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captainsblogSo the joke going in, when Eleanor and I decided we wanted to see Cameron's choral group perform today, was that we hoped we wouldn't get lost on our way to its unfamiliar-to-us venue. And we didn't- mostly. Eleanor had Mapquested the college where it was held, I pretty-much knew where the street was, and we got there a good 15 minutes in advance even after a somewhat testy liquor store stop before that (I ran in for wine, and the fat guy returning to his driver's side next to Eleanor's side of the car bitched her out for my parking job because the dude to MY left had crowded me to the edge of the space I was in).
Once there, though, we realized we didn't know where to go, exactly, ON the campus. We saw a couple walking toward the campus buildings from a fairly distant parking lot, since they couldn't find anyplace closer to park. I told Eleanor to follow them while I parked near their space. (Turned out there was one closer spot, but some jamoche had parked too far over into the adjacent space and I didn't want to cause two Park Rage incidents in one afternoon.)
Ultimately, we found the right building, but weren't sure where the seating was; our first guess practically took us onto the stage. A helpful custodian told us to follow our instincts, only past the stage door and round to an auditorium door just past it. As we did so, we passed a young woman playing her violin, aiming out a window into the courtyard. She turned out to be the concertmaster, getting in tune so she could tune everyone else moments later, and then the conductor took the podium for an afternoon of mostly classical music from the mid-18th to the mid-20th centuries.
The first orchestra-only piece was Beethoven's Overture to Egmont. The conductor then explained that it was an elegy to an actual 16th century Flemish nobleman of that name, who was done in by the Spanish Inquisition in 1568. The irony of it all overwhelmed me: this performance was in the heart of Polish Catholic Cheektowaga, at an emimently Catholic college, with at least one row of nuns in attendance several rows behind us. I could practically hear them thinking, Fine! Our bad! We apologized for it; get over it, already!
The Choral Arts group then joined them in Brahms' Song of Lamentation, an 1881 piece based on a Greek mythological statement of all beauty perishing. The orchestra then broke up the mood with a couple of Slavonic dances by Dvořák before taking us tohalftime intermission.
Although Cameron (and his dad, also in the chorus) did not appear to be there, at least one friend of Eleanor's was, and she chatted with her until the second half began. It did so with a Ralph Vaughan Williams piece called Serenade to Music, a 1938 commission by the British equivalent of the Boston Pops in honor of its then 50 years of service by its longtime conductor Sir Henry Wood. It was first performed in the Royal Albert Hall 73 Octobers ago, with the orchestra and 16 chorists then laying it down at Abbey Road studios later in the month in a version you can still hear today. We heard the choral parts split among all the BCAS members with some wonderful orchestral accompaniment.
The orchestra ended the show with a suite of songs from Swan Lake. Eleanor knows these better than I, but even I remember most of the motifs and appreciate the precision and devotion that went into these six segments, from the concertmaster's solos to the harpist's gentle perfection. We got no encore- much as I tried humming "Free Bird" as sotto voce as I could- but we got close to 90 minutes of beauty connecting us with a loved one who, while not there, still was.
And the Bills kicked butt despite my missing the first hour.
Once there, though, we realized we didn't know where to go, exactly, ON the campus. We saw a couple walking toward the campus buildings from a fairly distant parking lot, since they couldn't find anyplace closer to park. I told Eleanor to follow them while I parked near their space. (Turned out there was one closer spot, but some jamoche had parked too far over into the adjacent space and I didn't want to cause two Park Rage incidents in one afternoon.)
Ultimately, we found the right building, but weren't sure where the seating was; our first guess practically took us onto the stage. A helpful custodian told us to follow our instincts, only past the stage door and round to an auditorium door just past it. As we did so, we passed a young woman playing her violin, aiming out a window into the courtyard. She turned out to be the concertmaster, getting in tune so she could tune everyone else moments later, and then the conductor took the podium for an afternoon of mostly classical music from the mid-18th to the mid-20th centuries.
The first orchestra-only piece was Beethoven's Overture to Egmont. The conductor then explained that it was an elegy to an actual 16th century Flemish nobleman of that name, who was done in by the Spanish Inquisition in 1568. The irony of it all overwhelmed me: this performance was in the heart of Polish Catholic Cheektowaga, at an emimently Catholic college, with at least one row of nuns in attendance several rows behind us. I could practically hear them thinking, Fine! Our bad! We apologized for it; get over it, already!
The Choral Arts group then joined them in Brahms' Song of Lamentation, an 1881 piece based on a Greek mythological statement of all beauty perishing. The orchestra then broke up the mood with a couple of Slavonic dances by Dvořák before taking us to
Although Cameron (and his dad, also in the chorus) did not appear to be there, at least one friend of Eleanor's was, and she chatted with her until the second half began. It did so with a Ralph Vaughan Williams piece called Serenade to Music, a 1938 commission by the British equivalent of the Boston Pops in honor of its then 50 years of service by its longtime conductor Sir Henry Wood. It was first performed in the Royal Albert Hall 73 Octobers ago, with the orchestra and 16 chorists then laying it down at Abbey Road studios later in the month in a version you can still hear today. We heard the choral parts split among all the BCAS members with some wonderful orchestral accompaniment.
The orchestra ended the show with a suite of songs from Swan Lake. Eleanor knows these better than I, but even I remember most of the motifs and appreciate the precision and devotion that went into these six segments, from the concertmaster's solos to the harpist's gentle perfection. We got no encore- much as I tried humming "Free Bird" as sotto voce as I could- but we got close to 90 minutes of beauty connecting us with a loved one who, while not there, still was.
And the Bills kicked butt despite my missing the first hour.
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no subject
Date: 2011-10-31 04:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-31 08:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-31 11:13 pm (UTC)Wait. You've even been to college now. (http://cfcl.com/vlb/Cuute/f/college.essay.txt)
Good move turning down the offer from the Mets, though.
no subject
Date: 2011-10-31 11:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-31 11:17 pm (UTC)And now at least I understand more of the Sherlock fascination.
Can I put MSN3k out for beta, btw?
no subject
Date: 2011-10-31 11:20 pm (UTC)I'm still workin' through a lot of complications with that, but yes, it can go for beta, I think...