Nicely Played

(From 5/4)

Last night I went to the Mariinsky for a Shostakovich concert. He was only one of five different pieces, however. This is what the program looked like:

Igor Stravinsky (Symphony in C)

Alexander Glazunov (Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 82)

Dmitry Shostakovich (Cello Concerto No. 2 in G Major, Op. 126)

Felix Mendelssohn (Symphony No. 4 in A Major Italian, Op. 90)

Maurice Ravel (Bolèro). 

I know nothing about music, and I just learned who Shostakovich was right before my trip (thanks, Neilan), so I won’t pretend to know what I’m talking about when it comes to whatever it is that composers, conductors and orchestras do exactly. I will tell you though, that from what I remember, the Stravinsky piece was my favorite, but only by a hair. The Ravel was an exceptionally awesome piece to end with. Will Watkins (who was supposed to go to the concert with me, but who, sadly, is in the hospital for having fractured his knee from playing soccer the other night) told me that it was a crowd pleaser, and that I’ve probably heard the Bolèro before, and he was right about both. It was one of those pieces that started out really quiet and soft, only to become increasingly more loud and complicated. More and more instruments kept on being added to this one beat, and by the end, the theater was exploding with sound. I actually wholeheartedly recommend finding this piece on iTunes or YouTube and listening to it now. It has a very happy sound that just keeps getting better and better!

The Shostakovich piece (why I was there in the first place) I thought was very enjoyable. It had a lot of different, err, “sections” to it, and some of them were really intense. It all had overall a pretty dark undertone, and there were a few really loud outbreaks (what language am I using here? How does one describe music?) that took me off guard. During the Shostakovich I distinctly remember envisioning some masked sleuth weave in between city buildings, and how, if this vigilante or whatever were to have some sort of soundtrack or background music, that this piece would do well. It was quite... sinister and mischievous, if I may. 

The concert lasted until almost midnight, but by the time I made it to the bus stop across the street, it was still light out. I overheard three people around my age speaking English right next to me, and after I listened for a British or Australian accent and detected none, I went right up to them and asked “so, where are you guys from?” Turns out, they’re all from UC Boulder here to study Russian through CIEE’s summer program. They all seemed nice and we chit chatted for a while before I hopped on the 6 bus home. 

Today was pretty uneventful; I cancelled my Megafon contract (without any communication problems woo hoo!), went to the bank, used the internet at Smolny, and then met up with the guys to play soccer at 3 pm. 

I think I’m going to start packing tomorrow. CRAZY.