Wednesday, September 29, 2004

Man U & Mozart

First of all,

MAN U TRASHED FENERBAHCE 6-2! WOOHOO!

Wayne Rooney scored a hat-trick on his debut. How amazing is that? I don't think it gets any better that, scoring a hat-trick on your club debut, a Champions' League at that! No wonder they paid 27 million pounds for him. I was initially a bit skeptical about that price for an 18 years old, but now it looks like that it's money well spent.

I won't say exactly that I'm a die-hard fan of Man U, but I'm not a fair weather fan either, considering that I've been supporting this club for nearly half my life (I started supporting them in Sec 1, which was 1995). I'm not one who buys all their jersey replicate, home and away. I used to be able to identify every single player and their numbers on the first team and reserves but not now. Why? SCV's taken the monopoly of Premiership broadcast and I don't have SCV at home.

Irritating. Should I subscribe to SCV? Hmmm...

***

Mozart Festival: A Date with Double Reeds
It was actually the first time that I've heard double reed concertos "live". The only closest I've ever came across was just an oboe-bassoon-piano trio. Frankly, I think I suffered from indigestion of Mozart after sitting through the entire programme which included 2 concertos, an overture and a symphony!

Both concertos were played by the respective principals, and I thought that both players had totally opposite style. Rachel was conservative whereas Zhang Jin Min was flamboyant in his playing.

Well, I think it's already quite an accomplishment to play through an entire Mozart wind concerto without any major glitches. Take the Mozart Oboe Concerto for example, it start with a trill motif which links to a running scale up to high C which you hold for 4 bars. By the time you get to the second theme, it's already very tiring and it's not even half of the first movement yet!

The second movement was fine and the third movement was taken in a somehow very conservative tempo. I would have preferred it slightly on the faster side.

Some people commented that her sound was rather tense. Perhaps that was because they were watching her play. If you had closed your eyes and listen, it not only didn't sound tense but on the contrary sounded great! It not only about sound in music, your posture and actions on the stage tells a lot about what kind of player you are.

I've always liked Zhang Jin Min's sound since the time I heard him playing the Poulenc Trio. I was just so impressed by his high notes. Amazing. Anyway, I found his Bassoon Concerto highly entertaining. I think the stand takes away a bit of his virtuosity, but as his student puts it, he's getting old and cannot remember all the notes in the long cadenzas that he wrote. So I think the stand is still quite ok with me.

That pretty much ends the concert cycle for me this year. I wonder what the programme is going to be like next year.

Anyway, some exciting news for oboists! I heard from my friends at the YST conservatory that Gordon Hunt and Albrecht Mayer might be coming to town next year! My idols can!

If you still don't know who they are, click on the links in this site!
fjozn at 11:20 AM