Last night we went to hear a performance of the Minnesota Orchestra. The concert was: Prokofiev "Love for Three Oranges"
Kalevi Aho "Clarinet Concerto" w/Martin Frost
Brahms Symph. No. 4
It. Was. EXCELLENT.
Now, I'm not a big drinker. If you know me, you know I quite enjoy one glass of wine... and a nap. Haha! I am exaggerating only a little bit. Anyway, husband and I arrived early and decided on having a beverage prior to the concert...
Okay, skip to the Aho piece. Martin Frost is a combination of Elvis, Benny Goodman, and Lady GaGa. Oh yeah, and he is a RIDICULOUS clarinetist.
He wore a disco-tuxedo. Black with WHITE trim outlining the cut of the suit. Ah, Scandinavians.
The concerto was one of those "this is everything the instrument is capable of" pieces. It started in a frenzy, then calmed down 30 minutes later. Which is not easy for a clarinetist--to have the slow, controlled section at the END. The piece had everything--double tonguing, flutter tonguing, crazy trills while pecking out a melody three octaves lower (sounds like two clarinets at the same time, very cool effect, very tricky business, though...) tons of bends--TONS of bends--and then a movement almost entirely of multiphonics. So, I am not worthy. In fact, who is? I would LOVE to see a copy of the music though. That would certainly be interesting.
Needless to say, I was completely sober after the first 12 bars of the concerto. (Not that I would know, but...) it's like when you realize you are in trouble and, bam: ...sober! Well it took 12 bars, but I definitely realized I was in trouble. 30 minutes later I picked my jaw up off the floor. Then that crazy man played an encore--with the orchestra. A KLEZMER piece! Aaaah!
And then it was blissful Brahms and then we went home and now it's going to snow 14+ inches AGAIN.
And there you have it: the full update!
xoxo
super cool!
ReplyDeleteand the performance with the singer in the black and red as well as on rollerskates - looks awesome :)
I like that the portion during which Fröst talked about having to take risks and realizing that something could turn out badly was sort of casually set to his roller skating routine. Very interesting personality! I'd love to hear him live.
ReplyDeletePS - This blurb in his Wiki entry made me laugh: "He first started playing the violin at the age of six, but he found playing soccer and basketball were more interesting." I do recall being told to go practice, and then sneaking out of the house to shoot hoops...
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