Lisa invited me and a friend of hers to see and hear the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra last night. The evening was sublime. Lovely women companions, dark chocolate to snack on, an energetic and emotional conductor (only 24 years old) who practically danced while he conducted, an orchestra of talented and tight musicians including a phenomenal pianist, and some lovely musical compositions.
Here is the program info.
Prokofiev/Overture on Hebrew themes: This piece reminded me of the incidental music from Star Wars: lots of tentative clarinet notes. It was fun and engaging. (amazon, youtube)
Beethoven/Piano Concerto no. 5: The Allegro was exciting, and the Adagio un poco mosso was emotional. I thought the Rondo: The Allegro ma non troppo was a little long (and really just more of the same without adding much to the first two parts). (amazon, youtube)
Mahler/Symphony no. 1: This was a lovely pastoral piece (with the exception of a single low violin note that played over the first several minutes and sounded a bit like ringing in my ears) moving through an awakening in spring but eventually moving to someplace a little dark. I was just beginning to get droopy eyes by the end, which was nearly two and a half hours after the concert began. (amazon, youtube)
It was a privilege to hear such music, to see such talented performers, to be able to take a night out of one's life to experience an auditory decadence in the company of three thousand other well-behaved audience members. Every night can't be like that, but I will be seeing Rihanna in concert later this month, so I'm feeling incredibly lucky right now.
1 comment:
Glad you enjoyed it!
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