Video Games Live

Scott and I went to see this show last night, and we had a fun time.  We'd seen it last year and enjoyed it then, so we were happy to go again this year.

Before the show, we each got a Diet Mountain Dew, a videogamer and programmer staple.  I almost never drink the Dew anymore, so the first taste took me back to my programming days.  

As they were last time, the NC Symphony was in fine form, playing every song beautifully and entertaining the audience throughout.  Show host and creator Tommy Tallarico put together a good program, and conductor Emmanuel Fratianni did a fine job with the orchestra.  I was once again impressed by how good many of the compositions were, and I very much enjoyed the music.

I wrote last year that the show's biggest weakness was its creator, Tallarico, and that is unfortunately still the case.  He needs to gain control of his ego and let his show shine on its own.  Instead, he fronted the orchestra over and over, playing a guitar we often could not hear and prancing about as if he was a rock star.  Though he did frequently thank and applaud the orchestra and choir, he couldn't even remember that the name of the choir was the North Carolina Master Chorale.  In a final indignity, he closed the show with his traveling vocalist, Jillian Aversa, singing the Portal song as he played guitar--and the orchestra watched.  When your ego is so big that you make an entire orchestra of professional musicians, every one of them better than you will ever be, watch you play a simple guitar tune, it's time for a reality readjustment.

Tallarico, really, get your ego under control.

I also have to note that just as with last year's show, the best part was getting to spend an evening with my son.  I treasure all the time I get with him.  I hope we go again next year. 

Seeing a legend perform

Itzhak Perlman is a legend, one of the very few classical musicians whom even those who do not follow classical music recognize.  I should know: I'm one of those people.  When we learned that Perlman was playing with the North Carolina Symphony in the local, lovely Meymandi Hall, we instantly bought the best tickets we could get.  Gina spotted the concert, and Scott was particularly excited, because he'd been a fan of Perlman's since he was a little boy.

I'm so very glad we went.

For the first forty-five minutes, the North Carolina Symphony played three very pretty pieces:  Berlioz's Roman Carnival Overture, Op. 9; Wagner's Prelude to Act I from Lohengrin; and Tchaikovsky's Capriccio Italien, Op. 45.  My ignorance of classical music is profound, so I knew none of these, but I enjoyed them all.

After the intermission, Perlman joined them, and the crowd went about as wild as a symphony audience in Raleigh is likely to get.  He made his way to his seat under his own power, using his crutches with slow, practiced moves that looked painful.  After he settled into his seat, they began a piece, Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35, that I have since learned is an insanely difficult composition to play and one that was the subject of great controversy for quite some years after Tchaikovsky wrote it.

Perlman was magnificent.  Playing everything from broad strokes to single, dangerously high notes, he made every sound lovely.  As he played, his expressions changed often.  For some stretches, he was clearly lost in the music, his eyes closed and his face almost slack. At other times, he smiled almost maniacally, his intensity matching and reinforcing the music's. 

When the third movement ended, the audience rose and delivered a standing ovation that brought him back three times.  I lack the musical vocabulary to appreciate fully his performance, but I stood with them, because the power and the beauty of what I heard had touched me so very much.

I am very lucky to have had the chance to see and listen to this legend.