I feel like in the last decade, I’ve done so much that I thought I’d never actually do in my life. Going to a classical concert is one of them! Once again I have Twoset to thank for that inspiration. I really want to actually have a better understanding of the violin, something I never cared about as a kid. This concert caught my attention because I feel like I would enjoy the intensity of Shostakovich. I’d never heard any of Elgar’s stuff before but the sample I heard sounded interesting.
It wasn’t until just before the concert that I realised I’d made an error in randomly booking a seat. I’d only been thinking about how much of the stage I’d be able to see, but hadn’t put any thought to what I would see on stage. For ballets, this didn’t matter as much since I generally just use my imagination, but in the case of an orchestra, I couldn’t see pretty much the entire violin section! A grievous mistake that I can’t make again! I have to remember to take the right side, when facing the stage. That being said, I did enjoy watching the cellos and double basses!
Just like my Swan Lake experience, there was a lot to take in, for the first orchestra I’ve watched. I almost didn’t know where to focus and tried too hard to look at everything that was going on, while also trying to focus on the music. I definitely lack experience being an aural person, so I think the more concerts I go to (especially if I end up seeing one that I am familiar with), the more I’ll be able to relax and actually enjoy it. My brain was mostly in overdrive watching each different section of the orchestra.
For Elgar’s violin concerto, the third movement was my favourite, but as I’ve noticed from other concertos I’ve listened to; my favourite movement is generally only my favourite because of the contrast or complement from the other movements, so it’s a bit contextual and depends on my mood. The soloist performance was so good, it was fun to finally see live how everything works together instead of just on Youtube! What was interesting was that I tried to use my ballet viewing experiences to interpret the music; I knew that it had three movements, so in my head I started to visualise how it would play out if it was danced to. Is that weird? I’m probably overthinking it again!
I appreciated the concerto more in hindsight once I saw the Shostakovich symphony, which was a complete contrast – there was a huge percussion set (gogo timpani player – my favourite percussionist so far!) which included an epic looking golden triangle with concavely curved sides, a giant gong, a gigantic drum, and a marching drum kit thing? I don’t know what they are called. And the timpani! (Oh, side note – it was really fun to eavesdrop on a mother and her child identifying different instruments, it was really heartwarming to see children interested in this stuff! We have hope for the future!). More musicians were on stage too, and oh my goodness the piccolo flute was indeed super piercing at times! A single one can get SO LOUD! As I am still learning how to get cultured on classical music, I could be naive in saying that my favourite parts of the symphony were the double bass and cello mood sections (that mood! reminded me of my favourite Psycho Pass scene actually), as well as when the orchestra went full out and ALL the percussion was going off! So epic!!!!
What was even cooler is that my instructor was playing in the symphony, and she described Shostakovich like Star Wars, even though I’m not well versed in movies, I think the description is very fitting!
What I also realised is just how much of a visual person and an overthinker I am; I really have no natural affinity for music, which is a real challenge! I found it hard to get immersed in the music itself, I realised at many points in the performance that I was far more interested in how the drummer was slouched back against the wall, how the french horn players continually emptied the water from their instruments, inside chair page turning, often with great urgency, how the concertmaster’s score didn’t look like the rest of the first violin section, and looked more like the conductor’s score, how absolutely energised and alive the conductor looked, facial expressions, when the baton switched hands, when he was barely conducting and enjoying the moment, when the conductor and the concertmaster giggled while they waited for someone’s dying cough to stop before they started the next movement, what were the post-it notes on the conductor’s score for, one of the bassoon players also played the contrabassoon, did the violins all have mutes on??? when did they put the mutes on??? i want to watch them take off the mutes NOOOO i missed it cause i was looking at something else, timpani player is epic, omg the principal flautist and bass clarinet player faces are so red by the end of it, so on and so forth. Riveting content!!!
I can’t wait to watch more concerts!!! I think the more I go to them the more I’ll enjoy them!
