The second great orchestra in our series, the BRSO, performed in Verizon Hall last night. Led by Chief Conductor Mariss Jansons, the orchestra performed works by Shostakovich and Beethoven. The BRSO made their debut at the Kimmel Center in 2003, under the direction of Lorin Maazel. Maestro Jansons made his debut one year earlier with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Is there anyone out there who could compare all three performances? Or, if you've just been to last night's performance, what did you think?
Read the Inquirer's review and a profile of Maestro Jansons.
Last night's show was fantastic. Can anyone tell me the names of the encore pieces? Thanks!!!!
It's taken a few people in our office to try and translate the notes on the BRSO's encores, but here's what we've come up with:
DVORAK: Slavonic Dances, No. 15
STRAUSS: Rosenkavalier Zugabe (the piece that was played was the very last part of the Waltz sequence).
If anyone knows what "Zugabe" means for a German classical audience, please post. The literal translation is "an addition or improvement" so I'm wondering if this is the word that Germans use instead of lollipops. (American audiences sometimes call the encores "lollipops.")
We had a wonderful experience at this concert. Our seats afforded us excellent views of the conductor and the strings and, of course, the sound was excellent. The BRSO travels with 8 double bases (a nice surprise) and we could directly observe their work.
I don't get to see live classical music often, so each time I'm initially taken aback at how physical one of these performances really is. I subsequently read the review of this performance in the Inquirer and discovered that the physicality of the musicians was particularly energetic in this case. This part of the experience would be lost on a CD or even on TV.
The audience applauded wildly which resulted in two or three encores so it seems a pleasant evening was enjoyed by all.
"Zugabe" simply means "encore"