DJ and D&D Go to the Symphony

[drinkanddestroy]

Carnegie Hall is having a full cycle of Beethoven's symphonies with the Philadelphia Orchestra (making up for the series in 2020 that was canceled due to Covid).

You in, DJ?

[drinkanddestroy]

The symphony is back, babbbbbbyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!

After 572 days in the dark, Carnegie Hall returned last night! Was great to be there. (Proof of vaccine required, as are masks. Of course, I just wore my mask on my chin, if at all.)

It was a very exciting night for Miss Baltimore: her first-ever symphony. (Yeah, I give my girls class  )

https://www.carnegiehall.org/Calendar/2021/10/06/Carnegie-Halls-Opening-Night-Gala-The-Philadelphia-Orchestra-0700PM

The Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Yannick N?zet-S?guin, will be doing a full cycle of Beethoven's symphonies (they were scheduled to do so in 2020 as part of Beethoven's 250th anniversary celebration, before Covid shut things down.) Last night's opening night gala featured the Fifth Symphony.

Other pieces played last night:
VALERIE COLEMAN Seven O'Clock Shout, a piece honoring frontline workers
SHOSTAKOVICH Piano Concerto No. 2, with Yuja Wang
BERNSTEIN Overture to Candide, a nice little 5-minute piece
MAN HABIBI Jeder Baum spricht - a fucking bullshit piece about global warming. When everyone cheered, I booed.

--

The event was livestreamed, and the full event video is available here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8c-cqmQueUo

[dave jenkins]

(Yeah, I give my girls class  )

Uh huh. "Lipstick on a pig," and all that.

When everyone cheered, I booed.

Having attended live gigs with you, I know you're telling the truth.

[drinkanddestroy]

Forgot to mention: There was no intermission. I think they do that because of Covid, so people don?t mingle. (They also have a specific door entrance and entry time on each ticket so that people don?t all arrive together. Not sure how much that is enforced.) I had to piss after the first piece, while they were changing the instruments before the second. The usher told me, ?This is not an intermission. You can leave, but if the lights go down before you get back, you won?t be allowed in for this piece.? I ran down the two flights from the balcony to the third-floor bathroom and made it back.

I love the balcony at Carnegie Hall. It overhangs the lower tiers, I get seats dead-center, you can see the entire orchestra, unlike when you are on the floor.

Next show for me: October 20, Beethoven?s 4th Symphony and 6th Symphony (Pastorale).

[drinkanddestroy]

Having attended live gigs with you, I know you're telling the truth.

Remember when we saw that awful play The Maids and afterward the idiot audience applauded? I booed louder than all the applause 

[drinkanddestroy]

(My favorite version of the "Pastoral" is with Michele Merrill conducting the Detroit Symphony Orchestra https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75OMvblyD-Q I like it cuz the first and third movements are fast, which I think is appropriate here.)

That link is no longer available on YouTube, but the show can be viewed on the DSO's website for free; you need to make a free account

https://livefromorchestrahall.vhx.tv/10-years-of-live-from-orchestra-hall-concerts-from-the-archives/videos/ludwig-van-beethoven-symphony-no-6-in-f-major-op-68-pastoral

I'm watching the Pastoral again now cuz I'm gearing up for the show tonight at Carnegie Hall (DJ ditching me yet again)

https://www.carnegiehall.org/Calendar/2021/10/20/The-Philadelphia-Orchestra-0800PM

[dave jenkins]

(DJ ditching me yet again)

Matinees, man! I can only do matinees.

[drinkanddestroy]

Bernard Haitink, renowned Dutch conductor, dies at 92

https://apnews.com/article/entertainment-music-europe-london-netherlands-499a2e7f880fc99bf3a208d1d0bee77f

[drinkanddestroy]

I'm watching the Pastoral again now cuz I'm gearing up for the show tonight at Carnegie Hall (DJ ditching me yet again)

https://www.carnegiehall.org/Calendar/2021/10/20/The-Philadelphia-Orchestra-0800PM

So Matinee Dave ditched me again Wednesday night as expected; I instead went to Carnegie Hall with Miss Upper West Side (#JustAFriend).

Fucking Carnegie Hall makes you show proof of vaccination AND wear a mask. I did the former, I absolutely did not do the latter, to the chagrin of the lame-asses who sat near me. I took double the pleasure in making the losers squirm.

Also, due to Covid, there's no intermission. I think they don;'t want people congregating. Don't drink before the show. Cuz you ain't pissing till it's over.

We sat three rows from the front of the balcony, dead center. Lately I am really enjoying Carnegie Hall balcony (the very top level - Level #5). The balcony overhangs the other levels, so if you get one of the front rows of the balcony you actually are not that far back, and you can see the entire orchestra. When I always used to sit in the floor, I could never see the wind instruments. Only problem is there ain't much leg room in the balcony.

The program was Beethoven's 4th & 6th Symphonies with The Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Yannick N?zet-S?guin continuing its program of  afull cycle of Beethoven's symphonies, in a belated 250th birthday (which was actually in 2020, postponed due to Covid).
The 4th isn't on any list of greatest symphonies, I always thought it was kind of jokey and was never much into it, but to tell the truth, it wasn't a terrible opener. I was able to enjoy it.

At the previous show, as I mentioned, Yannick had to play some piece about global fucking warming, supposedly inspired by Beethoven, and gave this speech about how we play Beethoven but we also gotta play the contemporaries with their social justice shit. The show last week was  (gasp!) only Beethoven, but Yannick had to take the microphone and speak apologetically about only playing Beethoven and assure us that he would in fact play other pieces at future Beethoven shows, and assure us that the Pastoral was in fact about social justice. I made my displeasure with his speech plainly known to everyone in my section. Now Miss Upper West Side was squirming.

Anyway, we finally got to the Pastoral, and it's one of the greatest versions I've ever heard. Particularly, I like the third movement played very quickly; and I think this was the quickest I'd heard it. It was an amazing performance.

Oh, I gotta mention something else about Yannick: He walks onto the stage with a mask. Takes it off for the show. Then puts it back on as he walks off the stage. Then comes back on for his standing ovation, and takes it back off. So I guess he can't catch Covid while on stage, but can catch it while walking off and standing backstage? Oh, and half the string section was wearing masks. Of course, we all know you can give someone Covid while playing the violin but not blowing the oboe.

Anyway, nevermind the he conducts in leggings, does weird shit with masks, and most infuriatingly has to turn Beethoven into some sort of social justice warrior. When he's actually just conducting the orchestra, he's actually terrific. Another great show!

Next up, November 9: Beethoven's 8th & 7th Symphonies (of course, with some contemporary piece sandwiched in middle. (We already had the global warming piece, so I guess this is probably about transphobia or affirmative action or why everyone should wear masks for the rest of their lives.)

DJ and I once went to the 7th & 8th a few years ago in Lincoln Center. Like most people, DJ prefers the 7th. It's really famous and popular. The 8th is Beethoven's shortest symphony and not nearly as famous. I am in the minority: I'm actually going because of the 8th. I really like it. I have little use for the 7th.

So what'll it be, Matinee Dave? You in for a night show this time or out again?

[drinkanddestroy]

Video released of the redesigned David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqmkqXuN0R8

The first minute explains how, in case you were concerned, they made sure to hire plenty of people of color to build this place that rich white people will watch shows in, as reparations for hardly any of those rich white people's ancestors enslaving hardly any of those minority workers' ancestors.

Big sigh of relief. I mean, I could never imagine watching a show in a theater that was built by evil white people.

On to the less-important stuff: they are making the concert hall significantly smaller: from 2,750 seats to 2,200. The idiot on the video says they are making it "slightly smaller," but a 20% reduction doesn't sound too "slight" to me.

One wonders if this means anything other than more expensive tickets that will be harder to come by.

The NY Philharmonic will be releasing its 2022-2023 schedule at 6 p.m. Monday. I guess we'll see prices then.

[drinkanddestroy]

I forgot to post this, I was at Carnegie Hall Feb. 21 for a show highlighted by Beethoven's Ninth

https://www.carnegiehall.org/Calendar/2022/02/21/The-Philadelphia-Orchestra-0800PM

This was the final show in a full cycle of Beethoven symphonies by Yannick N?zet-S?guin conducting The Philadelphia Orchestra ? originally scheduled for 2020 but postponed by the COVID pandemic.

This show itself was postponed from Jan. 11 due to Omicron.

So we finally come to this show Feb. 21. Now, Carnegie hall mandates not just that you be "fully vaccinated," but boosted as well. And masked. A bunch of motherfuckingfucktards.


Miss Baltimore and I had terrific seats: balcony, 4th row up, dead center.

A young couple is sitting in front of us. The woman starts bitching at me to wear my mask. I put it on my chin. She asks me to wear it properly. I pretty much tell her to fuck the fuck off. She says "I don't like it either, but everybody's doing it." I make some comment to Miss Baltimore, loud enough for Mrs. Bitch to hear, that I am glad Mrs. Bitch didn't live in Germany about 80 years ago. You know, "I don't like it, but hey, everybody's doing it." Mrs. Bitch keeps bitching at me. Then I said to her, "I got Omicron one month ago. I can?t have Covid now.? She didn't love it but didn't have much to say in response. Then I tossed in, for good measure, "You can enjoy virtue-signaling; I'll enjoy the show." Finally her own husband told her to fuck off, and she shut up.

Needless to say, as I mentioned in previous shows, the idiot Yannick walks on stage with a mask, then takes it off as he ascends the podium. You can't spread Covid while on the podium, but you can spread it while while walking up to the podium. Also, at this show, ALL the non-wind players ? all the string players and percussionists ? were wearing masks, as opposed to previous shows, when only some did. But that wasn't even the half of the insanity.

Anyway, Beethoven's First was nice. Setting aside all the bullshit, Yannick is a very good conductor. Oh, by the way, this time he wore normal pants. No flower leggings.

As mentioned previously, Yannick cant do only Beethoven. He also has to play some new pieces at every show. All well and good, but he also has to find some dumbass lefty theme for every one. Usually about global warming, and how Beethoven was somehow anti global warming or whatever. If you are a fucking idiot and wanna read about this particular awful piece, here it is https://www.wisemusicclassical.com/work/60644/Pachamama-Meets-an-Ode--Gabriela-Lena-Frank/ Yes, it's about global warming. But get ready for this one: This piece includes a choir .... AND THE FUCKING CHOIR WAS WEARING MASKS. I MEAN, ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? And if they have to wear masks, why the fuck does Yannick not have to?

The piece was awful. I booed like hell.


Lucky for us, this time Yannick didn't give us a lecture about the meaning behind the pieces.

After intermission .... Beethoven's Ninth.

This was Baltimore's first-ever Beethoven's Ninth. (And second-ever show). My fourth viewing of the Ninth.  When she listens to the Ninth, Baltimore has generally listened to Riccardo Muti's version with the Chicago Symphony ? which is very slow. Particularly the second movement, Yannick was so much faster, Baltimore said it sounded like a different piece! (She likes the speedier version.)

And yes, the fucking choir wore masks. (Not the soloists.) And no, you couldn't hear them very well.

BTW, of the 4 soloists, 3 were "people of color." I don't think any of the soloists I have seen before are people of color. All I want are the best possible performers without regard to anything else. The (black) bass-baritone and the (white) tenor were fabulous. The (black) soprano and (Tunisian) mezzo? Couldn't hear them as well as one would like. I only hope Yannick chose the best available soloists, without regard to anyother factors.


Here is a review of the evening by New York Classical Review

https://newyorkclassicalreview.com/2022/02/philadelphia-orchestra-wraps-beethoven-cycle-with-playful-first-elevated-ninth/

And here is a review from the New York Fucking Times

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/22/arts/music/philadelphia-orchestra-beethoven-carnegie-hall-review.html

Every time I think the Times has reached the pinnacle of insanity, it manages to outdo itself:

Basically the Times guy says the middle new piece as the best of the night and it renders the Ode to Joy "a tad delusional" ? of course, how can we pretend to have joy and brotherhood when we have global warming?

But here is the best part of it: the reviewer mentions how the choir was muffled: "If you listened closely, you could make out an 'alle Menschen' here and there, but the group?s sound was for the most part cloudy, as if coming from backstage, blending into the orchestra when it should have been heard above it." BUT HE DOESN'T EVEN MENTION THEY WERE WEARING MASKS. I mean, wtf?

I guess that as a good woke fucktard, he doesn't want to say anything that could indicate that masks may be a negative in any way. Another beauty from the soc-called paper of record.


ANYWAY ..... masked fucktards aside ... any night on which you see beethoven's Ninth will be a night you will remember forever.

Good times 

[dave jenkins]

Astounding that you paid premium prices for seats only to have vocal performers masked. You did not get what you paid for. Was a discount offered? Money returned? Any kind of apology given?

This isn't culture, this is let's-pretend culture.

[drinkanddestroy]

New York Philharmonic released 2022-2023 schedule

https://nyphil.org/calendar?season=23&page=all#

[dave jenkins]

New York Philharmonic released 2022-2023 schedule

https://nyphil.org/calendar?season=23&page=all#

Ooooh, Jurrasic Park in Concert! Yeah, right. The Art of the Score sounds interesting, depending on which score is featured (they show an image from Psycho but then say they haven't chosen the score yet; anything but Psycho, to my mind (not that I dislike Psycho, it's just that it's been done to death)). The other thing: how much do we have to pay to watch a movie? If it's a hundred dollars, forget it.

Huh, lots of Russians. Didn't someone tell these guys that the Russians are being boycotted? Actually, I'm glad they're not doing that. I'll see anything with Shostakovich on the program (provided I'm around--you can never tell, these days).

Drink, there's probably not enough Beethoven for you, what?

[drinkanddestroy]

Drink, there's probably not enough Beethoven for you, what?

The 2nd Symphony and 2nd piano concerto. That?s all. Disappointing.

Forget NY Phil. Let?s see when they roll out the schedule of other orchestras, called ?Great Performers.? (Those shows are also cheaper than NY Phil?s.)