Musical Musings Mostly
To start the weekend well, belmarion and I went to a concert yesterday. I saw posters earlier this week, and when it turned out I'd have the Friday evening free, I immediately went and bought the tickets. It was a bit late, so the places weren't that great - I would have liked to sit a bit further away from the orchestra, for instance - but it was a very enjoyable evening.
It was also my first concert in a year... Eh, where are those times when I used to go to the concert hall every week or every other week? I thought that moving to Kraków would mean more visits, not less. Alas, I don't much like the pieces that are being chosen for the concerts. Or maybe I should say I don't feel particularly inclined to go and listen to them. It seems every concert has to have some 20th century music, which I am not fond of. If it was like 1 piece from 20th century and two others (it's rarely more than 3 in any given concert) from earlier periods, I'd consider going more often but usually it's the other way around.
This week however, the choice was Haydn's Symphony no.88 in G major, Brahms's Variations on a Theme by Joseph Haydn, Waltz of the Flowers from Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker Suite and Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 1 in D major, so I decided I'd go. Had a lovely time, even if Prokofiev was a bit much for me at times (very few, though).
Butbutbut... as we were leaving, I spotted a poster for next week's concerts, of which I previously knew nothing about. Well, I knew they were going to take place but there was only the mysterious "Kraków's Spring of Music" title at the website. And...
...there are going to be 2 different concerts (so unlike the usual same thing Friday and Saturday). On Friday there will be Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor and his Variations on a Rococo theme as well as Mozart's Flute Concerto No. 1 in G Major. See me grinning madly, especially for the first two pieces? And on Saturday we shall have Schumann's Piano Concerto in A minor, a piece by Alexandre Guilmant (forgot what exactly *looks sheepish*) which would finally allow me to hear the organs in the concert hall, and Shostakovich's Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor. Now Saturday is a bit tricky - the 2nd and 3rd piece are 20th century music. While I am fairly certain I'd enjoy the organ piece, I am not so sure about the violin concerto. At one point I just stopped listening to 20th century composers (unless I already knew and liked the piece), so... Thoughts, anyone? To go or not to go?
Niggsy, maybe your Dad has the violin concerto on CD, so you could listen to it and share your opinion? I don't know if I'm going to be able to go at all (work, grr!), so this might be a moot point but I'd like to know anyway. And if there's a piece of 20th century classical music any of you think I should listen to, do tell me. I'll try to hunt it down.
Oh, and a couple of totally random things. I was looking at headphones today (well, if you go through 5 sets in two weeks...) at Media Markt and a girl asked me if I'd be willing to "experience Windows Vista" or something like that. LOOOOL :D If I wasn't in a hurry and a less-kindhearted person than I am, I'd certainly give it a go, if only to see how fast I could crash it. *snickers*
I also got told that my Spanish was impressive, by a native speaker, no less. It isn't, not really, mostly for lack of real practice (watching one Spanish telenovela - only because I haven't go access to anything else, honest - can only help you so much to stay in touch with the language) but it's still nice to hear. And I got in touch with a girl from Chile, we are to start pen friendship soon (as soon as I will write her a letter :D), so I'll get to practice writing again. I still hope to continue classes at Instituto Cervantes at some point, but when will it be?
It was also my first concert in a year... Eh, where are those times when I used to go to the concert hall every week or every other week? I thought that moving to Kraków would mean more visits, not less. Alas, I don't much like the pieces that are being chosen for the concerts. Or maybe I should say I don't feel particularly inclined to go and listen to them. It seems every concert has to have some 20th century music, which I am not fond of. If it was like 1 piece from 20th century and two others (it's rarely more than 3 in any given concert) from earlier periods, I'd consider going more often but usually it's the other way around.
This week however, the choice was Haydn's Symphony no.88 in G major, Brahms's Variations on a Theme by Joseph Haydn, Waltz of the Flowers from Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker Suite and Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 1 in D major, so I decided I'd go. Had a lovely time, even if Prokofiev was a bit much for me at times (very few, though).
Butbutbut... as we were leaving, I spotted a poster for next week's concerts, of which I previously knew nothing about. Well, I knew they were going to take place but there was only the mysterious "Kraków's Spring of Music" title at the website. And...
...there are going to be 2 different concerts (so unlike the usual same thing Friday and Saturday). On Friday there will be Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor and his Variations on a Rococo theme as well as Mozart's Flute Concerto No. 1 in G Major. See me grinning madly, especially for the first two pieces? And on Saturday we shall have Schumann's Piano Concerto in A minor, a piece by Alexandre Guilmant (forgot what exactly *looks sheepish*) which would finally allow me to hear the organs in the concert hall, and Shostakovich's Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor. Now Saturday is a bit tricky - the 2nd and 3rd piece are 20th century music. While I am fairly certain I'd enjoy the organ piece, I am not so sure about the violin concerto. At one point I just stopped listening to 20th century composers (unless I already knew and liked the piece), so... Thoughts, anyone? To go or not to go?
Niggsy, maybe your Dad has the violin concerto on CD, so you could listen to it and share your opinion? I don't know if I'm going to be able to go at all (work, grr!), so this might be a moot point but I'd like to know anyway. And if there's a piece of 20th century classical music any of you think I should listen to, do tell me. I'll try to hunt it down.
Oh, and a couple of totally random things. I was looking at headphones today (well, if you go through 5 sets in two weeks...) at Media Markt and a girl asked me if I'd be willing to "experience Windows Vista" or something like that. LOOOOL :D If I wasn't in a hurry and a less-kindhearted person than I am, I'd certainly give it a go, if only to see how fast I could crash it. *snickers*
I also got told that my Spanish was impressive, by a native speaker, no less. It isn't, not really, mostly for lack of real practice (watching one Spanish telenovela - only because I haven't go access to anything else, honest - can only help you so much to stay in touch with the language) but it's still nice to hear. And I got in touch with a girl from Chile, we are to start pen friendship soon (as soon as I will write her a letter :D), so I'll get to practice writing again. I still hope to continue classes at Instituto Cervantes at some point, but when will it be?