SSO's New Beginnings

It's been a while since I caught an SSO concert (1-2 years?) as during the past year or so, I decided to try some new music and take a break from classical stuff.

So tonight, I decided to revisit my classical roots and attend one. Well, it didn't start off as intended as the original soloist, violinist Augustin Dumay was unable to perform tonight due to health reasons. He was supposed to perform Brahms's Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 77. The programme was only changed on Thursday, and the concert was on Friday! Some more I just bought the tickets on Wednesday.

Anyway, he was replaced by cellist, Qin Li-Wei who played Dvorak's Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104. I wasn't too sure if I would enjoy it as much as I'm not really good at appreciating cello music, but well, since it's Dvorak and my friend didn't mind, I still went.

Dvorak is my next favourite composer after Tchaikovsky and the piece didn't disappoint, being a rather familiar piece and I like this style, you know, the Russian/Czech kind, full of "flavour" & "passion". Qin Li-Wei played well, and being in the 4th row, I could see his animated expressions as he played (I find that Chinese musicians, conductors included, tend to be more animated). After that, as an encore piece, he played a March by Prokefiev, where he did some funny fingering to amuse.
I should dig up my Dvorak CD to play.

The 2nd part was Shostakovich's Symphony No. 10 in E minor, Op. 93. It was a rather long piece, especially the 1st movement. I didn't realise that his work was so cryptic until I read the programme notes. Hmm...

Well, overall, the concert was not bad, given the sudden change of programme. I also found out my friend actually preferred cello! Well, need to look out for the next violin concerto to catch.