An Evening At The Symphony

On Saturday evening I, along with my mother and sister, went to the Springfield Symphony Orchestra and it was perfectly delightful! Upon entry to the foyer of the theatre we were greeted by the sound of strings, and the murmur of people bustling about. Ah! Culture. The pre-concert music at that time was a children's Suzuki violin class. I heard the first "Twinkle" variation, Go Tell Aunt Rody, Long, Long Ago, and other pieces from violin Suzuki book 1. They did very well. There was a very wide range of dress: from tuxedos and cocktail dresses to (the horror) shorts and casual dress. I even saw a man in a kilt! I'm serious, see, I took a picture:

Here is a picture of me, my mother, and my sister dressed up for the theatre.

After the Suzuki class finished playing, a young quintet took over. Here is a picture of them from the top floor.

Coincidentally, they fist played one of my favourite pieces: Dvorák’s Humoresque No.7 Op.101, then one of Kari's favourites: the first movement of Strauss' On the Beautiful Blue Danube waltz, and one other piece that I've heard before but cannot remember what it is called, nor who composed it, and it's bothering me... it's mysterious, haunting minor strains play over and over in my mind, but alas, I cannot identify them.{Update: I've found out what it is! It's the first movement of Karl Jenkins' Palladio}

We sat in the "Petite Balcony" (i.e. where the cheapest seats are) *ahem*, and being so far from the stage makes me very thankful for my pretty mother-of-pearl opera glasses. Here is a picture of the orchestra from our seats.

The first piece of the evening was Paul Dukas' Fanfare to the Ballet La Peri, which, to be quite honest, was not thrilling. I am embarrassed to say I thought the brass section was merely warming up, until just about the end of the short piece. Afterwards, violinist Chee-Yun was welcomed on stage to preform the solo violin in Sergei Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No.2 in G minor Op. 63. It was amazing! I highly recommend the piece if you've never heard it before. It was interesting to me to compare it to the Shostakovich String Quartet pieces I've been listening to recently. Chee-Yun did very well, and afterwards preformed an encore of Fritz Kreisler's Recitato and Schezo. After the Intermission, the Orchestra played Ruggiero Leoncavallo's Intermezzo from Pagliacci followed by the lovely Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana by Pietro Mascagni. The final piece of the evening was Ottorino Respighi's The Pines of Rome, which comprises four movements, played without stopping, that guide the listener on a nocturnal tour of Rome starting at twilight near a villa where children are playing, then trough the catacombs where one can hear the echoes of an evening chant from a distant monastery, upon emerging from the catacombs one is greeted by the brilliant moon and a nightingale singing in the distance, and finally to Appian way where the sound of the sunrise mimics the sound of an army marching, starting far away and getting closer, closer, then it's here in it's full glory. I'm thankful I have a program to remind me what each movement is supposed to be about. My personal thoughts on the piece are less grand: I liked the second movement best, and I thought it was really neat that they used a big gong on stage. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed myself.