So who am I to pffffftt the National Symphony Orchestra?
Here I am safely ensconsed in my 80 degree A/C home and watching the National Independence Day festivities from DC on my local PBS station. I just finished a post about why I love Phoenix. But I realize one thing I miss.
Playing in a Fourth of July concert. Outside. Even though I've played more John Phillip Sousa tunes than I can recognize by name, I love the "Stars & Stripes Forever" with its dogfight section and piccolo feature.
However, I can only hope the TV broadcast was edited down. Way down. When the NSO played Tchaikovsy's 1812 Overture, I settled in for something fantastic. Instead, they only played the end. Not the entire heart wrenching piece, the tug of war between the French and Russian forces. It wasn't even anticlimatic, it was just the flash bang part.
I remembered back *crusty old crazy cat lady voice* back when I was in the band, we played the entire 1812 complete with Howitzers. Yeah. Howitzers. I'll never forget rehearshing under the baton of Dr. Rick Blatti (my favorite band director ever, now with Ohio State University), and being told "the part where the canon goes off, we are using Howitzers. Get ready for it."
So here we are, a summer band playing in a glorious band shell on a beautiful Midwestern summer day, playing Sousa tunes and full of exciting expectation for our grand finale.
Nearby, members of the Michigan National Guard were ready by radio for their part to play.
Then we dove into the 1812. During the last moments, when many 'indoor bands' play the part of the final defense with bass drums, we had real canon. I flew out of my chair from the blasts. Squirrels fell out of trees from shock. The moths fluttering around the band shell lights were stunned and dazed all over our music. When the smoke cleared, the audience, comprised of family, friends and almost everyone we knew - was out of their lawn chairs, off their blankets, cheering and clapping as if it was the most amazing concert they've experienced.
It so rocked. Even the NSO can't compare.
Comments
you'd think they would play more than an excerpt for a holiday like July 4th!
Your experience of the 1812 sounds fantastic!!!!!
As for last night's TV, I thought "well I was out of the room briefly, I musta missed the first part. But how'd they get to the end without me noticing?" Now I know. They got to the end without me noticing because they didn't play the beginning! Ack. (Just in passing, last night's TV wasn't really satisfactory for me at all. Besides the excerpted 1812 from the Capitol, there was a measly little hour of "Boston Pops Fireworks", (I guess I can't blame the TV network for the rain, though, although I can blame them for the measly little hour), not my "Pops Goes the Fourth" that I always watch. Sigh.
I want me some REAL patriotic music with kabooms and everything.
Way back in 1991, I was in the chorus of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. We were touring that summer, and we performed Carmina Burana at the Mann Centre in Philly with the Philadelphia Symphony. It was one of those sticky, hot summer nights--they had fans on the outdoor stage to keep people from passing out. At the end, when we launched into the final 'O fortuna' chorus, I looked out over the dark lawn and saw thousands of people standing, waving their lighters in the humid night air. Fuckin' A!!
Oh, man. That would have been fantastic. I can't carry a tune in a bucket, so I feel that people with beautiful voices have a wonderful gift to be shared with the world.
A friend of mine sings in the resident chorus for the Phoenix Symphony and Arizona State U Symphony. When I heard Carmina Burana live, I thought I had been transported to another dimension. Wow. Then a few months later I saw/heard/experienced Beethoven's Ninth. What would this world be without such pure joy and brilliance?
To be able to be a part of something like that is amazing. I'm getting shivers just thinking about your crowd responding to you like that.