Did you attend the Watts Plays Beethoven concert at Lipscomb? If so we'd love to hear about your experience. Please submit your review of this concert in the comments section of this posting.
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The concert on Sunday afternoon was absolutely amazing. All three pieces performed are long-time favorites of mine. Tchaikovsky's "Romeo and Juliet" is a piece that I have loved since I was eight years old (that's almost 30 years ago now) and it truly was awe-inspiring to see it performed live for my first time ever.
ReplyDeleteBernstein's "Symphonic Dances from West Side Story" blew me away. Being a drummer and percussionist for most of my life, I definitely appreciated all the rhythmic things going on there. The orchestra definitely was having fun with this one as well snapping their fingers during the jazzy bits and shouting "MAMBO!" during the mambo section. Such great energy coming from the stage.
Of course, the highlight of the afternoon was getting see Beethoven's Emperor Piano Concerto played by the great Andre Watts. It's one thing to hear it on a CD but hearing it live with the soloist in front of you is something totally different. Watts definitely "owned" this piece while playing it. You could see and feel the emotion in his playing and in his expressions. I don't think I will ever hear this piece the same way again.
All in all, it was a brilliant concert. Musically, it was flawless and wonderfully performed. The only small complaint I would give is the fact that the Collins Auditorium at Lipscomb University has very poor acoustics. I'm not sure if anyone else in the audience noticed but the sound of the auditorium seemed quite dead and made the orchestra sound as if they were playing in a box at times. Despite this, it is truly the music that matters and it was the awesome music that made it all worthwile.
Bravo to Mr. Watts, Mr. Guererro and the amazing Nashville Symphony for fabulous memorable concert.