# going to my second live performance....



## SPR (Nov 12, 2008)

I have not seen very many serious performances live... just ordered tickets to a Boston Symphony Orchestra performance in a few weeks... and got decent seats - at least I think so. 1/2 way back - orchestra level - exact center.

I'm excited. 

I dont know the Strauss piece... I will have to go out and get one and give it a listen.

STRAUSS 
Suite from Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme

MOZART
Violin Concerto No. 5 in A

MOZART
Symphony No. 35 in D, K.385, Haffner

http://www.bso.org/bso/mods/perf_detail.jsp?pid=prod3240140

"BSO Conductor Emeritus Bernard Haitink returns for the final two weeks of the 2009-10 season to lead Greek-born violinist Leonidas Kavakos and the BSO in Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 5, the last and heftiest of the composer's concertos for the instrument. Mozart composed what was to become the vigorous Haffner Symphony as a six-movement serenade for the Haffner family, later extracting four movements to make a symphony for performance in Vienna. Richard Strauss's Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme Suite assembles incidental music written in 1912 for a collaboration with Hugo von Hofmannsthal involving Molière's 1670 play of the same name."


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## Jaime77 (Jun 29, 2009)

nice one! I like the haffner and violin concerto no.5 is the best of the set imo. dont know the strauss either... enjoy this


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

I'm beginning to wonder where Bernard Haitink is not conductor emeritus...

That looks like a pretty good program for Mozart lovers. I tend to really like Leonidas Kavakos anyway.


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## SPR (Nov 12, 2008)

thanks... I have not been in perhaps 10 years... this is the first time since I have have been seriously listening to classical music - and have never been inside of symphony hall Boston. I know I am going to hear this with *very* different ears and understanding.

I did find "Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme" just now and picked this up at Borders (Chicago Symphony)
http://www.amazon.com/Richard-Strauss-Symphonia-Domestica-Hybrid/dp/B000QEIMC8

And though I have a couple of versions of Mozarts pieces I also picked up Andrew Manze / English Symphony Violin Concertos 3-5:
http://www.amazon.com/Mozart-Violin...r_1_10?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1269884151&sr=1-10

as well as Karajan Berlin Philharmonica Symphonies 35-41...
http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=7960

I'd like to know these pieces very well before I go.


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## SPR (Nov 12, 2008)

World Violist said:


> I'm beginning to wonder where Bernard Haitink is not conductor emeritus...


I see that. His bio makes him look like a Rock Star.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Haitink

Leonidas Kavakos has some serous chops as well... Very much looking forward to seeing him play. I have never heard him but by all accounts he is spectacular. I really love the violin - in the right hands - I think it is a peerless instrument.
http://www.intermusica.co.uk/artists/Violin-Viola/Leonidas-Kavakos/biography

"Leonidas Kavakos plays the 'Falmouth' Stradivarius of 1692 and a Giovanni Battista Guadagnini of 1782 (Torino)." (from above link)


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

SPR said:


> I'd like to know these pieces very well before I go.


It's funny - last time I went to a live concert I really enjoyed the pieces I didn't know better than the well known Beethoven's 3rd. The unknown pieces seemed fresh and exciting while the Beethoven seemed phoned in.

Just a thought that you may not want to know them _too _well. Of course there may be a big difference between the Nashville Symphony and the Boston Symphony with Bernard Haitink.

Either way, enjoy the show!


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## Chi_townPhilly (Apr 21, 2007)

I hope you have a great time.

For some time now, I've been wanting to see the Boston Symphony Orchestra at its Symphony Hall home (I've seen them- just not _there_). Maybe next year...


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## SPR (Nov 12, 2008)

Boston Symphony Hall - Where does it rank?

4th?
http://www.helium.com/items/795677-the-best-classical-concert-halls-and-venues-in-the-us

1st?
http://www.helium.com/items/800110-the-best-classical-concert-halls-and-venues-in-the-us

'one of the best'?
http://www.helium.com/items/800110-the-best-classical-concert-halls-and-venues-in-the-us

Frankly, I have no idea. I'm pleased to see that it isnt listed as 'yucky'.  Looks nice too.


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

Egad, that place looks like a cathedral! Amazing... I want to go there (for a day, never to live there...)


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## Chi_townPhilly (Apr 21, 2007)

SPR said:


> Boston Symphony Hall - Where does it rank?


It's widely considered to be one of the most acoustically excellent venues in the Western Hemisphere, if not the world. An excerpt from Libbey's 'NPR Listener's Encyclopedia' is characteristic of the general run of comments I've seen:



> Designed by architect Charles F. McKim, it was the first concert hall in America to be built in consultation with an acoustical engineer. It's classic shoe box shape and excellent natural reverberation contribute to an ambience that is considered one of the finest in the world.


And (if it's not veering too much off-topic) the list that contained Avery Fisher Hall at the top is DEFINITELY a minority opinion. It's pretty much universally conceded that Avery Fisher Hall was an acoustic step _backwards_ from Carnegie Hall.


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## SPR (Nov 12, 2008)

...one more comment... I am always surprised that someone can actually _play_ a wood instrument that is 300+ years old. 1692? Yikes.


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## SPR (Nov 12, 2008)

DOH! *Program Change!!*

I was very much looking forward to the V.Concerto. Looks like we get a Horn Concerto instead. The following message just received from the BSO.


============================

Dear patron,
Violinist Leonidas Kavakos is unable to perform with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in this week's program (April 22-27, 2010) due to travel difficulties caused by volcanic ash over Europe. BSO principal horn James Sommerville will perform Mozart's Horn Concerto No. 2, replacing the originally scheduled Mozart Violin Concerto No. 5 in A. Bernard Haitink will conduct as scheduled. The rest of the program remains as announced.

Here is the complete program information:

Bernard Haitink, conductor
James Sommerville, horn

STRAUSS Suite from "Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme"
MOZART Horn Concerto No. 2
MOZART Symphony No. 35 in D, K.385, "Haffner"


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