Thursday, October 16, 2008

Pittsburgh Symphony - September 27, 2008

Pittsburgh Symphony - Sept. 27
Conductor - Manfred Honeck
Program:
John Adams - Short Ride in a Fast Machine
Tchaikovsky - Violin Concerto (ft. Joshua Bell)
Mahler - Symphony No. 1 "Titan"

First off, the hall is freaking gorgeous - marble and gold leaf everywhere. That alone was an experience! And hooray for student ticket prices - Chuck and I got seats in the first row of the balcony for $14 each. Watching the strings from above like that was awesome - with the exception of occasional short bow strokes from the last couple of stands, they were pretty militant in their precision. It was mesmerizing at times.

Adams -
I was really wrapped up in the performance, and I was paying attention . . . and yet I don't really remember the piece! It was . . . . hypnotic, then it stops. Very cool, had never heard it before (except in a piano arrangement.)

Tchaik -
Well, it was Joshua Bell. The fast movements were amazing - perfectly clean, sounded easy. But the slow moments didn't move me as much as I would have hoped. A great piece, of course, and it was fun to listen to (especially the first movement - I was so glad everybody clapped for it! Silly stodgy conventions and their no-clapping-between-moveme
nts-nonsense.)

Mahler -
Amazing. I should have written this sooner, because now all I remember was that it was amazing. Especially the third movement and the finale . . . just, wow. Yay PSO!

Overall - it was so exciting, I literally had goosebumps at the end. Such a fun night. And this was so early in the season (2nd concert of the first weekend) with a brand new conductor . . . I cannot wait to hear how they sound together by the end of the year! (Also, he's working on recording a Mahler CD with them - when it comes out at the end of next year, BUY IT.)

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