Music Lane

I had the misfortune ...

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A matinee concert of NY Philharmonic, conducted by Eschenbach. On the program, Bruckner 9 -- my wife's favorite piece of music.

The hall was filled with blue haired ladies, some with even older escorts, and herds of young people of Asian heritage.

The unfortunate part was having to sit through Bang Bang flailing, swooning, rapturing,swaying, emoting through Beethoven's 1st piano concerto. I first tried to keep my eyes closed in order to keep from bursting out laughing at his antics. But in so doing, it nauseated me, because of the tortured performance. I finally settled on watching tghe lovely Cynthia Phelps, principal viola, Glenn Dicterow, concertmaster, and Carter Brey, principal cello -- using my hand beside my face to block my vision of Bang Bang.

The blue haired ladies adored him. The Asian-heritage young people adored him. I applauded in celebration that it was over.

BTW -- the Bruckner was *splendid*!! The orchestra was expanded in almost every section, a huge number of musicians on stage. The massive sound filled Avery Fischer Hall as I had never heard before. The tempos were excellent. My wife cried.

As soon as the last note, what remained of the audience (there was a mass exodus at intermission, the crowd having heard Bang Bang and left) rushed for the exits. Little blue haired ladies and their aged escorts trampling each other to escape (or perhaps to try to get to the restrooms). Some of us remained to applaud the outstanding performance of Bruckner 9.

"Life without music is a mistake" (Nietzsche)


Edits: 07/06/12

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