Just returning from hearing the Silicon Valley Symphony do a fabulous rendition of “Pictures at an Exhibition”.
Listening to a live symphony performance, particularly one like “Pictures at an Exhibition”, is so much more than an auditory experience. Your whole body wants to get involved. You want to grab the music and hug it. The music gets inside your body and swells in your chest and you feel as though you just can’t contain it and you can’t sit still and…
I felt like I needed a cigarette when it was over.
It was wonderful.
Here’s what I don’t get. So many people there tonight just sat stone still, unmoved. It was as if they didn’t have a pulse, rather than this magnificent music pulsing through their body.
What’s up with that?
I have fond memories of attending a performance of Pictures at the San Jose Symphony many years ago, before their reorganization which (IMHO) seems to have killed off the soul of the orchestra. I still enjoy attending the occasional performance of the Silicon Symphony Jose Valley-San or whatever they’re calling it now, but it also makes me bitter about what was lost. Sounds like you hit them on a very good evening. It’s good to hear, and I hope they have many, many more like it.