Entry tags:
active culture
one performance of live music apparently wasn't enough for me this week, so i went to the local orchestra last night. (it's really just the result of random scheduling, but i seem more hip if i said it the other way, right?)
the highlight of last night's show was jinjoo cho's¹ amazing solos during korngold's "violin concerto in d major". she makes the violin sing, and she plays with wonderful intensity. hell, she can even grimace musically, a fine thing to see in a classical musician:
1: her site automagically plays clips of her performances.
bernstein's "symphonic dances" from west side story were also enjoyable, since it's, well, a show tune, just fully orchestrated. i rather liked the bits of the orchestra snapping their fingers to simulate one of the play's gangs' swagger. ah, the heady days of yester-year, when gangs would challenge each other with displays of machismo rather than fusilades of gunfire!
i have little opinion on the prelude to trisan and isolde, it being known entirely for a single unresolved dissonance. on the other hand, i'd forgotten how slowly ravel's "bolero" develops; it could probably lose a repetition or two of the melody and be better for it.
the highlight of last night's show was jinjoo cho's¹ amazing solos during korngold's "violin concerto in d major". she makes the violin sing, and she plays with wonderful intensity. hell, she can even grimace musically, a fine thing to see in a classical musician:
1: her site automagically plays clips of her performances.
bernstein's "symphonic dances" from west side story were also enjoyable, since it's, well, a show tune, just fully orchestrated. i rather liked the bits of the orchestra snapping their fingers to simulate one of the play's gangs' swagger. ah, the heady days of yester-year, when gangs would challenge each other with displays of machismo rather than fusilades of gunfire!
i have little opinion on the prelude to trisan and isolde, it being known entirely for a single unresolved dissonance. on the other hand, i'd forgotten how slowly ravel's "bolero" develops; it could probably lose a repetition or two of the melody and be better for it.