Berlin Philharmonic Review

     The Berlin Philharmonic. I had extremely high expectations for this concert, seeing as the Berlin Phil is one of the greatest orchestras in the world, and I was not disappointed. First of all, upon arriving at the Philharmonie, we discovered that our tickets had been upgraded and all of us minus Dr. Powell and Annalise (who were on the first tier balcony right over the corner of the stage) were three and four rows from the stage. That was the best surprise. Being that close to the musicians was thrilling, and it meant we had trombone bells pointed right at our faces, and it allowed us to judge everyone's hair, facial expressions, and body language.
     The first piece performed was George Crumb's Ancient Voices of Children. I had to watch a YouTube video of this unusual piece in 20th Century Music last year, and I must admit, I wasn't exactly inspired. But WOW did that change when I saw this piece live. The piece featured a ridiculously talented soprano, oboist who also played harmonica, a harpist, a mandolinist, percussionists who played all sorts of drums, mallet percussion instruments, and rocks, a pianist who also played toy piano, a boy soprano, and a chick who play the saw. That's it; just the saw. Yet, it was the most musical saw I'd ever heard played, so props to her. Anyways, there was a lot of crazy in this piece--singing into a piano, chanting and yelling, and creepy repeated lyrics about dying children--but it was absolutely captivating. This is why live music is important; if I hadn't been to this performance, I would have continued to shrug off George Crum as a loony for the rest of my life.
     Then came Bruckner 9. Wow. Bruckner was pretty serious about his dynamic contrast. One of my favorite moments was during the first major climax of the first movement when the brass (specifically the trombones) played ridiculously loud and ridiculously well, and Eric next to me had the face of a child being told that they'd just personally inherited Aladdin's Cave of Wonders. Never could I imagine that a group could be so sensitive and intense just within a matter of seconds. Ridiculous. I loved watching this old man a couple rows over swaying with the biggest grin on his face. Germans know music. Never can I doubt that.