My first BSO Experience: woah... :) Long concert review coming up.

The people:

• Yan Pascal Tortelier: Instead of the official BSO Conductor James Levine OR Sir Andrew Davis (who was supposed to conduct this particular concert), Tortelier (son of the famous cellist Paul Tortelier) stepped up to the podium. Unfortunately, I wasn't a big fan. Hah, actually ended up avoiding looking at him because he made me crack up. My biggest pet peeve about his conducting was the fact that he was so robotic... literally -- robot arms: his arms going up and down vertically, where each of his arms was in opposite directions. And just... some riDIculous poses that were very unfitting of the moment. And I was really surprised (or maybe not...) that the orchestra stayed sooo together because his "beats" were impossible to tell. Oh well...
• BSO: the concertmaster, Malcolm Lowe, was incredible. BSO's concertmaster since 1984 (before I was born!! no wonder making it in the music world is hard; one good person steps in, and you're out of luck for the next 20+ years), and BSO's (only) tenth concertmaster ever, and the THIRD concertmaster since 1920 (wow...). He had such great bow control -- fierce attacks; really continuous lines that never ended; and soooo much gravity gluing his bow to the strings, and yet, such lightness and controlled bounciness when the music called for it. Anyway... the rest of the orchestra -- they were mostly all very good (of course!), but I did notice a few musicians that made me wonder how they ever made it to BSO... very unmotivated people playing with like an inch of their bow in the intense parts of Stravinsky's Firebird Suite... sigh. Perhaps they got tired of playing the Firebird for the gajillionth time in the past 5 years of their careers or the fact that they only had like 2 days to prepare for this entire concert since their last concert. But really, on the whole, they were fantastic. The woodwind players were awesome. Great tone... and greatly in tune, which always helps.
• Joshua Bell: I went through different phases about Joshua Bell. In high school, a few of my friends and I got into him because he was one of the more good looking violinists. Actually, he kinda looks like Tom Cruise. Then we started  obsessing over how "musical" he was (because he moved around a lot...) and about his sex face (perhaps one of his most well-recognized pictures). And I really got into his romantic concerto recordings (Tchaik, Wieniawski, Sibelius, etc). I still love his Tchaik and Sibelius over most others! :) But then I started hating the way he performed because he moved around so much in a weird/detracting way, his bow always seemed to slide around, and the combo of the two weakened the quality of his sound. And then I got into the Hilary Hahn phase for her clarity and piercing tone quality. But... it's Joshua Bell. And in a live performance, he really made it work. SO much energy and power in his performance. 

The Pieces:

• Debussy's Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun: I didn't find this too remarkable or memorable... but of course it was a typical atmospheric and Impressionistic piece. Beautiful woodwind solos and a good opening piece :) But again, Tortelier's obscure conducting really detracted me... 
• Stravinsky's The Firebird Suite (1945): Originally on the program was Stravinsky's Symphony in Three Movements, but with the change in the conductor (Sir Andrew Davis' family illness), the program changed slightly as well. But this performance was incredible. All ranges of sound effects, atmospheres, and emotions -- portrayed really very effectively. When the Infernal Dance began (after a really, really quiet ending to the previous section), a lot of people in front of me nearly jumped out of their seats, haha. And seriously, their piano was so effective, and the beginning chord of the Infernal Dance was so intense, that every time they hit that note with the timpani, it sounded like there was an explosion in the building. It was fantastic. And the epic moments in the Finale... wow. It is suuuch a demanding piece (even just technically) on the musicians, and of course everyone played it like it was nothing. It was great :)
• Brahms' Violin Concerto: Joshua Bell came up with his own cadenza... a noble goal, but about half of his cadenza seemed to have nothing to do with the rest of the concerto (other than the fact that he obviously has fluent techniques)... it was a little odd (and random). And it was a bit unfitting stylistically... hm. But otherwise, really well-executed, of course! Such fluidity and freedom in his playing! Like he can do whatever he wants to with the piece, because he can handle it. The second movement with the oboe solo was beautifully done, and the big moment at the end of this movement was breathtaking! And the final movement was really exciting. So much energy coming from him, even at this point in the performance!

The event:

• Symphony Hall: the inside is beautiful (from the outside, it looks like any other Bostonian building)!! The seats aren't thoughtfully built out, but it is a gorgeous hall. I can't comment much on the acoustics (not very knowledgeable on that one...), but it was good enough for me! I got a really good seat, 6th row center, which means I had a great view of everyone in the inner circle of the strings section and Joshua Bell (and the back of Tortelier) -- no one in the woodwinds, brass, or percussion. But that was totally okay with me!
• Being in the audience is sooo different from playing in the orchestra. But I really, really enjoyed it. I always hated accompanying in solo pieces because I've always wanted to watch the soloist and not have to focus on my part... getting to watch Joshua Bell was pretty awesome, and I wasn't so jealous of the BSO members this time ;)
• CD Signing: There was a CD signing session after the concert! Unfortunately, he couldn't pose for photographs with anyone, though passive picture-taking was allowed. I managed to get a shot with both him and I in the same frame, though it's blurry and from a bit of a distance. But that's something, right?! (Now, I will do anything to get a picture with Hilary Hahn next March. Seriously.) And I got my CD signed. And when I told him he sounded incredible, he said thanks and shook hands with me! Haha, I was really psyched.

This completely made me forget that my science in the lab isn't working :)