Freude!

Last night Nathan, Kate, Michael, and myself went to the BSO to hear... Beethoven's 9th! It was pretty fantastic. We were joined there by many other friends, including Sarah and Holly, with Katharine and Corey, Jo and Dave, and others scattered throughout Symphony Hall as well. It was a fun time. Aside from Kate being occasionally uninpressed with the horns, and me being picky and feeling somewhat disappointed by a few of the soloists, the whole performance was amazing. The last movement had me on the edge of my seat. My teacher was there, and told us afterward that we'd probably never hear a better performance of it... I guess I'll take his word for it! I'm so glad we got to hear it. My favorites were probably the beginning of the first movement and the second "Freude, schoner Gotterfunken, Tochter aus Elysium" chorus. Oh, and "Ihr sturzt nieder, Millionen? Ahnest du den Schopfer, Welt? Such ihn uberm Sternenzelt! Uber Sternen muss er wohnen." ("Do you fall headlong, ye Millions? Have you any sense of the Creator, World? Seek him above the canopy of the stars! Surely he dwells beyond the stars.") Okay, and actually, the whole first movement. And the whole second movement. And oh, the third movement was gorgeous. And the fourth movement... fantastic.

The choir sounded sweet. The orchestra was, of course, amazing. One of my favorite things about going to the Symphony is watching the bow arms of all the first violinists - particularly when they do snappy dotted rhythms. Oh, man. That's like a musical high, right there. The whole section is just fantastic with their bow distribution. You can see how effective it is when you watch and hear their crescendi, too. Everything is measured out with such precision, and the end result is, well, sounding like the BSO. Amazing like whoah.

Why can't I be good?