Wish you were there...

...for the rehearsal for the Piano-e-competition on Thursday afternoon. The kid were great - all poised and prepared, a few quite exceptional - but the kicker was when the orchestra finished with the concertos and went to work on Tchaikovsky's Symphony #5. If you recall, towards the end of the last movement, there's a huge cadence in B major; repeated chords, ending in a full stop, before the triumphant return of the theme in E major. I've certainly sat through (and, once, conducted) performances where the audience, perhaps a bit antsy after 40-some-odd minutes and believing that the end has been reached, starts applauding wildly in the grand pause.

Sam and I have remarked many times on the Minnesota Orchestra's sense of humor, which was abundantly evident that afternoon. When we reached that cadence point in the symphony during rehearsal, the entire orchestra started hooting and hollering and applauding in the grand pause. Instruments were raised, wolf whistles made; one violinist even half-stood up. What I found most amazing in this display of mirth was that not a single musician missed a beat after the outburst, and the movement was completed as if nothing had ever happened.

Just as with the "I didn't do it!" instrument raise, it was an instinctive and spontaneous moment, and funny as hell. I'm telling you, this orchestra has quite the sense of humor...