Go! If they play half as good as last night it will be worthwhile. Don't skip the Mozart though!
I'm just back from seeing Mahler's 6th and what a good show it was indeed!
How full was the hall in Glasgow last night?
It’s Eldorado no matter how much gets chucked at a Hifi. I heard the Gewandhaus play Beethoven 7 then got home and put on the Gewanhaus playing Beethoven 7. The concert sound was still echoing in my mind and the Hifi was a dreadful caricature.Some additional thoughts and comments on the Mahler concert:
I'd totally forgotten about the gulf between what I hear from my stereo system at home and music heard in real-life. I mean, the soundstage was properly 2-dimensional with the sound coming from the left, middle and right as well as the front, middle and back at any one time. And the tones and timbres sounded nothing like they do through any speakers or headphones I've ever heard... which madkes me understand why some people spend tens if not hundreds of thousands of pounds of getting the best home audio playback system possible (compulsive spending notwithstanding). As far as my financial health goes, I'm pleased to say I've come off the merry-go-round, as it were, so I've stopped spending money on hifi and instead I get on with enjoying music. But having heard the orchestra last night, I think I need a new approach: I'm never going to recreate the sound of an orchestra in my small flat, so instead of upgrading my hifi or chasing better performances of this and that, I should simply get myself up to the Royal Concert Hall more often and lavish myself with the real McCoy in real-life. And on that note, I became aware that listening to a piece of music at home can never be like hearing it live in person for another good reason i.e. in addition to sound quality: there's an excitement in the belly and a real buzz of anticipation in the air that's just not present when you're listening to a piece of music at home. I'm sure you guys are aware of this but it wasn't until last night when I realised it myself.
A lot of thoughts there but it was a stimulating evening in more ways than one!
Have they stopped selling the choir stall seats permanently? I sat up there in the 90s watching Ricardo Muti conduct the VPO in Bruckner. I had to rub my eyes to check I wasn’t imagining it.Not counting the choir seats behind the orchestra, I reckon it was about 85-90% full. Admittedly, it was notably emptier when the Mozart concerto was being played, maybe 70-75% full, but the audience definitely turned up for the main event. Fwiw, it looked like it was being recorded for broadcast by the BBC and if it was and if you hear it, well the guy who shouts bravo once the clapping starts at the end of the symphony is me
As an aside, I see there are three Mahler performances scheduled for next season: Symphony 1 in October, Symphony 4 in May 2020, and sandwiched between them is Das Lied von der Erde in March 2020 - that's the one I'll be attending for sure!
Have they stopped selling the choir stall seats permanently? I sat up there in the 90s watching Ricardo Muti conduct the VPO in Bruckner. I had to rub my eyes to check I wasn’t imagining it.