night out

[oracne]

Writing is going to be shot to hell this week because I have two rehearsals and a concert, so I figured I might as well take last night off. Tom Purdom, a music reviewer as well as sf writer, had offered me a free ticket to see the Curtis Institute's student orchestra at the Kimmel Center last night, under the baton of Alan Gilbert. Tom had seen Gilbert conduct as a student and thought he was amazing. (barbarienne, he's been hired by the NY Philharmonic.) I thought Gilbert was totally fun to watch. I liked the way he gathered in the orchestra's attention before he began and how, when there were solo lines, he let the soloists do their job and concentrated on keeping the rest of it together. That wasn't always an easy job, as the student orchestra is very large.

My favorite piece was the final one of the evening, Nielsen's Symphony No. 3, "Sinfonia espansiva." I plan to seek out recordings of Nielsen's work.