The San Francisco Symphony opened its 98th season with the wildly popular pianist Lang Lang as the soloist...
...and an abundance of affluent people in black tie and designer gowns.
I was offered press tickets along with an invitation to a party where the jackals of the press were wined and dined before the concert.
It was perfectly delightful, especially hanging out with B.A.R. arts editor Roberto Friedman and music writer Phil Campbell above...
...along with Jolene from the Saturday Matinee blog.
The SFGate site had photos of the swells up later on Wednesday night, and most of the captions ended with my new favorite line, "Davies Symphony Hall was the scene of the opening of the San Francisco Symphony season with much celebration and plenty of well dressed locals."
The first half of the concert was devoted to three subversive waltzes, Liszt's "Mephisto No. 1", Ravel's "La Valse" and a grotesquely overorchestrated version of Richard Rodgers' "Carousel Waltz." Unfortunately, none of them sounded very well rehearsed.
The second half was devoted to Lang Lang playing Prokofiev's Third Piano Concerto, and it was a wonderful performance. I'd never seen the young pianist before and was hoping to witness more Liberace style mannerisms for which he is infamous, but instead he gave a rhythmically fabulous performance of the score that made me remember why I love Prokofiev's music so much.
3 comments:
Hi Mike - I agree that the Carousel waltz was over-orchestrated. The three waltzes sounded very similar to me for some reason. It was great to see you and meet Ellen that night! People watching was the highlight for me. Thanks for the nice photo and the kind shoutout.
I love picture number two, even though it's got the back to you. The woman in white has the best look, as though she's annoyed and pleased at the same time, and the woman behind her looks like Elizabeth Moss! Even the back looks good. And you can just make out the huge diamond on the white dress lady's hand. Great shot!
You know, I'm not an expert on going to shindigs, but if Jan Wahl shows up at one it's probably a pretty good shindig...
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