hp's blog

A little game I play

nobody@vox.com(hp) — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 08:32:47 -0700

We've subscribed to the Seattle Symphony for a number of years and before the beginning of each season, I enter both the concert dates and program details in my calendar. It takes some time, and I've always thought given the number of concerts in ...

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Russian Sunday

nobody@vox.com(hp) — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 10:07:43 -0800

I am normally not a fan of matinée concerts; there is something about sitting in a darkened auditorium in the middle of the day that just doesn't work for me. But, yesterday, I made an exception for the Russian National Orchestra--and I'm glad I d...

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Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2

nobody@vox.com(hp) — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 09:30:13 -0800

I need to start doing a better job of tagging my posts. I could have sworn I posted previously about the Brahms second piano concerto. But I can't seem to find it. So forgive me if I'm repeating myself. ------------------------------ This week t...

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Stephane Deneve

nobody@vox.com(hp) — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 08:39:36 -0800

An interesting evening last night at the symphony. First of all, a fantastic program, mostly French (Ravel's G Major Piano Concerto, Fauré's "Pelléas et Mélisande" Suite and Debussy's "Ibéria") with some Stravinsky (Jeu de cartes) thrown in to s...

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Awadagin Pratt

nobody@vox.com(hp) — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 07:34:44 -0700

Years ago, when the symphony played weeknights in the old opera house, we subscribed to a season that included a concert with Awadagin Pratt as soloist. These days, classical soloists wear all manner of outfits on stage. But, back then, tux-and...

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Pretty darn empty in the third tier

nobody@vox.com(hp) — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 07:27:26 -0700

Last night was our first symphony concert of the season. The program was excellent. Two favorites: Stravinsky's Pulcinella Suite and Schumann's Symphony No. 2. And one work I was not familiar with but greatly enjoyed: Bartok's Violin Concerto No....

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Mahler. Sigh.

nobody@vox.com(hp) — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 08:32:24 -0700

The last concert of the season (at least since we've been subscribing) is Mahler. Last night, it was the Mahler Third, which run an incredible 1 3/4 hours. Though our years of subscribing to the symphony, I've come to appreciate all sort of musi...

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Schumann

nobody@vox.com(hp) — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 18:33:26 -0800

We are currently listening our way through Bob Greenberg's The Symphony lecture series. I am already pretty familiar with the symphonic repertoire, so there isn't much that's earthshakeningly new -- but some nice tidbits and fresh perspectives on ...

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Five concertos in two days

nobody@vox.com(hp) — Sat, 03 Mar 2007 06:55:54 -0800

For me, one of the highlights of this year's symphony season is John Lill performing all five Beethoven piano concertos in a two-day series. Last night was the first night, which kicked it off with concertos #4 and #5 (1-3 are tonight); I'm not ...

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Here's something that might help the Symphony

nobody@vox.com(hp) — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 09:47:52 -0800

In the press, the Seattle Symphony has stated the following in justifying the price increase: Because the Third Tier has been selling out while more expensive seats on the main floor remain unsold, the Symphony administrators decided to raise Th...

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