tpo concert

concert yesterday (4th oct): social life + 1. dinner plans were foiled though cos shaggy pulled out. i didn't want to a) have dinner alone if remus & wenyi couldn't make it, or b) dampen the mood between them if they could make it. in the end i got to city hall mrt early, met them at NYNY then zaoed off to mph, reading merde happens by stephen clarke. utter trash but heck, it's funny. caught up with the rest of them at esplanade at about 7:15...

now for the concert review. sib 3rd was disappointing, i expected a lot more gusto and raw energy but it was too polished & shiny for its own good. the notes were rounded and nuanced, even the opening cello/bass thing, overdoing it really. and strings were too soft/restrained, a bit messy too. and the 2nd mvmt was excruciatingly slow. timpanist was good though, very enthu. lol remus fell asleep, i don't blame him.

sib 1st saved the day. i don't like the piece, it's too tchaik for my taste, emo Big Tunes and all, wallowing in romanticism... but its a lot more accessible and less abstract than no. 3. and i guess the orch responded to it a lot better too. all the Big Tunes were wonderful (except the violas were a bit overpowered - or was it sib 3rd? can't rmb) and the brasses were really effective. they put together a pretty impressive advocacy of the sib 1; i must revise my opinion of the piece.

chatted with miss wang after the concert - she was horrified to learn that i'm a sibelius fan lol. went to haagen-dazs after that and blew an obscene amount of money on 2 tiny scoops of ice-cream... granted it was good. but $11.90... ouch. ouch. an experience i won't repeat. should have eaten vicariously, like shaggy [i.e. not eating]. lol

sigh. now for the last stretch - probably the most mugging i'll ever do in my life. back to maths!