Tonight, I heard magic at Severance Hall. Simply put, that is how I describe my excursion to see a world-class orchestra (for discounted tickets nonetheless. Ahhhhh the perks of being a student!)
Christoph von Dohnanyi, the former conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra and Music Director Laureate (a title that I don't fully comprehend) conducted Jorg Widmann's Con Brio: Concerto Overture, a contemporary piece might I add, Mozart's 2nd Horn Concerto (played by one of my idols, Richard King), and Tchaikovsky's 6th Symphony, Pathetique.
Oh my God.
*Sidenote-this will undoubtably turn into a review of the concert. I'm not going to apologize because it was amazing.
First of all, a love for contemporary music was instilled in me by Liza Grossman, director of the Contemporary Youth Orchestra, so the Widmann was right up my alley. I loved that it reminded me of a train, and that the horn part was exceedingly hard and loud, because we horns occasionally get shafted to playing the upbeats. When I read the overview of the piece in the concert book, Widmann was quoted as saying he wanted his overture to be reminiscent of Beethoven, and I felt that he succeeded without being shadowing Ludwig. Two thumbs up for Jorg Widmann. You go Jorg Widmann.
Next, the Mozart. This is a piece that I have played, and I appreciate the simple complexity of the Mozart horn concertos. Richard King had a gorgeous sound although he faltered 3 times in the 1st movement. However, I know firsthand that the French horn is a beast to play and even though I've heard a better performance of Mozart's second by Richard King, I was still not disappointed. The rest of the orchestra sounded absolutely amazing, especially the oboes. Major double-reed love.
And finally, the Tchaikovsky. It was absolutely breathtaking. The finale of the third movement was so powerful, and I counted at least 7 loose bow hairs in the violin and viola sections. I was slightly embarrassed when I clapped between the 3rd and 4th movements; I, along with several other members of the audience, did not realize that there was still one more movement to go. The finale of movement three was so convincing and so emotional that I didn't know how the piece could continue, but movement 4 was just as phenomenal. I truly noticed a difference between the concerts where the current director, Franz Welser-Most, conducts and this concert with Dohnanyi. I can only hope that he returns to Cleveland soon!
And now to my less nerdy thoughts for the day.
Tomorrow I am driving to Columbus to visit my friend Kate at OSU with our other friend Isabella. I'm excited to leave Shaker and to get back onto a college campus. After 2 days of fun, Isabella and I will head to Pittsburgh and I will drop her off at school, and then meet her friends. FINALLY on Monday, I will hang out with my college friends who live in Pittsburgh. I AM SO EXCITED TO SEE THEM.
I hope that the snow doesn't explode from the skies tomorrow while I am driving. Getting downtown and back was slow going tonight. I don't want to be stuck on the highways in bumper-to-bumper traffic for 5 hours tomorrow with a faulty rear defrost. Yuck.
Also, with all of this snow that we've been getting, its almost as bright outside at night as it is during the day. I like it, because I can see everything outside, and there are no weird shadowy figures to freak me out, but at the same time, if I had any plans to be super stealthy, I would be royally screwed. However, I am tempted to grab a friend and romp around outside and make snow angels, and basically be a rabble-rouser in the wee hours of the morning. I'm still 5 at heart, can't you tell?
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