January 14, 2007
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i went to a symphony concert today. alone. i think one of the main reasons i'd like to be in a relationship would be to have someone to go to events with. i survived, and i suppose it's good for me to force myself to get out and do things i'm into, even if it's alone. but still.
i'm not sure what my favorite tchaikovsky symphony is. they played number 6 today, which is an excellent one. it's a weird piece, because the fourth movement is slow. it's a good movement, but very odd. and much different listening to in person than on a cd. the problem with listening to a recording to a cd of classical music is that it's hard to pick up the really soft parts sometimes. you have to crank up the volume, but then you don't really get the effect of a true ppp. anyway, so hearing the symphony in person it came off much more effectively because you really hang on the edge of your seat with the soft parts. that said, i don't know that it's my favorite. or that i can even meaningfully say i have a favorite. the first one i heard was the fifth symphony, so it's my natural fallback. but movement for movement, i probably like the fourth best. the pizzicato scherzo is one of my favorite scherzos ever written, the first movement has a number of themes, all of which are spectacular, and the second movement is a lot more fun than some of the other "slow" movements he wrote. the finale of the fourth is kind of fun, but a little too breezy. in the end, i think they all set out to do slightly different things, and so i love them all for what they are. the world is better than they were all written.
one of the other pieces tonight was the elgar cello concerto. i had never heard it before, so that was kind of exciting. i liked it. i was miffed in the program though, bc it made some comment about it being "the second greatest cello concerto, after dvorak." i totally disagree. i think both shostakovich cello concertos kick elgar's ass. it's still a great work, don't get me wrong. (beats the hell out of that god awful lalo cello thing.) and i will definitely have to listen to it some more. but i wouldn't put it quite in the some category as dvorak/shostakovich.
the other piece was this modern composer from tibet. i enjoyed it a lot. tons of brass and percussion. definitely modern sounding; at times abrasive. but not overly so.
so anyway, i plan to go to more concerts. i've been looking for some chamber music stuff to watch, but haven't really found anything i'm excited about...
Comments (1)
I feel your loneliness ... it sucks going to things alone, but that shouldn't necessarily be tied to a relationship - in fact, it's probably better to just have friends that will go out and do these kinds of things with you because girlfriends will always come and go, and who knows if they will like classical music anyways.
Sounds like a great concert.
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