After Hours: Friday Edition
Well, now. Two shows and one abjectly terrifying live radio broadcast in the books, and here we are at After Hours. Your turn, Friday crowd: whether you attended tonight's concert at Orchestra Hall, or listened in on Minnesota Public Radio, let us hear your reaction down in the comments. (One caveat for you radio listeners - please let us know that you heard the show on MPR rather than in person, just to help us gauge how we did at adapting what is normally a highly visual concert experience for radio.)
We really have been blown away by how strong the support for this series has been, especially this year, when money is tight everywhere and we're all looking for ways to cut back on spending. So whatever you thought of our take on Beethoven, thanks for being a part of it, and I hope we'll see you all back at Orchestra Hall in January...
We really have been blown away by how strong the support for this series has been, especially this year, when money is tight everywhere and we're all looking for ways to cut back on spending. So whatever you thought of our take on Beethoven, thanks for being a part of it, and I hope we'll see you all back at Orchestra Hall in January...
Labels: after hours, audience feedback
posted by Sam at
8:45 PM
12 Comments:
I thoroughly enjoyed this evening's concert! I had a subscription to last year's ITC and loved that I came away not only having heard a rich orchestral piece but having learned something about the composer and the composition. My favorite part of this evening was the interview with the trombonist. I liked learning about the historical aspect of the instrument and hearing from another orchestra member besides just Sam and Sarah (though I do love that badinage). Thanks for another delightful concert!
I had the night off and was happy to remember the band was on the air. I tuned in just to hear Sarah playing a bit of the development of the Pastoral and arguing for her idea that Beethoven was the first minimalist composer. Moments later, I was inside the Mall of America passing by Hulk Hogan doing an autograph signing for a recent book of his.
Is this a great country or what?
My wife and I both loved the Inside Classics idea. We've been to plenty of Minnesota Orchestra concerts through the years but never an IC one. My wife enjoys getting headphones at museums so she can get the commentary on art pieces. She likened the concert to this experience. When I was a teen, I had spent my hard-earned money on a boxed set of no-name orchestra, Beethoven symphonies. The Pastoral Symphony was always one of my favorites. This is the first time I've heard it live. I am so fortunate to live in a city with a great orchestra. Besides hearing a great piece, live, I've got a forward-thinking orchestral organization that gives me a little background on the artist/composition with singer and instrument history icings. Keep up the awesome work!
My wife and I have been going to Inside the Classics since the beginning, and this was the best "preview period" yet. It covered so many different aspects (the composer himself, his time in history, other compositions, a highlighted instrument, a related composition with guest musicians, musical theory, etc.) It was educational/entertaining, and makes listening to the 2nd half music much more meaningful.
Great work Sarah/Sam/MN Orchestra.
This was my first time seeing the MO and it was a great experience. It was meaningful to hear Beethoven's 6th because I had the chance to go to Vienna this past summer and actually took a Beethoven walk and see the babbling brook where he got much inspiration for composing and the beautiful scenery in general. Thanks for performing this great work! It sounded amazing!
Thanks Sam and Sarah,
You both obviously put a lot into the prep and performance. My wife and I are fairly new to classical music, so we always enjoy the pre/post concert discussions as well as the performance itself. Each year we subscribe to a few more concerts and have really enjoyed the addition of Inside the Classics. We also hope that the live broadcast will introduce more folks to the Minnesota Orchestra. We look forward to the other Inside the Classic concerts.
I attended the performance last night (Friday) along with my teenage daughter and a friend of hers. All three of us left Orchestra Hall feeling that we were treated to something very special, and can't wait to attend the next Inside the Classics performance. The piano and voice piece was awesome as well. Thank you Sarah, Sam, and the Orchestra.
We've been seen all of the Inside the Classic concerts so far, and love the format.
As always, it was informative and entertaining- great job Sam and Sarah, as usual. My 13 year old music-geek son was disappointed that it was a little light on music theory this time.
Also, none of us were crazy about the song in the first half (Schubert, I think)- it seemed out of place, too long, and, frankly, too operatic for our tastes.
Still, we can't wait until the next installment- great job as always!
Sarah and Sam:
Well done. Thursday evening was our first time attending ITC, and we loved it. I thought it was a unique approach to making classical music more accessible to audiences and breaking down the barriers between conductor/orchestra and the audience. I blogged about our experience today -- check it out: http://www.cultivatingyourcustomers.com/2009/11/01/now-youre-playing-my-music/
Sarah and Sam:
Well done. Thursday evening was our first time attending ITC, and we loved it. I thought it was a unique approach to making classical music more accessible to audiences and breaking down the barriers between conductor/orchestra and the audience. I blogged about our experience today -- check it out: http://www.cultivatingyourcustomers.com/2009/11/01/now-youre-playing-my-music/
Congratulations once again! I enjoyed this concert very much, though I could understand where some of the negative comments come from.
I think the theory portion was so seamless with the rest of the evening, many people didn't even notice it! Also since the theory portion morphed into a discussion about forms and compositional techniques, it seemed less overtly theory-ish, for lack of a better word. Theoretical? Not quite right, either.
As a singer, it was great fun to hear the Schubert, though I think a slightly shorter, more expressive one might have been found. By the time the piece was done, I couldn't remember what idea it was supposed to highlight and why it was tied to the Pastoral.
One of the things I like most about these concerts is when you tie other pieces (either from the same composer or, even better, other composers). While there was some of this, you only played excerpts from the Pastoral in the last third of the first half (so the third sixth of the evening? Oy.). Maybe instead of talking so much about the earthiness of the duple portion of the scherzo, you could have contrasted it with an orchestral transcription of Beethoven's Minuet in G (minus Harold Hill). Or had a trombone choir (high school students?) play a brief antiphonal example to show the kind of music they were more frequently used for (of course, that means more trombonists wandering through the halls of Orchestra, um, Hall).
I also love hearing other orchestra members talk about their instruments and their history. Intellectually I knew that the trombone design hadn't been changed the way other brass instruments did with the invention of valves, but hearing it from Mr. Wright really helped drive home the point and made me think about this fact in a very different way.
Bottom line, thanks once again for a very enjoyable evening at the orchestra and for all the work you put into these concerts, finding other musicians and examples/excerpts. I can't wait for the Debussy!
My wife and I have attended all of the ITC concerts and absolutely love them. This was the best one yet as I actually understood what was happening (my wife is a musician and tries to explain things to me later, but a lot is Greek to me). We both agree that these concerts remind us of the Leonard Slatkin Rug Concerts from years-ago Sommerfests - great times.
The after-concert Q & A brought up a thought for the future. Someone in the audience asked what the sound of the Pastoral would have been like in Beethoven's time. You stated it would have been softer as the instruments used then were not as versatile as today's instruments. We think that hearing period instruments at some future iteration of Inside the Classics would be helpful in understanding the music and how it has changed over the years.
Keep up the excellent work. We are attendees for life!
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