The SPCO Concert 1: Beethoven 5th

This past Saturday night I spent time hosting a gathering of 12 surrounding the first Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra (SPCO) concert that I've decided to host this season.  Here's the lineup.

Johann Sebastian Bach
Orchestral Suite No. 4 in D

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Serenade No. 7 in D Major, Haffner
Steven Copes, violin

Ludwig van Beethoven
Symphony No. 5
Edo de Waart, conductor

I decided since this was the first concert that some pre-concert activity was in order.  So I decided to delegate that task out (feel free to identify yourself in the comments section) and a picnic on Harriet Island was decided upon.  

On a 80 degree day, the picnic was well put together and went quite well.   Here's a couple of photos I took by the picnic site.

Nice peaceful evening on the Mississippi 

Look! A bigger boat

So at around 7:30 we started the walk from my condo to the Ordway for the concert.   After a beautiful walk that went by sites such as Candyland (yes, i know we didn't stop there), Rice Park and the Landmark Center, we arrived at the Ordway.   

Here's the view I had for the performance, despite the charges of segregation.

 Not a bad view, despite the blur of the camera

The performance itself was quite high quality.  I decided to try to minimize, if not eradicate, modern pieces in the concerts I chose.  From the list above, I was successful here and it was in my myopic opinion to everyone's benefit.  In my myopic opinion, the Bach piece was quite good due to the different textual qualities heard throughout different parts of the piece.  I was following the conductor through the pieces and he did an excellent job in this piece in particular, despite his attire.  The Mozart piece was pretty good, although i thought some of the transitions lacked crispness.  The soloist violin was very good.  However, as one that hasn't been able to appreciate Mozart, I couldn't really get into it.    

After a 20 minute or so intermission, Beethoven 5th Symphony was performed.  Like the preview I witnessed Thursday night, I was very impressed by the execution.  I could feel the different emotions flow throughout the piece quite powerfully.  So powerful, in fact, that a lady sitting next to us emitted a "Wow" after the end of the first movement. But what impressed me was the ability to maintain the high intensity  and high quality throughout the rest of the piece, especially the final movement.  I have to say I was not disappointed.

After post-concert an ice cream social,  we all called it a night.  But what a night it was, I think everyone enjoyed themselves.  It was a great night with great company in any case. Not bad for a opener, in my myopic opinion.