Concert Update

The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields performed in Rolla two days ago, and they were fantastic. These guys are so good it's ridiculous.

First, they played Mozart's Concertone for two violins in C Major (K186e/190). Kenneth Sillito (director) and Harvey de Souza were the soloists. A very beautiful piece.

The next piece was Alfred Schnittke's Moz-Art a la Haydn. This is definitely one of the strangest pieces of music I have ever heard, yet it was stunning, amazing, and humerous at the same time. You just have to see it in concert to believe it, a recording just cannot do it justice. Schnittke took little vignettes from many different pieces by Mozart and Haydn and interspersed them between extrememly complex rhythm and 20th century dissonant styles. Bitonality was rampant, and sometimes you would literally hear two different pieces being played on top of one another. Some vignettes were even modified by inserting chromatic intervals. I was caught totally unprepared to hear this, and I was shocked and amazed at the... bizarre-ness of the piece. Nevertheless, it was incredible.

Stravinsky's Concerto in E-flat Major and Mozart's Symphony No. 29 followed the intermission. There isn't a ton to say about these, the Academy played them beautifully.

I like that I didn't have to pay anything for this show either... ;-)