NY Philharmonic 10/1/14

I went to my first concert of my new New York Philharmonic subscription. I had to get this subscription in order to see the concert on 9/17 that Josh Groban was in. 

That was a good concert, btw. I actually tried to record it, but I have a new recorder that I don't know fully how to operate and I somehow pushed the wrong buttons at the wrong time and got nothing. I’m glad someone else recorded it, but I’m still hoping for a DVD.  I haven’t blogged about it for personal reasons.

In any case, buying the subscription was a bit like taking cod liver oil for me. My history is that classical music gives me narcolepsy. Josh's music is different. It has the aspects of classical music that I like, without putting me to sleep.

I haven't quite figured out what puts me to sleep, whether it's certain chord progressions; or musicians who play technically correctly, but without passion; or whether there's something a bit muddy and confused about the conducting that makes the sound blurry and therefore exhausting; or whether there's something about the ventilation that allows too much carbon dioxide to accumulate.  Whatever the cause, I find the experience of struggling to stay awake in the face of narcolepsy unpleasant and sleeping in a concert embarrassing.

Nevertheless, I did notice something on 9/17 that piqued my interest.  The violins seemed to sound different from other orchestra concerts I've been to.  They had a clear, clean sound that I hadn’t heard before.  Now it could be that my hearing is different, but maybe not.  I was happy, tho, because that clean, clear sound was NOT putting me to sleep.

On 9/17 I was in the first tier, but far from the stage in the center back.  The sound there is good, but you can’t see much.  On 10/1, I was in the third tier, but very close to the stage.  This is a partially obscured view seat and you have to stand up and lean over the railing to see stage left, but I could see the violinists very well. 

I immediately noticed that maybe half of them were young Asian women.  I was imagining a bunch of little girls all getting put into Suzuki violin training at age 3.  When I looked around the rest of the orchestra, most of the people were white and often middle aged.  But in the violins there was this large number of young, Asian women. 

I feel that we can really hear the results now of all that early training.  This orchestra totally does not sound the way orchestras used to sound, or at least the way I remember.  It’s a big improvement as far as I’m concerned.  I was a very happy camper in this concert.

Now those of you have read this blog will know that that is not my usual case.  I am often discontent with sound quality issues in concerts.  This was unusual — and welcome.

Also the ventilation was excellent, so there was no issue of carbon dioxide buildup.

Because I was a new subscriber there was a personal letter to me, taped to my seat, from one of the violinists.  It asked me to wave to her, but she never looked up to where I was siting, so I couldn’t.  I did get out my binoculars to find her, so I would know who she was. 

I didn’t rush out to the stage door after the performance to find her, but I may write her a letter.

They also had a representative from the NY Philharmonic come and greet me personally.  I told her I want to hear Lucia Micarelli live before I die and that I’ve had cancer and don’t know how long I have to live.  She wrote down the name and said she would look into it.  She also gave me a nylon shopping bag that collapses into a carrying case and that says NY Philharmonic.

The composer was Nielson.  I hope I'm spelling that right.  This gentleman lived in the late 19th and early 20th century.  The music was what one would call modern classical, with a lot of what one might call experimental sounds.  

They were passing out buttons that said “I <3 Nielson.”  I took one.  I don’t know when I might wear it, but I did love it.  It was fun, never boring.

And the sound — to die for — so wonderful.

Sadly, the place was half empty, especially the third tier.  It was so empty that there was no line at the women’s restroom at intermission on the top floor. That’s really saying something.

That’s really sad.  The New York Philharmonic is now *so* much better than any other orchestra I’ve ever heard — thanks, I think, to all those Asian tiger moms who made their little girls study violin starting at age 3.

Sadly, too, there weren’t enough people in the audience to compel an encore, even tho those who were there were very enthusiastic.

I started out feeling like this was cod liver oil, but they won me over.  Now I’m really looking forward to going again.

So go!  Go to the New York Philharmonic!  It’s not what you expect, or at least it wasn’t what I expected.