As usual, the visit to the symphony to see Beethoven’s seventh was dwarfed by other events.
I mean the symphony was lovely, like an old friend, especially the opening movement which just skips along in a jolly manner, like an old friend. I thought I didn’t know it, but here it is. Swipe ahead to 4 minutes and 30 seconds in and you’ll say, “Oh, I know that.” But do I know what car commercial I heard it in? No, I don’t.
That symphony was after the intermission. The first half had something dour by Bartok, but then there was Rachmaninoff.
I love him because he wrote the work they used as background to Brief Encounter (you know it, you love it, favorite movie). That work also has an old friend you will recognize if you swipe to the midpoint of this video of Rachmaninoff’s 2nd Piano Concerto.
I love that the video is titled “Best Part,” because it just aches, and because it is the best part, and that’s why the song “All By Myself” is based on it.
Anyway, Symphony 2 was not the Rachmaninoff we heard. Instead, we heard Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, which was played by a Joyce Yang, who put her complete heart into her performance. She energized the entire orchestra. I won’t say she overshadowed the others, but well, she did.
It contains another old friend, which you will hear if you swipe to about one minute in.
If it sounds familiar, it’s because it’s the tune Bill Murray learns on the piano in Groundhog Day.
And I think that’s fine. I suppose, if I hear enough symphonies, someday I’ll hear pop music and think “Why that’s my old friend from the 18th movement of the Symphony in D flat by … that Russian guy.”