the dso has the talk up at their youtube site, so i'm going to post it here.
are they going to post the actual program? it seems like they're posting to youtube, which is something i'd like to maybe go back and check out. maybe i should wait a few days to see if they do.
the program was:
1) WEBER Overture to Oberon
2) MOZART Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra in E-flat major, K. 316a [365]
smoke break
3) BACH Concerto No. 2 for Three Harpsichords and Orchestra in C major, BWV 1064
4) BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67
reviewing classical music is always kind of weird, 'cause, like, you're reading it off the sheets. i know, i know, there's the passion in the playing, i know, trust me, but the listener has to know the piece to get into that, and i'm only going to be to do that for the 5th.
broadly speaking, i like pretty much everything in the western art music tradition - medieval music, renaissance music, baroque music, romantic music, impressionism and minimalism - with the exception of classical and neo-classical music. in fact, that's one of the things i like about beethoven, the revolutionary overturn of the mathematical perfection of the classical period. so, when we start talking about weber (not webern, who i much prefer) and mozart and even bach, we're entering into what i actually think is the low point of the western art music tradition. yeah, i know. i'm sorry...
i can tolerate some early bach; i'm a guitarist, i kind of have to. so, he's in a different category than mozart and weber, to me, because he still has that foot in the renaissance. but, i found these particular opening pieces, none of which i was familiar with, to be kind of harmonically bland, which is my general reaction to music of that period. mozart's compositions are like doing engineering homework; beethoven's compositions are like proving new theorems from first principles.
hearing all the pianos smash against each other was kind of cool, but i otherwise found these works to be fairly forgettable.
what do you say about the actual 5th, though?
it was good.
right.
i mean, how many times have i heard this on cd? 200? 300? i've never seen it live before, though. they did it right. what else can i say?
i spent the symphony largely with my eyes closed, just zoning out into it, which isn't something i'm going to do for every piece, but is probably the right way to listen to this one.
somebody offered me a mint on my way out, which i probably needed. and, i was off to hamtramck to see the post-rock show....
we'll get back to this later.
the liberals are supposed to do better than this