Thursday, November 20, 2008

Bravo, Paganini!

I thought I was going to be late as there was a jam along Orchard! Thankfully, I reached the concert hall with about 5 mins to spare. Whew, If I missed the first bit half before interval, might as well go home already. The first piece didn't really leave an impression on me, maybe because all I was waiting for was the Paganini concerto. I think this is the first time I actually listened through the whole concerto. The concerto is truly crazy. I thought the caprices was crazy, but I guess he composed the caprices for people to practice so they can play this concerto. The jumping double stops, the DID I HEAR DOUBLE STOP HARMONICS? the generous sliding thirds and tenths, left hand pizzicato and all the other crazy stuff that I forgot the violin could do. Well, I would say it was awesome if not for the soloists' couple of mistakes... just joking. I hope he actually sleeps and not just practices all day. He indulged us with an encore of "Paganini's Duet for One Violin". I don't know if he made that up or it's really a piece but it was awesome with a main melody and alot of left hand pizzicato at the same time.

After intermission it was a piece by Bernstein (who I never heard of) which figured as he's a contemporary composer and I really don't enjoy contemporary stuff. They lack melody and that to me, gets them down many notches in music. The Prokofiev was a nice end to the evening.

It ended a little later than expected because of the encore so didn't get to meet Shufen. Anyway, had a beef and mushroom pie and THE AWESOME tiramisu from Prego so I'd sleep a very happy man today.

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