Gilliland – Dreaming of the Masters II

During the intermission we were honored to be visited by two of the orchestra members Charles Pilon (the coolest guy to ever set foot in the Winspear) and Aaron Au (who turns out to be a buddy of my good friend Rachel’s). I think they were curious about the people in the cubicle writing about them. They shared some snacks and stories with us before they had to leave to prepare for part II. They play viola and 1st violin and page turner, respectively. We discussed the idea of digital music sheets that turn themselves or by a tap of the foot. Aaron seemed keen on that, but Charles preferred the more traditional method of paper. At any rate, we were pleased they dropped in.

We Have Technical Difficulties, But We Also Have Wine

We are currently experiencing some technical difficulties, no sound in our booth. But . . . we do have wine! Albeit not very good wine. Winspear and Citadel – take note please. Patrons paying good money for tickets want GOOD wine!

… Back to the music

We can see that a huge grand piano has been placed front and center and Mr. Eddins has taken to playing it along with his conducting duties. He is truly talented, this is multi-tasking at its finest.

My giant symbol and percussionist have disappeared. The xylophonist seems segregated now.

The music itself is very “Broadway interlude” like to me. I feel it is leading up to something, yet to be revealed. Hmm, a thought of Carnegie Hall comes to mind. I’d love to see something – anything – there. And the Metropolitan opera in NYC. Rob – put that on our list please!

Aha, there is our buddy Aaron faithfully turning those pages. And there’s Charles. Playing in the section with 3 women, he’s outnumbered! Somehow from our brief conversation I take it that is not a problem for him. Wonder what the ratio of male/female is in the ESO – allow me a quick look. 31 men, 26 women is my count. Almost even, 50/50. I wonder how that compares to 20, 50 or 100 years ago?

We’ve come to the end of the piece. Truly amazing, Mr. Eddins played the entire piece from memory, no sheet music. Can’t say it was my favorite piece of music ever, a bit rambling for my taste. But wonderfully played.

On to the last piece of the evening.
My Blogging The ESO live report continues on Page 4: Tchaikovsky with a twist.