Holiday Concert Follow-Up
Because it received so much airtime, here's a rundown on the concerts we saw this season:
1. Berlioz Symphony Fantastique: it was everything you hoped for--witches, a beheading, percussionists running around like little Mii-people being chased by aliens, and twelve-foot chimes with a stepladder. There were also the symphonic dances from West Side Story and a piece by Samuel Barber (I only know his adagio for strings, so it was nice to hear another one by him). Rob was impressed with the mute for a tuba -- looked like a 12-gallon garbage can. Our neighbor Maestro K is the best kind of conductor, and the philharmonic really rose to the occasion.
2. Vivaldi's Four Seasons, Delius's Cuckoo, and Haydn's Surprise symphony. I wanted to take the kids to see this because they were familiar with the first and last pieces (Little Einsteins comes through for us) and I thought it would help their violin practice to see an orchestra live. Maestro K did another great job of explaining the pieces to novices (so useful to have students in the audience, scribbling notes for their inevitable papers and extra credit reports!) and he diviied up the seasons with 12 soloists. Maddie was definitely impressed. But despite having been taken just before the performance, from mid-Spring on, Will needed to use the facilities. They are both firm believers now in intermission. Rob kept them entertained during the second half playing composer hangman and drawing cartoons about Haydn and the sleeping king. I was pleased that by the next morning, the kids were pretty enthusiastic about it in their retelling to Sebi. But they asked "why did they have to be so long?!" Rob and I understood the point after attending Maddie's holiday concert where they performed 5 pieces in as many minutes.
3. Symphonic band. It was a revelation. Rob said "I didn't think you could get any geekier than orchestra. Little did I know." We left at intermission and got dessert (there were no coconut shells to keep us!).
4. The Motab Spectacular: we have been to this now for several years. We've seen Frederica von Stade, Audra McDonald, Renee Fleming, Bryn Terfel, and the King Singers (we were in Berlin for Sissel). Last night we saw Brian Stokes Mitchell, who has a phenomenal voice. It was the first time we took kids with us, since the minimum age is 8. But we're going to take a hiatus. It is just too much trouble to leave young kids for so long and to descend on the same city block with 21,000 other people. We were too late leaving this year, and the kids were so upset that we were going to miss the show. Maddie was crying and squealing, and Will was banging his head against the car seat. Rob and I were pretty philosophical about the whole thing, but I guess after enough train and plane trips, we've trained our kids to panic. The parking permit was a red herring, and we were just minutes too late to get in the door. Rob and I wanted to junk the whole enterprise and get some great dessert, but the heartbroken kids convinced us to try overflow seating in the tabernacle.
It was much better than the real thing. You can bring little kids. It's prettier than the Supernacle and doesn't have any cheesy decorations. The ushers are much nicer. You can show up right at 7:30 and there are still plenty of seats. And when Will decides he needs to go to the bathroom again 5 minutes after you took him, you can leave. We made it through Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring and ducked out before the organ solos or scriptural readings, which we knew would be dealbreakers for kidlets. They had their fill and got to see the bell-ringing, road-show-dancing, cow-lowing part, and then walk around and see the lights on temple square. We're definitely fans of the simulacrum in this case. And we each had a different favorite song: Rob's was Jesu; Maddie's was Through Heaven's Eyes; mine was the gentle beasts, and Will's was . . . Sleigh Ride! Ba dum DUM!
1. Berlioz Symphony Fantastique: it was everything you hoped for--witches, a beheading, percussionists running around like little Mii-people being chased by aliens, and twelve-foot chimes with a stepladder. There were also the symphonic dances from West Side Story and a piece by Samuel Barber (I only know his adagio for strings, so it was nice to hear another one by him). Rob was impressed with the mute for a tuba -- looked like a 12-gallon garbage can. Our neighbor Maestro K is the best kind of conductor, and the philharmonic really rose to the occasion.
2. Vivaldi's Four Seasons, Delius's Cuckoo, and Haydn's Surprise symphony. I wanted to take the kids to see this because they were familiar with the first and last pieces (Little Einsteins comes through for us) and I thought it would help their violin practice to see an orchestra live. Maestro K did another great job of explaining the pieces to novices (so useful to have students in the audience, scribbling notes for their inevitable papers and extra credit reports!) and he diviied up the seasons with 12 soloists. Maddie was definitely impressed. But despite having been taken just before the performance, from mid-Spring on, Will needed to use the facilities. They are both firm believers now in intermission. Rob kept them entertained during the second half playing composer hangman and drawing cartoons about Haydn and the sleeping king. I was pleased that by the next morning, the kids were pretty enthusiastic about it in their retelling to Sebi. But they asked "why did they have to be so long?!" Rob and I understood the point after attending Maddie's holiday concert where they performed 5 pieces in as many minutes.
3. Symphonic band. It was a revelation. Rob said "I didn't think you could get any geekier than orchestra. Little did I know." We left at intermission and got dessert (there were no coconut shells to keep us!).
4. The Motab Spectacular: we have been to this now for several years. We've seen Frederica von Stade, Audra McDonald, Renee Fleming, Bryn Terfel, and the King Singers (we were in Berlin for Sissel). Last night we saw Brian Stokes Mitchell, who has a phenomenal voice. It was the first time we took kids with us, since the minimum age is 8. But we're going to take a hiatus. It is just too much trouble to leave young kids for so long and to descend on the same city block with 21,000 other people. We were too late leaving this year, and the kids were so upset that we were going to miss the show. Maddie was crying and squealing, and Will was banging his head against the car seat. Rob and I were pretty philosophical about the whole thing, but I guess after enough train and plane trips, we've trained our kids to panic. The parking permit was a red herring, and we were just minutes too late to get in the door. Rob and I wanted to junk the whole enterprise and get some great dessert, but the heartbroken kids convinced us to try overflow seating in the tabernacle.
It was much better than the real thing. You can bring little kids. It's prettier than the Supernacle and doesn't have any cheesy decorations. The ushers are much nicer. You can show up right at 7:30 and there are still plenty of seats. And when Will decides he needs to go to the bathroom again 5 minutes after you took him, you can leave. We made it through Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring and ducked out before the organ solos or scriptural readings, which we knew would be dealbreakers for kidlets. They had their fill and got to see the bell-ringing, road-show-dancing, cow-lowing part, and then walk around and see the lights on temple square. We're definitely fans of the simulacrum in this case. And we each had a different favorite song: Rob's was Jesu; Maddie's was Through Heaven's Eyes; mine was the gentle beasts, and Will's was . . . Sleigh Ride! Ba dum DUM!
Comments
And Jennette, I'm glad that you think we do cultural things. Because at the end of Christmas vacation, we were fresh out of ideas and so we went to Jumpin' Jacks (a warehouse full of inflatable things to bounce on). The kids loved it, but we were SO APPALLED by everything -- the clientele most of all. Kids keep asking when we're going back and Rob and I just look at each other and silently scream "NEVER!"