We went to the symphony last night for a Russian-themed concert that inexplicably included a piano concerto from Schumann. I like Schumann, but not much. Despite the fucking brilliant pianist Anton Kuerti - like, he was as good as Chico Marx, even if he didn't actually shoot the keys - it was my least favourite of the night. Too smooth. Far, far, far and away the Russian pieces we were treated to were way, way better.
(Pardon me for not being able to think of words that can express 'way, way better' this morning - there was a car crash outside our bedroom window at four in the fucking morning and I'm dopey and sleepy today. By the way, what sort of expression is 'way, way better'? Way is a funny word.)
Anyways, one of them was the Canadian premiere of a peice by Sofia Gubaidulina, The Rider on the White Horse, and motherfuck. Every stop was pulled out. Organ (and Roy Thomson Hall has a BEAUTY), crazy percussion, tubular bells - wow. It was, in fact, very wildy horsey. Until I can afford to buy myself a pony I think I'll content myself be getting a copy of this. I really reccommend it to anyone prone to Byronesque fits of melancholy or frustration.
The second half was taken up with Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade which was a little more tempered in terms of loud, loud emotion - it had quiet emotion too. And a harp. Good god, it was beautiful. Sentimental, like the Schumann, but never once did it creep into treacle or surrender its balls. I want to buy that too. Figaro has it on vinyl in Australia, which is profoundly unhelpful.
I think I have a little crush on the conductor from last night, Gianandrea Noseda. He gave'er. I mean, he was practically conceptually dancing up there while he was directing difficult modern peices, and it came off as note perfect so I suppose it was working. There were several points where I noted he was off the floor altogether. I think that was his modus operandi because you could see his muscles flexing under his conductor suit. Heh.
8 commenti:
Delicious.
You're lucky you have a man who shares your passion for music. My dude has made drawn a line at musicals and gave me a wierd look when I suggested we go to Handel's Messiah. But we're going.
I am lucky that way. Old opera makes him fall asleep, though.
Oh, he'll go. It's usually things he hasn't heard before so he's willing to try.
What a nice boy. The dude will go with me if I really want him to but usually I don't want something bad enough to insist. Now that he doesn't work weekends and has a student card we should be going to more preformances at the NAC.
The TSO has this sweet-ass deal wherein alot of concerts sell off "soundcheck" tickets to people under 29 that only cost $12 - and their dates' tickets are only $12 too, even if their dates are older than 29, which is just fucking lovely for us.
Otherwise TSO seats start at $30 for crappy seats. Though Roy Thomson Hall has such lovely acoustics and visibility that there aren't really any crappy seats in it.
Krazy averages about one performance a year at the NAC, otherwise he just buys me a series subscription. Having a baby makes it a lot harder for us to get out at the same time these days! We really need to find a babysitter on our street for evenings..
..anyway, thank you for reminding me about Rimsky-Korsakov. I'm going to go and get out the music of his that I have. I noticed that a fair bit of my 'classical' music (besides Mozart) is Russian.
ps - wow, Chico - looking hot!
Yeah, if I had to do one of the Marx Brothers, it would be Chico, no question. Although I bet Harpo would be fun in a dirty way.
Oh man, I don't know if I can ever think of the Marx Brothers in the same way!
Was the car crash serious outside your window this morning?
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