Utah Symphony Performance!

Last night I went on a date with my big boys! We went to Salt Lake to hear the Utah Symphony. They played Beethoven's Symphony #4, some funky Stravinsky piece, and the Rachmaninov Piano Concerto #2. Who was the guest pianist? None other than Andre Watts! I hadn't heard him play for 25 years or so, so I was excited to hear him again. I'd forgotten his idiosyncrasies ... he's a foot pounder and hand flourisher. He also is a "note puller off-er", but I'll forgive him for that. We didn't have the greatest seats in the house so the sound blend wasn't the best, but it was sure fun to listen to a master pianist perform a master concerto. My boys were completely impressed.

Last night was also the first time I'd seen Thierry Fischer conduct the symphony. He's dramatic. The 3 words I chose to describe him are sweat, snort, and swaying. He's all over the conductor's box. He has to have a rail on the back of the box to keep him safe. He crouches; he leans; he squats. Everyone inch of his being is involved in his conducting. He's so wild with his baton that I was afraid that it was going to fly out of his hand and end up in my lap (I said we didn't have the best seats... front row, but it was fun to see the orchestra from that perspective and to pick out the actual playing of the various symphony members). From the front, I heard and saw things that people just a few rows back wouldn't be able to see and hear... the sweat and snorts. Yes, he inhales deeply and loudly when he's about to direct a dramatic and loud change. It was really distracting and I nearly laughed aloud the first time I heard the snort. Nolan leaned over to me and whispered, "He does that a lot." He also grunts and vocalizes in other manners when he wants other effects. The nastiest part of Mr. Fischer's conducting was his sweat. So he gets sweaty... whatever, but since he's so mobile and shakes his head constantly, beads of sweat were flying off of his face. Ugh! I felt bad for the cellists directly in front of him. You would have thought he'd played a entire quarter of an NBA game with as sweaty as he was. Maybe he did exercise as intensely as an NBA player... he is that active. It was so fun to attend the concert with my boys. Maybe I'll get more turns in the near future taking them to the symphony!