In Reply to: Another Saturday night at the Indy Symphony posted by Rockethead26 on May 19, 2012 at 08:55:56:
We started the night with 10 minutes of drive time toward downtown, when my wife asked, "do you have the tickets?". "Crap!", I blurted. I had to drive another 3 miles to turn around on the interstate and then return to the house to print the tickets. I didn't know if we could get in without them, but after finally arriving, the ticket office said we could have gotten in with a simple check-in. So, now I know.
That "little" delay cost us enough time that we couldn't eat at our favorite "before symphony" restaurant, so we had to settle for some bad bar food with lousy drinks. Oh well, and as my wife said, "It's all about the show, anyway."
OK, so on to the show...
We hadn't heard any of these pieces before, so we didn't know what to expect.
The first Ravel pavane was absolutely lovely and, as usual, well played. However, after the bad dinner we needed a little orchestral fireworks to lift our spirits.
Ravel's Piano Concerto in G was, to say the least, unexpected. I would describe it as a cacophony of sounds, rhythms and phrasing with a beautiful melody stuck in the middle. My wife would look at me occasionally when particularly discordant notes were struck during the first and third movements as if to ask, "What the hell was that?".
Simon's playing was awesome as his hands flowed over the entire keyboard and he blended so well with the orchestra when such was called for. I certainly don't have anything to compare his performance to since the music was so unusual, but an immediate, and I mean immediate standing ovation by the entire audience (the place was packed) pretty much told me what I needed to know. After he appeared for the 4th time during the ovation, he played an absolutely lovely piece by Chopin, but from our nose-bleed seats, I couldn't hear as he announced the piece. I only caught Chopin's name.
Our overall opinion on the piano concerto? Awesome, even with the modern atonal, discordant sounds that we usually do not get along with. This one worked for us.
Last but not least was Shosty's 10th. We both just love big Russian symphonies, and this was no exception. The ups and downs of the first movement, the composer's percussive musical description of Stalin in the second, the beautiful, melodious third and then the final amped up finish of the fourth, all had us completely involved. We love this stuff!
Conductor Krzysztof Urbanski is definitely interesting to watch. His movements are very soft and flowing, sometimes forming into complete body movements that looked like he was dancing. We've not seen anyone like him before. I caught my wife mimicing his movements several times during the concert without realizing she was doing it.
Again, a superb performance by the Indianapolis symphony orchestra. They are the one really great thing about being located in Indiana for a few years.
That's it for this report. As usual, any recommendations for recordings of these pieces would be welcome. I prefer vinyl, but CD recommendations are good, too. I bought 5 pieces of really excellent vinyl based on recommendations after our last symphony thanks to you folks.
Chao!
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
Follow Ups
- Very enjoyable night, despite my memory issue... - Rockethead26 05:49:46 05/20/12 (39)
- I took in my kid's live Youth Orchestra last pm - docw 12:35:24 05/21/12 (5)
- RE: I took in my kid's live Youth Orchestra last pm - Rockethead26 18:13:14 05/21/12 (4)
- RE: I took in my kid's live Youth Orchestra last pm - docw 09:11:26 05/22/12 (3)
- they performed... - docw 12:54:19 05/22/12 (0)
- RE: I took in my kid's live Youth Orchestra last pm - Rockethead26 11:39:18 05/22/12 (1)
- they performed at ... - docw 17:02:46 05/22/12 (0)
- The Ravel Concerto in G - Chris from Lafayette 09:41:51 05/20/12 (28)
- Why no Marguerite Long with the Lamoureux Orch. under Ravel? - Poles Apart 17:18:50 05/25/12 (3)
- RE: Why no Marguerite Long with the Lamoureux Orch. under Ravel? - Rockethead26 05:02:30 05/31/12 (1)
- Actually, I heard it on Spotify last night - Chris from Lafayette 10:48:27 05/31/12 (0)
- RE: Why no Marguerite Long with the Lamoureux Orch. under Ravel? - Chris from Lafayette 16:01:23 05/30/12 (0)
- Surprised no mention of Michelangeli on this thread.nt - garrod 01:13:24 05/21/12 (8)
- Yes - I knew there were some I would forget - also Zimerman/Boulez on DG is outstanding [nt] - Chris from Lafayette 11:20:58 05/21/12 (1)
- I also have the Cecile Ousset performance... - jimbill 06:33:10 05/22/12 (0)
- RE: Surprised no mention of Michelangeli on this thread.nt - Rockethead26 06:54:38 05/21/12 (0)
- One of the biggest overlooked gems of the Lp era IMHO is de la Rocha/Burgos on Decca, both as a recording and - jdaniel@jps.net 01:23:43 05/21/12 (4)
- RE: One of the biggest overlooked gems of the Lp era IMHO is de la Rocha/Burgos on Decca, both as a recording and - Rockethead26 07:03:10 05/21/12 (3)
- That LP is also excellent, try London. - rbolaw 12:22:56 05/21/12 (2)
- RE: That LP is also excellent, try London. - Rockethead26 12:26:40 05/21/12 (1)
- Ditto, I discovered this one on London, but just went for the Decca for "pride." nt - jdaniel@jps.net 20:06:15 05/22/12 (0)
- RE: The Ravel Concerto in G - Rockethead26 13:57:02 05/20/12 (14)
- If you can find one - kavakidd 14:50:20 05/20/12 (13)
- Just got my copy - Rockethead26 16:08:27 05/29/12 (1)
- Delighted to hear it.......... - kavakidd 16:37:00 05/29/12 (0)
- That LP is excellent - rbolaw 19:10:46 05/20/12 (1)
- RE: That LP is excellent - Rockethead26 06:46:33 05/21/12 (0)
- RE: If you can find one - Brian Cheney 18:46:59 05/20/12 (1)
- RE: If you can find one - Rockethead26 06:42:36 05/21/12 (0)
- RE: If you can find one - Rockethead26 15:25:06 05/20/12 (6)
- RE: If you can find one - Chris from Lafayette 07:52:31 05/21/12 (5)
- RE: If you can find one - Rockethead26 16:17:21 05/22/12 (2)
- Excellent! Congratulations! [nt] - Chris from Lafayette 17:22:07 05/22/12 (1)
- Got the Argerich yesterday - Rockethead26 11:41:06 06/03/12 (0)
- Time to try Vinnitskaya... - kuma 18:25:50 05/21/12 (0)
- RE: If you can find one - Rockethead26 08:34:13 05/21/12 (0)
- Nice review until "awesome," twice. Are you sure you're old enough to drink? nt - tinear 08:41:16 05/20/12 (3)
- RE: Nice review until "awesome," twice. Are you sure you're old enough to drink? nt - Rockethead26 08:54:48 05/20/12 (2)
- Sixty? That's awesome! When I (64) read the part about your wife's asking about the tickets, I - tinear 09:06:50 05/20/12 (1)
- RE: Sixty? That's awesome! When I (64) read the part about your wife's asking about the tickets, I - Rockethead26 12:56:54 05/20/12 (0)