Saturday at the Symphony

Last Saturday, The Dulcinea and I headed to Milwaukee to catch the symphony. Before doing so, however, we stopped at Miss Pamela's place. We caught her lounging on the couch watching Metropolis while Bill was futzing about – painting perhaps. Pam looked well – she's not very pregnant yet. The four of us retired to the living room and watched the end of Metropolis. She and I caught some clips of it a couple years ago when we went to the Milwaukee Art Museum. They were doing an exhibition on German Expressionism and had a display showing parts of Metropolis. Watching it, I was struck by how much of it was in Blade Runner. The shadows, the robotic woman lead, the class distinctions, and the fight at the end of both films on roofs. When the film was done, we headed over to a local Oaxacan restaurant where we stuffed our gobs. I had the common chocolate-peanut mole which was excellent! I think we were all quite full when Pam started talking up the flan and so we ordered dessert. The flan was also excellent. We let our guts settle for a while before we had to run lest we miss the symphony.

Our seats were in the middle of the ground floor. I had wanted to attend because they were doing Pictures at an Exhibition. Here is what the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has to say about the piece:

Pictures at an Exhibition was written as a group of pieces for piano in 1874. The pictures were mainly watercolours, painted by Victor Hartman, a friend of Mussorgsky, who had died the previous year.

The piece is a musical description of walking around an exhibition of Hartman's paintings. A recurring 'Promenade' movement represents the visitor. Each of the pieces has a movement conjuring up the mood invoked by the picture, or in some cases even painting the picture in music.

Unfortunately, many of the original pictures no longer exist and Mussorgsky's music is all we have to remember them by.

…

Although Pictures at an Exhibition was originally written for piano, it owes a lot of its popularity to the orchestral arrangement made of it by Maurice Ravel. He brought different colours to the piece, using, for example, a soprano saxophone to play Schmuyle's theme. This is not a widely used orchestral instrument, but it gives the feeling of Schmuyle talking with a high, nasal voice; something the piano cannot do.

Also on the program that night were Don Juan, Tone Poem, Opus 20 by Richard Strauss & a brand new piece of music composed by Roberto Sierra: Sinfonia No. 3, "La Salsa". The piece was commissioned for the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and completed earlier this year. Sierra is Puerto Rican and the piece incorporates elements of Afro-Caribbean music. It has 4 movements and I enjoyed the last 3. The first just sounded too cheesy. As if the Eau Claire Chamber Rock Orchestra were doing Tito Puente. The movement sounded as if an orchestra were doing a salsa piece as opposed to an orchestra playing classical music that incorporates elements of salsa. Sierra was present and came out to thunderous applause after the piece had been performed. This was followed by the intermission.

I was getting anxious and the boys in the band finally returned after what seemed like forever and wasted no time. They took their seats and launched into it. The performance was fantastic! You know it's good when the brass parts are making your body vibrate! I have to admit I was surprised that The Dulcinea had never heard it previously although I did think she said that she recognized the first part, "Promenade". "Gnomus" and "The Hut on Fowl's Legs" were very powerful and stunning. I believe that The Dulcinea's eyes watered during the final part, "The Great Gate of Kiev". I was introduced to Pictures via Emerson, Lake, and Palmer's variation of it. The band recorded it during a concert from December of 1970 and their take on the masterpiece includes some original material and (gasp!) some lyrics. Because of this, I sat there listening to the symphony fighting Greg Lake's singing in my head. Luckily I was victorious.

The Dulcinea enjoyed the performance quite a bit. Unfortunately, we won't be heading to the symphony together again until next year. In the meantime, I'm heading back to Milwaukee in November to see Carmina Burana with lyrics full of Latiny goodness about the fickleness of fortune, the ephemeral nature of life, the joy of the return of spring, and the pleasures of drinking, gluttony, gambling, and lust.