Ignatius Feb 23, 2019

It opened with Beethoven's fifth and the moment washed over me right away. I'm not too familiar with all the movements in Fantasia or Fantasia 2000, so this was like the perfect setting to experience it with relatively fresh eyes.

The percussion section was the highlight of the orchestra, for me. During the thunderstorm of the Pastoral Symphony, throughout the Firebird suite, even in the Waltz of the Flowers, those were the elements that had the most immersive impact. The Firebird suite was particularly special. Again, I didn't recognize the piece or the animation but I'm just so glad that was a thing. Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies was exquisite as well.

Major props to the conductor, Keitaro Harada. Matching the tempo of the visuals, based on recordings from The Philadelphia Orchestra is clearly no easy task. And he kept it light and relaxed throughout with trivia, like how Clair De Lune (dedicated to the 6-year-old attending their first symphony today) was only in the home video, not the 1940 theatrical release, so it was a unique experience for us to see it showcased in the performance hall.

And I'm gonna go ahead and place my bets here that come the end of the year, The Sorcerer's Apprentice will have been THE most impressive performance of live music that I will have experienced in 2018. Keitaro's metronome kept going from fast to slow and back, and I mean FAST. That poor orchestra followed his lead to the letter, it was a sight to see and a piece to hear. Wow.