Symphony night.

Saturday night was our final performance in the 2007-08 season for our Greensboro Symphony Orchestra tickets. After both picking up a little bit of sweet, sweet overtime Saturday morning we hit Gordon favorite Taste of Thai for delicious massamun (to our surprise the menu changed, so after a quick strike of epinephrine and worry, the usual Gordon item '306' was now found as a 'C6'; at least it's still there). Then it was downtown for Cheesecakes by Alex and decadent dessert. Finally, on to War Memorial Auditorium for the symphony.

For Greensboro's bicentennial celebration, tonight's performance was dedicated to the ongoing event. A Beethoven piece composed in 1808 (the year of our town's birth), plus a premiere performance of a work specifically for the bicentennial were performed.

First,

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Fantasia for Piano, Chorus and Orchestra Op. 80
Pedja Muzijevic as guest artist on piano
(The obviously non-Greensboro YouTube performance:)


Second, the world premiere:
Jakov Jakoulov (b. 1958)
The Gifts of the Magi
Character actor and oftentimes History Channel documentary voiceover Peter Coyote, narrator
City of Greensboro Bicentennial Celebration Commission
Jakulov took a short story by Greensboro-born William Sydney Porter, The Gift of the Magi, and composed a frankly odd modern score to accompany it. Who is William Sydney Porter, you ask? You may otherwise know him as O. Henry. An odd piece, as the story takes place on Christmas Eve and it is currently May. Disjointed musical interjections, car horns, off-key shrills, just...odd. But it's art, and as art it had Kimberly and Chris lying in bed afterward still discussing and trying to figure it out.

Finally,
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Symphony No. 4 in E Minor, Op. 98
I. Allegro non troppo
II. Andante moderato
III. Allegro giocoso
IV. Allegro energico e passionato
(Again, another non-Greensboro video performance:)


Another fun date night.