Symphony
Andrew originally wanted to turn these tickets in, because of the flute concerto. But I like the flute, so I told him we were going. I’ve been to two concerts with pieces he really wanted to hear, but that made me want to rip my ears out (I plugged my ears during one of them), so it seemed only fair that he would have to suffer through one night. As it turned out, though, he enjoyed the piece.
Here’s what we heard:
Mozart, Overture to The Marriage of Figaro , K. 492 This one sounded very familiar — is some company using it in their ads currently?? Enjoyable piece, though. Khachaturian, Violin Concerto (transcribed for flute by Jean-Pierre Rampal) I enjoyed the flute solos and the slower, quieter bits of this piece. One of the movements reminded me a bit of Hyden’s Surprise Symphony, with quiet, lulling parts followed abruptly by loud, crashing passages. However, the loud passages were not very pleasing — they were an unpleasant assault on my ears and senses. The other movements were more to my liking. Dvorak, Symphony No. 8 in G major, Op. 88 I don’t actually remember much about this piece anymore…if I could find my program, that might jar my memory a bit.
Overall, a nice evening at the NSO. Just don’t get me started on the audience (worst offender was a former candy-lady who brought quieter candy this time, but couldn’t stop tapping her foot for all to hear).