Concert week, day three (Mahler)

[eve_prime]

When I started the day, I didn't think it was very likely that I would actually make it to the symphony. It was Francesco's final performance as music director, although he'll still conduct a few next year, but on the other hand, I had no particular interest in the Mahler piece, his Symphony #2, "Resurrection." It's 90 minutes long, and the bit I'd listened to online seemed just loud. The email today from the symphony recommending that we bring earplugs was also a concern!

I decided to be fair to it, though, and found a YouTube recording, and listened to five separate minutes, about equally spaced. They were all beautiful! I listened to a few more, and I read up on it and found that the chorus only sings a little bit (not that I dislike the chorus, but I'm not terribly fond of soloists and didn't know what it would entail).

So I went after all. Much of it, maybe all of it, was quite beautiful, and although there were definitely some very loud parts, they didn't bother me as much as surprise loud parts would, because Francesco's body language generally made it obvious when to expect loudness. I'm glad I went! Tomorrow I can start doing more physically active projects again and work on cleaning up for our Monday barbecue.