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Those of you who've been vociferously participating in our ongoing debates about Falun Gong, Mormonism, and Scientology will be pleased to hear that we spent tonight steeped in Mozart's Catholic Mass in C minor at Symphony Hall. Begin the transsubstantiation debates in the comments.... now!
We had promised our companion a tour of the swanky digs in the press room at Symphony Hall before the concert, as well as some of their excellent cookies and coffee, but we were stymied when the guards at the side entrance told us the press room was closed this concert and we'd have to pick up our tickets at the box office. No matter: our companion let us in on a little secret -- you can order a drink before the concert and they'll reserve it for you on a little table for intermission. NO!!! How have we gone all this time without knowing this??? SFist Ced, did you know about this?? Remind us to show you how this works when you get back into town!
The concert kicked off with a performance of Stravinsky's ballet Orpheus, which even the program notes admitted was "austere," "unseductive," and a "suicide program." It was okay. Our favorite part was the part where Orpheus is dismembered by a horde of drunken women.
After the jump -- our friendly neighbor at the performance, his connection to Rob Anderson, and a choir much too big for local private school thugs to take down after the show.
Awesome pictures by awesome symphony companion SFMike.
At intermission, we got -- as promised -- a little table with our beers waiting for us! We had a nice conversation with our neighbor (pictured above), and a comical misunderstanding when he told us about his friend Rob Anderson, whom we finally figured out was a different Rob Anderson than the anti-bike plan advocate who runs District 5 Diary. Our only objection? Intermission was over before we got more than halfway through our beer. We are totally going to reserve drinks for intermission from here on out.
The Mozart mass was quite lovely! It's a solid middle-Mozart piece -- which is to say, less twee than the early stuff, quite catchy and rhythmically solid, but not with that edge of poignancy that made the end of Amadeus so sad. The best part about the middle Mozart pieces is that you can look over and see the entire audience is bobbing its head to the beat.
The soprano, Camilla Tilling, shone like a star (the Mass was written as a showpiece for Mozart's soprano singer wife, Costanza) -- though we did find her tendency to roll her eyes up into her skull as she sang a little unsettling.
Anyways, so it went like this: The chorus sings, the soprano sings, the huge chorus sings, the soprano and the mezzo do a little "Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better" duet, the chorus then parts like the Red Sea into two choruses (except for one singer, who for some reason was not quite with her group and stood sort of in the middle aisle), a tenor sings with the two ladies, more choir, and then finally, the world's most patient bass singer finally gets to sing a couple lines at the very end. He looked kind of like a cross between Viggo Mortenson and Stephen King, and his mullet was adorable. Applause!
SF Symphony
One last chance to see the Mozart Mass at...
8:00 p.m.
Saturday January 20
$31-114
Davies Symphony Hall, at Van Ness and Grove
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I knew you could order your dinner, but just a drink, I had no idea. You have better dates than I do. Sounds like the way to go, though.