the first movement, I imagined riding in the English countryside in an open horse-drawn carriage. I've never been to England, and I don't recall ever riding in a horse-drawn open carriage, but I've seen it on BBC shows and it looks pleasant. Then by the 2nd movement, I was drifting off, thinking about work, about stuff I'm writing now, about how annoyed I am with VRV's lack of S2 for Man at Arms, about what I was planning to do tomorrow (today, and it's snake the bathroom sink - yay - which explains why I'm procrastinating posting here). The orchestra was off - tired perhaps. Stewart dropped his baton once and the lead French horn totally missed a significant punctuation note, sounding rather flat and flatulent. The last movement had guest soprano Zhang Meigui. She had to come out long before her part, in a ravishing glittery silver evening gown, and just sit. Best seat in the house, and she's very easy on the eyes, so she just sat and swayed to the music, which provided the entertainment when I wasn't thinking about snaking the sink. Then she sang her part at the end, in German, a weird ode to heaven on how St. Luke chops us lambs with an axe and how tasty the asparagus is. That was nice.
Still luvin SC symphony. Each year they get even tighter. Makes me proud of my community here.
Shadow boxing the apocalypse