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Book completed
Jan. 23rd, 2020 11:50 pmThe Enchanted Castle, by E. Nesbit. Mixed feelings - some parts I liked very much, and other parts were mildly irritating.
Jan. 23rd, 2020
"Brahms and Sibelius"
Jan. 23rd, 2020 11:57 pmToday I got to do one of the two things I most wanted to do this week, which was to attend the symphony performance with my friend JS, whose husband was out of town, so she had a spare ticket. (The other thing, seeing our friend DG on his visit to Eugene, will hopefully happen tomorrow.) It had been an iffy thing, my energy level being pretty low, as I had a meeting scheduled for the afternoon, but the meeting was postponed to next week, and that left me with just the plan of doing almost nothing all day so that I'd have the energy and well-being to spare for the concert.
Whew! My digestion settled down, last night's headache did not reappear, and my dizziness/queasiness only reared its head once I was all the way in the concert hall, descending the steps of one of the two center aisles. I spent the afternoon listening to the two main pieces they'd be performing, so I'd have the fun of their familiarity too, then I ate some bland rice and cheese and drove downtown.
First we heard a brief piece by a modern composer, Missy Mazzoli, called "Sinfonia (For Orbiting Spheres)." Next came Sibelius's violin concerto, with the soloist Elina Vähälä. It's apparently very difficult. The third movement was really cool - the Joshua Bell rendition I'd heard online today had a slightly Spanish flavor, whereas Elina Vähälä's version felt a bit Yiddish. Either way, it's quite nice. After the intermission, we heard the Brahms Second Symphony. It's fun to watch our conductor, Francesco Lecce-Chong. It's obvious that he's going to have a big career. JS's seats were very close to the stage and on the far right side of the seating (left as seen from stage), so we were very near to the bass players. It felt like they were "our guys."
Whew! My digestion settled down, last night's headache did not reappear, and my dizziness/queasiness only reared its head once I was all the way in the concert hall, descending the steps of one of the two center aisles. I spent the afternoon listening to the two main pieces they'd be performing, so I'd have the fun of their familiarity too, then I ate some bland rice and cheese and drove downtown.
First we heard a brief piece by a modern composer, Missy Mazzoli, called "Sinfonia (For Orbiting Spheres)." Next came Sibelius's violin concerto, with the soloist Elina Vähälä. It's apparently very difficult. The third movement was really cool - the Joshua Bell rendition I'd heard online today had a slightly Spanish flavor, whereas Elina Vähälä's version felt a bit Yiddish. Either way, it's quite nice. After the intermission, we heard the Brahms Second Symphony. It's fun to watch our conductor, Francesco Lecce-Chong. It's obvious that he's going to have a big career. JS's seats were very close to the stage and on the far right side of the seating (left as seen from stage), so we were very near to the bass players. It felt like they were "our guys."