11.14.2005
concert
On Saturday Night, the Oxford University Orchestra kicked off its 2005 - 06 season with a massive concert. Epic might work as a description, except that it wasn't very long. It was just intense.
We opened with pure, unadulterated cheese: the Saint-Saens Organ Symphony. You can say what you like about this piece: I think it's fun, it's massive in scale without being too overbearing. It certainly doesn't feel like it has the weight of the world on its shoulders. Which is not to say that it's light or frivolous: it's a Beethoven 4 and not a Beethoven 5. Of course, most people know it not as the Saint-Saens Organ Symphony, but as the theme to the movie "Babe". For that, perhaps, we should be disappointed. It truly is a gorgeous piece of music, though again, the music snobs would certainly like to point out that it's really got no point as a piece of music.
The second half was Shostakovich 10: a symphony written immediately after the death of Stalin, whose constant interference (if one can call the threat of a dictatorial madman in your work and persona life an 'interference') had been a source of frustration and fear. This is Shostakovich's rude gesture directed at the grave and memory of Stalin, but the totality of the Soviet machine makes even this work seem a bit tentative and still fearful. It's terrifying that even after Stalin's death, Shostakovich was still scared out of his mind and was unable to present a work which truly reflected how he felt.
Both of these pieces make up an incredibly intense concert, and I was pretty much shattered by the time we finished the Shostakovich. Not to mention the fact that they're both really quite difficult to play. In any case, it was a lovely concert and, being short, I was home with plenty of time to get a good night's rest.
We opened with pure, unadulterated cheese: the Saint-Saens Organ Symphony. You can say what you like about this piece: I think it's fun, it's massive in scale without being too overbearing. It certainly doesn't feel like it has the weight of the world on its shoulders. Which is not to say that it's light or frivolous: it's a Beethoven 4 and not a Beethoven 5. Of course, most people know it not as the Saint-Saens Organ Symphony, but as the theme to the movie "Babe". For that, perhaps, we should be disappointed. It truly is a gorgeous piece of music, though again, the music snobs would certainly like to point out that it's really got no point as a piece of music.
The second half was Shostakovich 10: a symphony written immediately after the death of Stalin, whose constant interference (if one can call the threat of a dictatorial madman in your work and persona life an 'interference') had been a source of frustration and fear. This is Shostakovich's rude gesture directed at the grave and memory of Stalin, but the totality of the Soviet machine makes even this work seem a bit tentative and still fearful. It's terrifying that even after Stalin's death, Shostakovich was still scared out of his mind and was unable to present a work which truly reflected how he felt.
Both of these pieces make up an incredibly intense concert, and I was pretty much shattered by the time we finished the Shostakovich. Not to mention the fact that they're both really quite difficult to play. In any case, it was a lovely concert and, being short, I was home with plenty of time to get a good night's rest.
