Two Thirds

The Rach

Last night, was the opening concert for our symphony subscription series. Ironically, the symphony sent us an email several days before reminding us of the concert date and time. Of course, we've never goofed up a subscription concert - but we could have obviously used this reminder for the season opening gala concert (where we showed up 30 minutes late).

The centerpiece of last night's program was Rachmaninov's Third Piano Concerto, which is absolutely hair-raising to experience live. I think I've only heard it performed once before - the program described it as the Everest of the piano repertoire and that it is. In the first movement, there seemed some slippage rhythmically between the soloist (Barry Douglas) and orchestra - I'll be interested to see if this is mentioned in the newspaper review. The finish was completely dramatic, with Gerard Schwarz turning towards the piano and then jumping off the podium to immediately embrace Mr. Douglas.

So, that's a hard act to follow even after cooling down a bit after intermission.  The second "third" was Beethoven's Third Symphony - a piece I know through and through - and always a joy to hear live. The symphony has an adorable (sorry, he's only 22 and looks about 17!) new principal cellist who seemed completely possessed by the music.

The opening subscription concerts always start with the Star Spangled Banner. It is stirring to hear this played by the symphony every year with the whole concert hall singing along.