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Symphony: Ligeti and Holst
Mar. 6th, 2010 10:04 amWent to the symphony last night with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ohari, reannon and her spawn. Chris has a subscription to Groupon, a daily coupon offer, and the offer a week ago was for tickets to this weekend’s symphony performance. After determining that lavendargrrl and Rosie didn’t really want to go we got the last four Groupon tickets for Friday night.
The program as promoted was Holst’s “The Planets”, a longtime favorite. I never bothered to find out what the other piece(s) would be until we got to Powell Hall last night.
The first piece turned out to be a (or perhaps the--the program implies, but does not say, that it was his only one) Gyorgy Ligeti violin concerto, with soloist Renaud Capucon. Composed between 1989 and 1993, the piece is very strange to my ears used to traditional tonal classics. As a point of interest, there is some Ligeti music used in the movie 2001, and the piece we heard did give a strong feeling of alienness.
David Robertson the conductor gave a short introduction. He had a bassist demonstrate something called “ghost tones”, and mentioned that some of them sound bluesy. While listening to the orchestra, then, I was noting similarities to some electric guitar solos at times. At some points the eerie music sounded very much like playing water glasses or a theremin--neither of which were present.
But despite my attempts to find something to hold onto in the piece, I was happiest with the second movement when an actual tonal melody showed up and stuck around a while.
Then after intermission, it was on to the main event. Of the seven sections in The Planets, Mars, Jupiter and Neptune are the most notable and memorable. I recognize the music of Mars and Jupiter immediately even when I just hear a snatch of music from a radio somewhere. The others, for whatever reason, while they are moving and interesting in context do not grab me the same way.
I hadn’t known before that Holst was writing during the first World War, but armed with that knowledge the Mars movement became even more powerful. Marching feet on the basses. Drum cadences. Tank battles. Desolate no man’s lands. Explosions. Chris remarked after the movement, “Now I’m ready to kill things.” “Music to blow shit up by,” I responded.
The audience applauded long after this movement.
Venus made me think first of the sappy scene in Star Wars episode II (of the movies that do not exist) where Anakin and Padme are running in a field. I pushed that image away and then thought of dolphins dancing in the sea. There was an abashed silence from the audience for having clapped in the middle of the piece the first time, until Robertson turned around and remarked, “We love applause,” to a ripple of laughter and some applause. They then got applause after every movement until Saturn, Uranus and Neptune were played without any breaks between.
Mercury was fairies flitting from flower to flower, some larger birds and maybe an eagle. Jupiter made us smile and dance in our seats. I didn’t get any particular images, just a good feeling and dancey mood.
Throughout the piece, I kept wondering where the chorus was. They weren’t onstage at the beginning, so I thought they’d come out between the last two movements and stand at the back. When Neptune began and still no chorus was in evidence, I was very puzzled. Until the singing began, and it was surrounding us. They were never visible, and many audience members turned their heads from side to side trying to find the source of the sound. I know they weren’t to our right, since there is an outside wall there. Could’ve been in the corridor to the left of the hall, could’ve been backstage and amplified.
ohari, reannon and her spawn. Chris has a subscription to Groupon, a daily coupon offer, and the offer a week ago was for tickets to this weekend’s symphony performance. After determining that lavendargrrl and Rosie didn’t really want to go we got the last four Groupon tickets for Friday night.The program as promoted was Holst’s “The Planets”, a longtime favorite. I never bothered to find out what the other piece(s) would be until we got to Powell Hall last night.
The first piece turned out to be a (or perhaps the--the program implies, but does not say, that it was his only one) Gyorgy Ligeti violin concerto, with soloist Renaud Capucon. Composed between 1989 and 1993, the piece is very strange to my ears used to traditional tonal classics. As a point of interest, there is some Ligeti music used in the movie 2001, and the piece we heard did give a strong feeling of alienness.
David Robertson the conductor gave a short introduction. He had a bassist demonstrate something called “ghost tones”, and mentioned that some of them sound bluesy. While listening to the orchestra, then, I was noting similarities to some electric guitar solos at times. At some points the eerie music sounded very much like playing water glasses or a theremin--neither of which were present.
But despite my attempts to find something to hold onto in the piece, I was happiest with the second movement when an actual tonal melody showed up and stuck around a while.
Then after intermission, it was on to the main event. Of the seven sections in The Planets, Mars, Jupiter and Neptune are the most notable and memorable. I recognize the music of Mars and Jupiter immediately even when I just hear a snatch of music from a radio somewhere. The others, for whatever reason, while they are moving and interesting in context do not grab me the same way.
I hadn’t known before that Holst was writing during the first World War, but armed with that knowledge the Mars movement became even more powerful. Marching feet on the basses. Drum cadences. Tank battles. Desolate no man’s lands. Explosions. Chris remarked after the movement, “Now I’m ready to kill things.” “Music to blow shit up by,” I responded.
The audience applauded long after this movement.
Venus made me think first of the sappy scene in Star Wars episode II (of the movies that do not exist) where Anakin and Padme are running in a field. I pushed that image away and then thought of dolphins dancing in the sea. There was an abashed silence from the audience for having clapped in the middle of the piece the first time, until Robertson turned around and remarked, “We love applause,” to a ripple of laughter and some applause. They then got applause after every movement until Saturn, Uranus and Neptune were played without any breaks between.
Mercury was fairies flitting from flower to flower, some larger birds and maybe an eagle. Jupiter made us smile and dance in our seats. I didn’t get any particular images, just a good feeling and dancey mood.
Throughout the piece, I kept wondering where the chorus was. They weren’t onstage at the beginning, so I thought they’d come out between the last two movements and stand at the back. When Neptune began and still no chorus was in evidence, I was very puzzled. Until the singing began, and it was surrounding us. They were never visible, and many audience members turned their heads from side to side trying to find the source of the sound. I know they weren’t to our right, since there is an outside wall there. Could’ve been in the corridor to the left of the hall, could’ve been backstage and amplified.
