It has been a very busy set of weekends.
On Saturday, February 23rd, we attended the Grand Rapids Symphony's performance of "An American in Paris". The following Friday, we attended their performance of Respighi. The very next night, we attended the Grand Rapids Civic Theater's production of Fiddler on the Roof.
Whew! Are we all cultured out yet?
Probably not.
That's one of the reasons I married this wonderful girl: she's classy, cultured, and very knowledgeable about such things. (Here I must give credit to her wonderful parents, who raised her to appreciate the finer things in life!) I knew I was in the right place very early on when spending an evening at her parents' house meant sitting in the living room listening to classical music on the home-built stereo while talking about such varied topics as children's ministry, family history, basketball (!?), electronics, auto mechanics, spacecraft, and whether Alan would ever survive college. (He did.)
Because of her, my life has been filled with wonderful music, soothing melodies, rousing symphonic passages, and inspiring anthems.
After all, one can't listen to Bruce Springsteen twenty-four hours a day.
Here is a list of the music we enjoyed on those first two evenings. I'll presume you are familiar enough with "Fddler on the Roof" that I won't have to remind you of those tunes.
An American in Paris
"The Great Swiftness" - Andrew Norman
"City Noir" - John Adams
"Fountains of Rome" - Respighi
"An American in Paris" - Gershwin
Notes: I was very tired before we arrived at this concert, and my eyes were dried out from all the cold winter air, so it was difficult to keep my eyes open. I found it quite restful, though, to close my eyes and just let the music fill my head. "City Noir" reminded me of the detective stories I'd been reading lately; like standing on the corner downtown with the air full of mist and dark alleys with sinister people looking out darkened windows at a single streetlamp where a guy is waiting for a bus. "Fountains of Rome" ran the gamut of emotions from sweeping meloncholia to sprightly dancing; would've been nice to have pictures of the fountains projected on the walls. Luckily, we'd recently re-watched "Three Coins in a Fountain", so the images were still fresh in my mind. As for "An American in Paris", it was quite different to hear it while not watching Gene Kelly. Different images came to mind: some from my junior high French text book, of city scenes in black and white; of smiling French people in post-war Paris, street vendors, children going to school. Fresh croissants, mmmm.
Handel, Bach, Respighi
"Concerto Grossi, Opus 6, No. 4" - Handel
"Concerto Grossi" - Avner Dorman
"Fuga (Ricercata)" - Bach
"Concert in D for Strings" - Stravinsky
"Ancient Airs and Dances" - Respighi
Notes: Not quite so tired this time, but the eyes were still dry, so spent some time with them closed, just absorbing the music. Interesting to hear the "Concerto Grossi" and then a kind of tribute to it, by an Israeli composer. He was actually there at the concert, and the director asked him to comment on his composition, its inspiration, etc. Mr. Dorman was a bit reticent - who wants to brag? - but he did a fair job of explaining his methodology. And his piece was quite good, although perhaps not something I'd listen to repetitively. Bach was an interesting interlude piece. Stravinsky was good, as always. Respighi was very interesting. I'm going to have to listen to that one again. Some very familiar passages contained within. Where have I heard those before?
Fiddler on the Roof
The main draw for this performance was the fact that our Orchestra director, Eric, was playing the part of the Fiddler. In the movie version, to my recollection, the Fiddler doesn't appear in many scenes; in this production, he was in almost all the scenes - not speaking, but commenting with his fiddle. Eric is a master, and the production was excellent. The man playing Tevye was interesting because his accent was so familiar, like Topol in the movie. Some of the other actors had good Russian accents, or Yiddish, or other ethnicities. Some had no accent at all. It was kind of odd, but didn't get in the way of the story. The nightmare scene with Lazar Wolf's wife was hilarious. How ever did they do that? Good thing there weren't any children in the audience! They would've been frightened out of their wits. Come to think of it, perhaps I was!
Our next classical evening will be with Vivaldi's Four Seasons.
On Saturday, February 23rd, we attended the Grand Rapids Symphony's performance of "An American in Paris". The following Friday, we attended their performance of Respighi. The very next night, we attended the Grand Rapids Civic Theater's production of Fiddler on the Roof.
Whew! Are we all cultured out yet?
Probably not.
That's one of the reasons I married this wonderful girl: she's classy, cultured, and very knowledgeable about such things. (Here I must give credit to her wonderful parents, who raised her to appreciate the finer things in life!) I knew I was in the right place very early on when spending an evening at her parents' house meant sitting in the living room listening to classical music on the home-built stereo while talking about such varied topics as children's ministry, family history, basketball (!?), electronics, auto mechanics, spacecraft, and whether Alan would ever survive college. (He did.)
Because of her, my life has been filled with wonderful music, soothing melodies, rousing symphonic passages, and inspiring anthems.
After all, one can't listen to Bruce Springsteen twenty-four hours a day.
Here is a list of the music we enjoyed on those first two evenings. I'll presume you are familiar enough with "Fddler on the Roof" that I won't have to remind you of those tunes.
An American in Paris
"The Great Swiftness" - Andrew Norman
"City Noir" - John Adams
"Fountains of Rome" - Respighi
"An American in Paris" - Gershwin
Notes: I was very tired before we arrived at this concert, and my eyes were dried out from all the cold winter air, so it was difficult to keep my eyes open. I found it quite restful, though, to close my eyes and just let the music fill my head. "City Noir" reminded me of the detective stories I'd been reading lately; like standing on the corner downtown with the air full of mist and dark alleys with sinister people looking out darkened windows at a single streetlamp where a guy is waiting for a bus. "Fountains of Rome" ran the gamut of emotions from sweeping meloncholia to sprightly dancing; would've been nice to have pictures of the fountains projected on the walls. Luckily, we'd recently re-watched "Three Coins in a Fountain", so the images were still fresh in my mind. As for "An American in Paris", it was quite different to hear it while not watching Gene Kelly. Different images came to mind: some from my junior high French text book, of city scenes in black and white; of smiling French people in post-war Paris, street vendors, children going to school. Fresh croissants, mmmm.
Handel, Bach, Respighi
"Concerto Grossi, Opus 6, No. 4" - Handel
"Concerto Grossi" - Avner Dorman
"Fuga (Ricercata)" - Bach
"Concert in D for Strings" - Stravinsky
"Ancient Airs and Dances" - Respighi
Notes: Not quite so tired this time, but the eyes were still dry, so spent some time with them closed, just absorbing the music. Interesting to hear the "Concerto Grossi" and then a kind of tribute to it, by an Israeli composer. He was actually there at the concert, and the director asked him to comment on his composition, its inspiration, etc. Mr. Dorman was a bit reticent - who wants to brag? - but he did a fair job of explaining his methodology. And his piece was quite good, although perhaps not something I'd listen to repetitively. Bach was an interesting interlude piece. Stravinsky was good, as always. Respighi was very interesting. I'm going to have to listen to that one again. Some very familiar passages contained within. Where have I heard those before?
Fiddler on the Roof
The main draw for this performance was the fact that our Orchestra director, Eric, was playing the part of the Fiddler. In the movie version, to my recollection, the Fiddler doesn't appear in many scenes; in this production, he was in almost all the scenes - not speaking, but commenting with his fiddle. Eric is a master, and the production was excellent. The man playing Tevye was interesting because his accent was so familiar, like Topol in the movie. Some of the other actors had good Russian accents, or Yiddish, or other ethnicities. Some had no accent at all. It was kind of odd, but didn't get in the way of the story. The nightmare scene with Lazar Wolf's wife was hilarious. How ever did they do that? Good thing there weren't any children in the audience! They would've been frightened out of their wits. Come to think of it, perhaps I was!
Our next classical evening will be with Vivaldi's Four Seasons.
1 comment:
And you got all that out of a couple of symphonies? I guess your wife has taught you some class. Wow!
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