Conservation
Spent a pleasant evening at the university's new conservatory, where an old friend was conducting the local student orchestra. A small but elegant buffet with some excellent coffee made a good prelude to the main movements.
This is what was on offer:
1. Brahms - Academic Festival Overture (Op. 80): Perhaps the most lyrical interpretation I've heard yet; this one actually told a story. You could hear students whispering as they got their final grades, the little whines of disappointment and the joys of graduation, and the sudden grand sweep of liberation as they went out into the streets to party. It all sounds much more classy (classical?) if you say gaudeamus igitur or auspicium melioris aevi instead of let's paint the town red or looking for a good time respectively... but hey, this overture was a delightfully smooth appetizer.
2. Tchaikovsky - Piano Concerto #1 in B-flat minor (Op. 23): Jerome Lowenthal did an excellent job. He has tremendous, poetic passion, and his 74 years of age sit lightly on what seems to be a 60-year-old's frame at worst. You could see him get into the flow of it, and his fingers trembled as they fell like tender hammers on the keyboard. It was over too soon, which is something I rarely say about Tchaikovsky (whom I think of as one of the greatest poseurs of the nationalist movement). The bonus was Lowenthal's encore rendition of Debussy's Clair de Lune, that bane of piano students worldwide. What made it great was that you knew it was Debussy from the beginning, that it was tender and magical without being soppy and histrionic.
3. Robert Sirota - Meridians: Specially commissioned piece, just for this gala opening of the conservatory. Meridians is all about communication - as Sirota pointed out in his introductory bit, Baltimore and Singapore are a world apart, and yet closely linked by accidents of history, space, time and technology. I loved the way it began with dim drums throbbing and began to blend in the sounds of other, more modern, forms of communication. At one point, I had to suppress an unexpected giggle as I distinctly heard the MSN 'you have a message' chime deftly woven in. There were also trains, planes and telegraphs in that tapestry, which made for great entertainment, but left one slightly chaos-dazzled - much as the modern world does.
4. Respighi - The Pines of Rome: Great entertainment? Heh; Respighi was one for the cinematic scope. From the suburban villas to the fountains and stately viaducts of Empire, every bit was drama. Trumpets and trombones played from the side galleries at the end rounded off this most Roman and dramatic of pieces. There was even a throughly melodramatic moment in which the conductor's baton took a flight detour towards the airspace of the heavy brass. It was enjoyable, but a bit rich. The encore allowed the audience to unwind and feel more human - we got the Champagne Polka, complete with audience participation (and a new baton).
It's been a long time since I last enjoyed classical music so much. But the best is yet to be: the conservatory has plenty of free concerts lined up.
This is what was on offer:
1. Brahms - Academic Festival Overture (Op. 80): Perhaps the most lyrical interpretation I've heard yet; this one actually told a story. You could hear students whispering as they got their final grades, the little whines of disappointment and the joys of graduation, and the sudden grand sweep of liberation as they went out into the streets to party. It all sounds much more classy (classical?) if you say gaudeamus igitur or auspicium melioris aevi instead of let's paint the town red or looking for a good time respectively... but hey, this overture was a delightfully smooth appetizer.
2. Tchaikovsky - Piano Concerto #1 in B-flat minor (Op. 23): Jerome Lowenthal did an excellent job. He has tremendous, poetic passion, and his 74 years of age sit lightly on what seems to be a 60-year-old's frame at worst. You could see him get into the flow of it, and his fingers trembled as they fell like tender hammers on the keyboard. It was over too soon, which is something I rarely say about Tchaikovsky (whom I think of as one of the greatest poseurs of the nationalist movement). The bonus was Lowenthal's encore rendition of Debussy's Clair de Lune, that bane of piano students worldwide. What made it great was that you knew it was Debussy from the beginning, that it was tender and magical without being soppy and histrionic.
3. Robert Sirota - Meridians: Specially commissioned piece, just for this gala opening of the conservatory. Meridians is all about communication - as Sirota pointed out in his introductory bit, Baltimore and Singapore are a world apart, and yet closely linked by accidents of history, space, time and technology. I loved the way it began with dim drums throbbing and began to blend in the sounds of other, more modern, forms of communication. At one point, I had to suppress an unexpected giggle as I distinctly heard the MSN 'you have a message' chime deftly woven in. There were also trains, planes and telegraphs in that tapestry, which made for great entertainment, but left one slightly chaos-dazzled - much as the modern world does.
4. Respighi - The Pines of Rome: Great entertainment? Heh; Respighi was one for the cinematic scope. From the suburban villas to the fountains and stately viaducts of Empire, every bit was drama. Trumpets and trombones played from the side galleries at the end rounded off this most Roman and dramatic of pieces. There was even a throughly melodramatic moment in which the conductor's baton took a flight detour towards the airspace of the heavy brass. It was enjoyable, but a bit rich. The encore allowed the audience to unwind and feel more human - we got the Champagne Polka, complete with audience participation (and a new baton).
It's been a long time since I last enjoyed classical music so much. But the best is yet to be: the conservatory has plenty of free concerts lined up.
etched with acid at 6:04:00 pm
3 Comments:
Sir! I'm so jealous!
Will you be going for the cuban classical fusion thingie forgot-the-name one on the 13 oct? It's at UCC.
I'm going to miss it =( oh well. Red Giselle more than compensates.
oh i heard abt the conservatory being opened. that was like months ago when i was sitting in some place watching some guy telling us about nanotechnology via video conference. nice food though, lousy entertainment.
Hmm. if not for the clash with the exam period I would have gone too haha.
So far both of the YST conductors (the current one and the founding one) have launched their tenures with the Brahms. I wonder if theres any special significance about that piece and the start of new 'era's..
Tchaikovsky was associated with the nationalist movement? I thought he was rejected by the 'Russian 5' for his more 'international' outlook
btw they've had 3 years worth of free concerts already ^^
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