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On Sunday, our friends Jen and Mark took us to the symphony. The bill:

Wagner - Overture to Faust
Brahms - Symphony No.3
Adams - Harmonium

Obviously, I went for the second half. On the way to that, I was pleasantly surprised by their performances of the Wagner and Brahms - really sensitive in the adagio and tight in the allegretto. In a word: Nice. Maybe that should be a given, but the last time I took in a BPO performance was less than this stellar. My hopes were held high for part deux.

Now, for a matinee performance, I didn't expect high energy. A local college choir was singing the vocal score. There were a lot of youngish-looking extras in the percussion section. I didn't expect much except to hear a rendition of the Adams classic, and that was going to be good enough.

First, the bitchy part: Some really strange and avoidable stuff stuck out - deadened almglocken, too-big suspended cymbals that didn't match the orchestral timbre, "unison" timpani and bass drum hits that had 0.7% chance of being together (the odds prevailed), and some balance issues - whoooo some balance issues. All in all, this was a lot of score and a lot of orchestra, with a lot of the conductor stooping into said score and hanging onto his baton for dear life. I don't blame him - there's a lot to lose when you get a couple hundred people on a stage.

There were definitely some inspiring moments, the usual in the minimalist repertoire with quasi-unison and "oh my GOD I'm inside an organ right now I must be don't let it stop" events. However, the absolute best was Rachel turning to me at the conclusion and saying, "that... was really cool." Ah-HA! You DO like something composed last century!

I think I may actually get to see more BPO concerts, though there is a dearth of 20th (let alone 21st!) century programming in Buffalo.

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