Apr 27 2008
Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) and Beethoven
On Friday night my parents and I went downtown to see The Magic Flute, performed by Opera San Jose. I’ve watched it a long time ago on DVD or maybe even VHS. The singing was in German, and spoken conversations in English. This was a bit jarring, but the performance was very good nonetheless. Subtitles in English (as well ad advertisements) appeared in a screen above the stage, which is pretty standard nowadays. This is probably the best opera for kids, and those who don’t usually go out to see concerts/operas.
Afterwards we tried following the words along with a CD of The Magic Flute performed by another group, and found that even with words in hand, it’s extremely difficult to follow the female singers. No problem at all following the men, but this probably proves my parents’ assertion that I will not understand everything sung in German by this time next year. I’ll still try to find another opportunity to watch it live next year, though. 
On a related note, my sister and I attended a piano concert at the San Francisco Davies Symphony Hall starring András Schiff on April 13. He is currently going through the entire collection of Beethoven piano sonatas in a series of concerts. Our night included Sonata No. 12, No. 13, No. 14 (Moonlight), No. 15 (Pastoral), and a Bach piece for the encore.
I’m extremely lucky to have such opportunities, but I definitely don’t appreciate them enough. My usual pattern is to be extremely reluctant about going (it’s expensive, takes time, and so on), and enjoying it in the end anyway. Both of these performances were great experiences and if possible I’ll be attending more operas and concerts in Germany. These are a few of the things I want to see live in the future, in no particular order:
- Piano Concerto No. 2 (Rachmaninoff)
- Symphony No. 9 (Dvořák)
- Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven)
- Andante spianato et Grande Polonaise brillante (Chopin)
- Liebesträume (Liszt)
If you’re so inclined, you can click the links, scroll down, and listen to the pieces. The file qualities aren’t very good, but I’d say the performances are.
I’ve been to Davies Symphony Hall before… it’s HUGE. I didn’t like the music they were playing when I went
but it was seriously fun.
Yeah, I want to hear Rach 2 and Grieg’s Concerto in A Minor as well.
DUDE you should’ve come to one of our concerts last year ’cause we played Dvorak’s 9th like three times XD plus five more on tour.
But then again, since we’re just a youth orchestra, it could’ve stopped you from liking classical music for the rest of your life.
Hah, I should have. xD But youth orchestras would be quite different than, say, The NY Philharmonic. And significantly cheaper.