CONCERT!!!!!! ♥
yesterday was the concert!!! the stupid rain scuppered my plans to go there early! the pre-concert talk was awesome! they called rachmaninoff a 'legend'! and they played his prelude in c# minor and part of his PC 3. and talked about his life. but i already knew most of it!
the talk ended at 7 and i went to the concert hall. my seat was AA 1 which was above the stage. i love my seat! i get such a nice view of the performers!
i could see every single instrument. i saw the french horn people stick cone-like things into their horns and the clarinetists cleaning their instruments mid-song. and not to mention the conductor, lan shui, waving his hands around like a maniac!
the first piece was debussy's images. to be very honest i was kinda bored. but it was interesting watching the harp and the celesta (the piano-like instrument at the bottom left of the above picture). the percussionists just sat around watching the show because they didn't have much to do.
after the interval was the main event... rachmaninoff's PC 3!!!!!!!! right before the first movement somebody farted. it wasn't the muffled 'pfft' that was, hopefully, inaudible to everybody else. this fart was explosive and it echoed around the concert hall. haha! i couldn't stop laughing.
okay on to the concert.
it was one thing crouching over my handphone in class listening to it at minimum volume, it was another listening to it live at the esplanade. and what's more berezovsky sat directly in front of me! although i couldn't really see his fingers as they were blocked by him, i could see their reflection on the piano. and when he played the higher or lower notes i could see those nimble fingers running over the keys with astonishing accuracy. damn! he made it look so easy.
i kept concentrating on the piano and blocked everything else out. the sound it made was amazing. it was nothing like the rickety pianos we have in school. NO!!! there isn't a piano in school that i like! either the pedals are not working or some keys sound wonky or the whole piano itself is off-key. UGH!!! if there's one thing i can't stand besides mozart and beethoven, it's the sound of an off-key piano. i absolutely refuse to play on it.
after the 3rd movement everybody whooped and cheered and berezovsky got a standing ovation. yeah man! not everybody can play the most diffcult piano concerto on earth without a single mistake. we kept applauding and he left and came back on stage no less than 3 times. then it was the encore!! he played rachy's prelude op 23 no 4 (of which i have the score!!) and when he finished he left and returned to the stage 3 times. then he invited lan shui and they played a part of the 3rd movement again! with the orchestra.
after that the pianist left and returned to the stage (again!!!) and he played another song! this time it was the prelude in g minor. (op 23 no 5) i wanted him to play no. 6; that's my favourite prelude! but he didn't! after that he really left and it was all over!
there's a very interesting thing i noticed during the concert. during a performance the audience was quiet and there was only the sound of the orchestra. then in between movements, everybody started coughing!! it's damn funny i tell you. once the orchestra stopped it was like a cue for everybody to cough and when it continued with the next movement everyone quietened down.
rachy's concert may be over but there are 3 more concerts to look forward to! on the 11 september there is a concert which features american songs, including george gershwin's piano concerto in F!! it's also one of my favourite songs. i will not miss that! and on 9 january there's ANOTHER rachmaninoff concert this time it's his 'isle of the dead'!!! then one year from now, on the 8th of may, there's ANOTHER rachmaninoff concert! rhapsody on a theme of paganini!!! it's going to be awesome!!!
CONCERT!!!!! ♥
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