music hath charms...

I heard a beautiful concert tonight:

Ravel: Valses nobles et sentimentales
Stucky: Second Concerto for Orchestra
Tchaikovsky: Variations on a Rococo Theme for Cello & Orchestra, Op. 33 (Pieter WIspelwey, cello)
Stravinsky: Suite from The Firebird (1919 revision)

The Stucky was only OK, but the Ravel and Stravinsky were terrific, and the Tchaikovsky cello pieces, which I'd never heard before, were so incredible that as soon as I got home, I went online and ordered a CD of them: a remastered DG CD of Rastropovich playing them with the Berlin Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan conducting.

The symphony audience is usually pretty grey on Thursday nights; so much so that I worry sometimes about whether classical music is dying out, but the Ravel & Stravinsky are popular pieces and this concert had been widely advertised, so the Meyerson was fairly full tonight, and I was happy to see that there were quite a few families who had brought children. A mother with four teenagers sat in the row in front of me, in excellent seats. Judging by the strong family resemblance, I'd guess three of the teens were hers; two of the girls, perhaps 14 and 17, and a boy who appeared to be about 15. The third girl may have been a friend, or perhaps she was a cousin; she also appeared to be 16 or 17. The boy was handsome and all three girls were lovely; they looked like they might have been dancers, and from the way in which they enjoyed the Stravinsky, I think I may have been right about that. This was a terrific concert, but it was also a pleasure to see how much these young people enjoyed the music. They were intent on it; they all sat a little forward in their seats, watching the orchestra, and the boy shot the girls a look and a smile at some of the more dramatic parts of Firebird.

I was listening to the Dallas classical station, WRR, on my drive to work earlier this week, and the announcer, a rather effete British guy, was advertising this concert. "Just get a ticket and GO!" he said, rather forcefully, and then he added with a sniff, "It'll make your workweek so much more PALATABLE!" I rolled my eyes at the time, but it turns out he was right...