This was my favorite concert on this trip by far, due partly to the music, but also to the very comfortable seating and wonderful view of the musicians and conductor that we had. First of all, I had never before heard a concerto consisting of three pianos and an orchestra. I enjoyed the piece of music (I mean, it was Bach!), but did not really understand why having three pianos was necessary. The second and third piano parts were often doubled by one of the string sections and it just seemed maybe a little bit excessive. That being said, I’m not complaining—it was a sight for sure, and we got to watch them use the piano lift to transport the pianos underground. I also thought it interesting that they completely removed the lids of all the pianos, which is also not something that you see that often. 

The second piece of music was one that I had not heard before, but despite that, I quite enjoyed it. There was a lot of dissonance, which I have historically not always been the biggest fan of, but in this case, I thoroughly enjoyed the performance and was surprised by the end of the piece, where the composer transitioned away from dissonance. During this piece, I was especially impressed by the places where all the strings were playing the same rhythm. It was super together and there were a couple of parts where the whole string section pizzed almost perfectly together.

My favorite was Brahms 4. I had never heard this live before, which is kind of shocking to me. I recognized the themes from the first and third movements, but most of it was new to me. I loved it, of course. Brahms has always been one of my top two composers and this was no different. The long gorgeous melodies just make your heart want to sing. If I am being completely honest, I was a bit less impressed with the orchestra for the Brahms—obviously it was still amazing, but if I am being really picky, there were just a few issues with the winds and brass. The principal horn player had some minor intonation issues during his big solos, and there were just some parts that lacked cohesion, but again, these are tiny tiny things that did not at all affect the overall performance. 

Before the concert, my parents had texted me saying that I should try to meet a couple of the string players that they knew in the orchestra after the concert. Ruth was kind enough to go with me, and thank gosh she did—I would not have had the courage to just go up to random musicians and tell them that I was here to meet somebody. Anyway, this one nice man let us in backstage and found the principal cellist for us! He knew my dad and was a super sweet guy. We talked to him for a few minutes and Ruth got a photo of the two of us together (see below). It was a wholesome interaction and I am grateful to Ruth for initiating it.

Overall, I really enjoyed the experience. I also forgot to mention that despite having gone to many orchestra concerts in my life, I had never sat behind the orchestra before, so this was a new experience!