The Russians came, I listened and they conquered.

I always try to go to the symphonic concerts at the Mondavi Center. Perhaps, it’s a vestige of my grand mother’s influence on me. You see, as a young boy, my grandmother would take me to watch symphonies. It was actually my grandmother and to a certain extent my mother who introduced me to the arts- mom would take me to Disney on Ice. So you must imagine that there is always a child-like excitement whenever I get the chance to see orchestral performance. Last night, I was particularly excited since the Russians were playing.

With blazing sounds from oboes, brass and cellos the Russians have announced their arrival! Oh boy! The Moscow State Symphony Orchestra knew how to get everyone’s attention with Tchaikovsky’s Marche Slave. The brass was loud, the clarinets and violas amazing! This reminded me of the reason I love watching orchestras. Listening to them on my ipod just isn’t the same as hearing them perform live. I literally feel the music come to life with live performances. The subtle vibrations of the string instruments, the soaring clarinets and brass add up to the experience.

I was treated to see Alisa Weilerstein perform for the first time. She was the cellist in the challenging second piece the orchestra played (Variations on a Rococo Theme by Tchaikovsky). I love cellos- it’s my favorite instrument! It has a light and triumphant side but it also has the ability to invoke pathos. Alisa’s performance was able to showcase versatility of the cello’s sounds. More than this, I thought Alisa has a stage presence that commands attention. There’s duality in her much like the cello. I find that she has an angelic face but she can sure rock the cello! Being on a red gown makes her performance even hotter!

I thought that the Moscow State Symphony’s performance for the evening was pretty memorable. They gave a very generous encore performance –they played 3 additional pieces. My favorite was the second one when there was this guy rocking the cymbals! Honestly, I’ve never seen anyone play cymbals like that!

Needless to say, I got a kick out of the evening’s performance. I was like a kid in a candy store only much better!