Brahms' Splendour
Wooow! This has been my favourite concert so far this year! I remember when I first heard Brahms' violin concerto, I was like, it's nice. But then the more I listened to it the more it grew on me and got stuck in my head quite often too.
And my goodness, seeing it performed in real life is nothing like hearing a recording on trashy computer speakers! There is so much more definition when the entire orchestra is in front of you! And so many things I didn't know - I am actually so bad at explaining this but in the third movement, I didn't realise there was a bit where the first violins actually don't play a few notes that I thought they did! They alternated with another section but I was totally clueless haha.
The other thing about having listened to it only when doing other things was that I had no idea there was a cadenza and I was like, where is this? Am I supposed to know what this part is?
I really need to keep listening and studying so that I actually understand what's going on!
Finally! A Zero Japan Teapot!!
I finally found a Zero Japan teapot at the shops and decided to buy it! What a lovely pink colour and I love the way the spout pours! Although I've noticed that the angle at which I need to pour is a lot less steep than my current teapot; I am currently spilling tea through the top rather than just getting all the liquid out from the spout, so I have to refine my technique!
And some random cooking adventures, mango and blueberry pancakes, as well as some pippis I found at the seafood shop so I yolo'd my own version of XO pippis. I think I overcooked the pippis a tad and I added too much salt but it was still good! Though I managed to get a few rocks and grit in the pippis themselves still, so I might leave it to the experts in restaurants!
Mahler 8
Another concert! I'm really enjoying all this culture stuff!
This time it was Mahler 8, and I had no idea it'd have so many vocals; I'm so ignorant! It turned out to be absolutely fantastic though, the choirs (yes, there was more than one!) were amazing, and the soloist singers just had the most amazing projection!
It was also epic in that there were two harps, why would any symphony require two harps lol.
I think I'll definitely keep an eye out for more riveting performances next year, I still have some to go for the rest of this year!
More lemons???
Short post! My lemon plant is going crazy again!!
Can I get more than 5 lemons this time? Let's find out next year!!!
Super short Sydney trip!
I've somehow been whirlwinded into classical music and had decided to browse performances at the Sydney Opera House, and stumbled upon Maxim Vengerov performing a recital! And I decided to buy premium tickets to see how a violin master plays in real life! It was also good for a short trip to see if my pigeons can survive unattended for a few days, in case I decide next year that I want to do Singapore for a few days.
The owner of Steam Tank coffee still recognised me after all these years! And this espresso was really good!
And AP Bakery's egg sandwich! I was really hoping that there'd be mortadella on this too, but it was just cheese and egg, so I decided to add on some ham, but it really wasn't needed! That egg was a really great custardy texture, definitely worth getting, and I was lucky that there was barely any wait when I visited!
Did you know the seats in the Opera House concert hall are such a pretty colour?!
Oh yeah, that was a great performance! The sound was so clear, and watching his bowing was amazing! How can he put the bow on the strings and it all just sounds perfect, while I'm there scratching away haha!
I am definitely enjoying this classical/performance phase!