I'm really not feeling like writing a review at the moment, so I'm simply going to talk about yesterday's concert the way I would to a friend, and it will likely come out as a very short blog post.
Ludovic Morlot was conducting the Seattle Symphony last night, and they performed Chabrier's Bourrée fantasque, Schumann's Cello Concerto in A minor and Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique. Xavier Phillips was the soloist for the cello concerto.
The Chabrier was a somewhat catchy piece of music, but overall I found it slightly silly. It was over after six or seven minutes, and the stage was reset for the cello concerto.
I am extremely familiar with the Schumann cello concerto because my brother is a cellist, and so I enjoyed it more than I might have if it was a piece I was less intimate with. Xavier Phillips was not a great cellist, but he was adequate, and I particularly enjoyed the first movement because of my familiarity with it and the fact that the music is very beautiful. I was surprised to find myself not very familiar with the second movement, but in the third movement I was again very close to it.
After the concerto was over intermission began. And after intermission was over, Morlot returned to the stage to conduct the Symphonie fantastique by Berlioz. I had only listened to the piece a few times before yesterday evening, and so I was not familiar enough with the music to fully appreciate it. However, I feel like this would not be one of my favorite pieces no matter how much I got to know it. There were parts here and there that I enjoyed, but overall this piece for me played the role of capping off an evening which was something less than inspiring.
That's what it is really. I just wasn't very inspired by any of the concert. The only reason I'm here writing this is because I've written a post for every concert that I've been to since January of last year, and I want to be consistent. But there isn't really anything about yesterday's concert that is worth talking about. At least not for me. The orchestra appeared to be in good form under their music director, and I'm sure that a lover of the Symphony fantastique would have been enraptured by this performance.
Next week is Bach's St. Matthew Passion!
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http://www.seattlesymphony.org/symphony/buy/single/production.aspx?id=13626&src=t&dateid=13626
What happened to your blog? I miss reading about your classical music journeys!
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ReplyDeleteSorry! I just didn't feel up to writing much after this concert obviously, and after the St. Matthew Passion the following week I just couldn't bring myself to write anything because I feel like I'm saying the same things over and over. It got exhausting. I'll write new posts whenever I really feel like doing so after a concert, but I won't force myself to write something after every single one. That's the advantage of not being paid to do it. :)
ReplyDeleteHaha I understand. You didn't like the St. Matthew Passion then? I heard it was pretty good.
ReplyDeleteOh no the St. Matthew Passion was great! I just got tired of writing about concerts, haha.
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