Saturday, October 07, 2006
Sir James ... AND ... CONDI!!
So ... my mom and her brother and his wife are in town this weekend. And I thought that it would be nice to go to the Kennedy Center. It just so happened that James Galway was playing with the National Symphony Orchestra this weekend, and this weekend only. Well, I LOVE James Galway. I'm not even necessarily a flute fan. I just love listening to him play ... it's magical.We got seats in the first tier. There are three tiers: above the orchestra level seating is the box tier, then the first tier, then the second tier. Each of the tiers wraps around three sides of the room, and we were on the right side as you're looking at the stage. I tell you this so that you know that we could clearly see the back of the room, more specifically the presidential box in the middle of the back.
The concert was late to start ... and I was about to start whining about how unprofessional that is. As I turned to say just that to my mother, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a gorgeous fuschia blazer walking out of the back door from the middle box at the back of the Concert Hall. None other than Secretary of State, Dr. Condoleezza Rice. I was actually more excited to see Dr. Rice in person than I was to see Sir James Galway. She is an inspired classical pianist, and it was fun to see her enjoying the music. I'll always remember seeing her there tonight!Anyway - the concert was fabulous. The orchestra started with a Rossini Overture ... and I love Rossini. Then Sir Galway came out and he did a premier performance of a Flute "Symphonic Poem". I am always iffy about "new" music ... but this was simply gorgeous. I'm going to have to find a recording of it, because I just loved it. Take a look at that link. He went on to play a Mozart Flute concerto ... beautiful. Of course, he did an encore. And what was it ... but "Danny Boy". For years, I've had a recording of James Galway playing "Danny Boy", and it just about makes me cry every time I hear it. I never thought I'd hear him play it in person. Sent chills down my spine. A couple of other fun notes: When Sir Galway came out on stage the first time (for the premier piece), he was playing an alto flute, which is a very long flute. When he went to hold up the flute to his mouth at the beginning of the piece, he almost bumped the concert mistress' music stand. All of the first violins had to move back, row by row, before they could start the piece. It was funny. Then, at the end of the Galway portion of the concert, after his ovation and the Danny Boy encore, as he was leaving the stage, he took that golden flute and tossed it (not real high, but it was definitely airborne!) and caught it with one hand. The whole audience just gasped!!
The second half of the concert was ONE piece (classical music is funny like that), "Thus Spake Zarathustra", about 33 minutes long. You may already be thinking, "Yawn!!" ... but stop! Think 2001: A Space Odyssey. Bommm ... bommm ... bommm .......... tah dah!!!!!!! Boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom ..... (repeat!) Major timpany ...... major brass ... major SOUND ... then nothing ... then lots of quiet music. After about two minutes of that wonderful theme, you spend 28 minutes being teased. For the entire rest of the piece you hear the first three notes of the theme over and over again, played by different instruments, and a pause ... and then you don't ever hear the "tah dah" part again. It even breaks into a waltz part way through the piece (it IS Strauss ... there HAS to be a waltz!!) What a FUN piece of music.
Okay - so, seeing Dr. Rice with my own two eyes was DEFINITELY the highlight of my evening ... but I have to tell you what else happened. Since we had my mom in a wheelchair (just because walking from the car to the theater would be a bit too much for her), the usher took us out the back way to a special elevator so that we wouldn't have to fight the crowds in the foyer. As we were going down the hallway, I heard the usher say to someone walking toward us, "Wonderful concert, Sir." Well, there was the knight himself (knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 2001), James Galway. (He's a LOT shorter than I realized!) I looked him in the eye and thanked him for a wonderful concert. I talked to James Galway!!!!! What an evening!!
The only way to end this evening is to have some coffee ice cream and listen to Thus Spake Zarathustra again!! G'night!!
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