On February 18 I attended the Orchestra event at Honolulu's Blaisdell Concert hall. The hall was packed and people appeared very excited.
The first part of the event was without Lang Lang but the orchestra was conducted by Joann Falletta.
Mussorgsky(Arr.Ravel) - Pictures at an exhibition
Promenade
1. "The Gnome"
. The
Promenade 2nd
2. "The old castle"
Promenade 3rd
3. "Tuileries(Children quarrel after games"
4. "Cattle"
Promenade 4th
5. "Ballet of Unhatched Chicks"
6. "Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle"
Promenade 5th
7. "Limoges". The Market(the Great News)"
8. "Catacombs(Roman Tomb)"
9. "The Hut on Hen's Legs(Baba Yaga)"
10. "The Bogatyr Gates (In the Capital in Kiev).
Modest Mussgorsky was inspired after attending the exhibition of paintings from his friend of the artist, Victor Hartmann.
The music was awesome with so many instruments.
The orchestra was the one defined by Maurice Ravel :
"Scored for 3 flutes (3rd doubling piccolo), 2 oboes (2nd doubling English Horn), 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, alto saxophone, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, tympani, glockenspiel, chimes, triangle, tam-tam, rattle, whip, cymbal, snare drum, bass drum, xylophone, celesta, harp, and strings"
During the intermission I went out for a bit of air and lo and behold! the entrance had a throng of people witnessing the 'Dragon Dance', that you can see here.
The second part of the program was the addition of Lang, Lang and his piano partner (left hand), Maxim Lando.
Before the start of the second part, two dragons entered the stage and played with the pianists, the conductor and others of the orchestra. This was a nice touch considering that it was the Chinese New Year season and a renowned Chinese artist performing.
Here is what the dragons did on the stage.
After the dragons left the stage, the following four pieces were played:
Saint-Saens: "Aquaurium" from Carnival des animaux
Tchaikovsky: "Dance of the Sugarplum fairy" from the Nutcracker
Bernstein: "America" from West Side Story
Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue
Awesome evening!
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