A night with the DSO...

Roy's seminary sometimes receives tickets for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra early in the week for that weekend's performances. Then, they proceed to give them to students for free! This was the first weekend of DSO's Classical Series for this year. We dressed up, looking quite spiffy, and headed out for a night of music. We picked up our tickets at will call and I was shocked to see ORCHESTRA written on them. Free tickets and we get to sit on the floor? Awesome.

They opened with Barber's Adagio for Strings as a tribute to their Chorus Director who passed away a couple weeks ago from a battle with cancer. Although I am not usually a big fan of strings, I have come to love that song over the years. They played it with such beauty and passion, I just closed my eyes and let myself soak in the sound. Beautiful.

They closed the first half with another Barber piece, Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 14. The solo was played by Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, a talented, eccentric musician. She came onto stage wearing bright red, velvety looking pants and a sequined sleeveless top that she kept adjusting during her rests. Her facial expressions and movements were... special. I honestly found her quite distracting, so I tried not to watch her too much lest I spend the whole time thinking how queer she seemed and totally miss the music! However, her skills were excellent. I wasn't a huge fan of the piece, but she left no inch of those strings untouched and did a magnificent job.

At intermission, I found out that this was Roy's first experience with a professional orchestra... which totally blew my mind! I'm glad he is now able to say he is a bit more cultured... and he enjoyed it too!

After intermission, they finished the evening with Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4 in F minor. Wow. The four movement piece showcased all sections of the orchestra, but the brass fanfares that opened the piece, and came back to close it as well, were fabulous. All of the wind instruments were featured in some way, especially the woodwinds. I just love hearing the unique timbres of oboes and bassoons played well! I've heard so many badly played ones in my life... And I must say, eight basses?! And two of them were women :D Awesome. The final movement, Finale: Allegro con fuoco, was a flurry of notes and a sound bath... go find it somewhere online and listen to it. It won't be the same as in person, but still.

And one quick prop to the conductor... Jaap van Zweden, besides having a sweet name, was an impressive conductor as well. His beat pattern was often recognizable, and he was exciting to watch. Yet, he wasn't too over the top or eccentric with his patterns and gestures.

So all in all, good night of music. As usual, makes me want to practice again. And it makes me grateful for a God who's creativity extends farther than I could imagine to create something so amazingly wonderful as music.