I have wanted to see the Houston Symphony play at Jones hall
since we moved here 2 ½ years ago, but so far have only heard them at Miller
Outdoor Theater on the grassy hill. Theater
tickets are EXPENSIVE. A friend of a
friend was giving away some free tickets for last Thursday’s performance,
including a parking pass, and I was the first on the Facebook scene to snatch
them up. I was having a pretty terrible
week, so that helped brighten my mood.
Our tickets put us on the Mezzanine level, which was fun because the
seats swivel.
I felt so at home at the theater. I really feel privileged to be a part of the
arts scene. Maybe someday I’ll put in
hours and hours of practicing and re-audition for a professional symphony. But right now I am really liking where I am
with the Houston Civic Symphony.
The Houston Symphony played three pieces. The first was Helix, which is a modern piece
premiered only in 2005, by conductor and composer Esa-Pekka Salonen who currently conducts the London Philharmonic. While
I consider myself pretty open to weird, modern pieces, I always go in
hesitantly. But I was in for a treat
when I heard Helix, and absolutely loved it.
The whole idea behind the piece was that it was a 9-minute
acceleration. It started with simple
timpani and other percussion, and ended with a fully-orchestrated bang. The concert notes read, “As the music thread
winds around this ever-narrowing cone-shaped spiral, the notes of its two
phrases seem to circle faster and faster until the music abruptly stops for
lack of any further space to climb.”
Here is a recording of it, but this is definitely
a piece that is best live, where you can experience the rawness of it. Plus, I think the Houston Symphony did a
better job.
The second piece they played was the Mozart Oboe Concert in C Major, with soloist Jonathan Fischer.
It was refreshing to see a professional symphony and see how crisp and clean
they can get pieces from the classical era.
The soloist was obviously a top-talent, and was spot-on with his clarity,
especially with his impressive upper range.
But I will always stand by the fact that string players are more
exciting to watch as soloists than wind and brass players – there are just more
moving parts. It was fun to compare this
symphony with other Mozart works. They
say that Vivaldi just wrote the same piece in 400 different ways, but I think
Mozart gives him a run for his money with how recognizable his style is. Here is a recording.
The third and last piece was the Schumann Symphony No. 2 in C Major. I guess they really liked the
key of C that night. This piece was
written while Schumann was struggling with mental illness and right after a
major concert tour with his wife, Clara, who was a concert pianist. I recognized the second movement (which
starts at 12:44 in this recording)
immediately as a very hairy section we had as part of principal chair auditions
for my symphony. It is relentlessly fast
for the violins, and has really difficult note patterns. Throughout the piece there is a complexity of
theme that contrasts light and dark, which people attribute to his shifting
mental state. I thought the fourth
movement recalled elements from each of the previous movements and
recapitulated things nicely.
Besides listening to the pieces, I always like to watch the
musicians and the conductor. Conductors always
fascinate me. They usually have some quirk
about them, whether it is big hair (preferably a mullet), or a certain flair to
their baton. The conductor for this
concert was Hannu Lintu, and his quirk was his flair.
| Exhibit A is Dudamel, the LA Phil conductor |
If someone can explain to me why every major
symphony conductor beats on the OFF beat, I’d be much obliged. I cannot for the life of me follow their ictus
(which is like the check mark in the conducting pattern) when it comes a
half-beat before the orchestra. I don’t
get it.
I thought it was pretty funny that TJ and I were opposites
on what we liked about the concert. I
found the Salonen exciting, while he thought it lacked a melody and
direction. I, as a self-respecting
classical musician, of course liked listening to the Mozart, but TJ raved about
it. And then in the Schumann, I especially
appreciated movements 2 and 4 and he really enjoyed the slow and poignant third
movement. When it came to the conductor
I don’t think TJ even looked at him. But
I am very glad that we both enjoying going to concerts and have elements that
we each bring to the discussion.
