Hi Jerry and anybody else interested--

Yes, it was a good concert for me. Much less pressure than a lot of others--Mozart Requiem, one of my all-time favorite pieces. I could talk about it for quite a while--hope people don't get bored.

One of the things that jumps out at me is that the whole thing is really well-written and frequently moving. Yet all evidence indicates that Mozart did not in fact write the whole thing--a much lesser composer wrote most of the last 2 movements, at least. But I really can't tell--and I don't think many others can either. As I understand it, Mozart sketched out the whole thing, and may have written the bass line for the whole thing.   But it seems that's all he had to do--it sure came out right.

I only sang the Mozart--there was another piece you could volunteer to sing--but it was a modern (classical) piece about the Crucifixion. Fairly obviously going to be quite jarring--and take a lot of rehearsal. So I declined. Fortunately, there are a lot of people in the group with more tolerance for modern dissonance than I have. We (the Mozart only folks) didn't have to be at the concert as early as the others. As I was coming in, a couple in a car stopped me to ask about parking--I always park on the street--do not like parking garages---and don't ever mind walking (For one thing I can sing on the walk--something like Amelia Earhart's Last Flight, Lorena, Arthur McBride, Sammy's Bar--usually fairly long songs.) I've fallen off-topic already. Anyway, the couple wanted to know about parking for the Mozart--they had no intention of even trying to be on time for the modern piece.

And I sympathize with them, actually. I don't really want to go to a concert to hear a musical depiction of modern chaos--which is what happens when people break (musical) rules just for the sake of breaking them, and consciously assault the ear.

In some ways, I'm quite conservative--certainly musically--except that I like a huge array of different types of music.

I'm just not a big fan of classical music after Resphigi, Gershwin, (obviously edging into popular music), some Copland, and some Bernstein. Aside from these, the pieces that interest me after the early 20th century are few.

Sorry to keep rambling on--as I said I could talk about music forever--basically all the time I'm not making it.

Last night I also got a real compliment after the concert from a guy in the row ahead of me. The conductor is always saying "more consonants", especially beginning ones, and ending ones to some extent. A tenor ahead of me told me said "If my consonants were as strong as yours, I'd give myself a hernia." He was obviously impressed.

And a young woman (late 20's?) told me afterwards she'd heard many performances of the Mozart--ours was the best. It was really fun talking to her--and she was wearing a stunning evening dress. As a married man, I suppose I shouldn't get TOO interested in talking to her--but it sure was easy to do.