Was yesterday some kind of national holiday? We were surprised at the National Symphony Orchestra concert when the conductor came out, took his initial bow, then immediately launched the orchestra into a rendition of the National Anthem. I've been to dozens of NSO concerts, and this is not their normal procedure.
Everyone, having just settled in and having arranged their bags and heavy winter overcoats around them and on their laps, had to stand up and figure out what to do with all their stuff.
Once our patriotic duty was done, though, the orchestra settled down to play an all-French musical concert, beginning with a work by a living composer, then doing a 1930 work, then an 1830 work.
The opening work was certainly the most interesting of the evening. "Apex" is a work of the profilic French composer Pascal Dusapin. It's very modern and abstract, a collection of tone clusters and swells of sound one might called organized noise.
Chinese pianist Lundi Li provided the entertainment for the featured work of the evening as he played the very difficult Ravel Piano Concerto in G Major. Generally I only like the first movement, which reminds me of the jazz influences of the major classical works of George Gershwin. The middle, slow movement was interesting, though, and Li's work can best be described as placid. Then he moved into the bombastic final movement and we finally got to see some emotion from the piano.
After the intermission, they played Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14.
The symphony played well under the baton of Emmanuel Krivine.
Oh, did I mention the audience kept applauding between movements?
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