Cultcha

John made plans for us tonight to hear a good friend and colleague play music. We drove up to Santa Rosa to hear Alan Biggs play with the Santa Rosa symphony. I'm not sure why, but "symphony" didn't really enter my brain when I ran home and threw on my jeans. When we made it to Santa Rosa after commute time traffic, I was famished. We tried to grab a bite at a little cafe at 7:30, but the kitchen had shut down, so we only had time for a quick snack. I dashed into a mini mart and grabbed an egg salad sandwich, which I split with John.

We got to the Wells Fargo Center and the program consisted of Christopher Rouse, der gerettete alberich, Bethoven's 4th and then his 5th. Our plans were to ditch out after Rouse, and maybe stay for the4th. If we had eaten, I would have been all over the 5th. Who doesn't love baa baa baa baa... baa baa baa baa?

Rouse's piece was interesting - it was focused on percussion. Alan's playing was amazing. The piece however, left me feeling unsettled. It felt to me like a twelve year old who uses emoticons in her email. They're all over the place rather than used as emphasis. Many of the percussion elements felt incongruous--a marimba and then a steel drum integrated with bass and viola in a dark, moody part. It wasn't all like that, and there were moments where I felt the percussion enhanced the music and it felt expressive and lovely.

John reminded me that like visual art, not everything is meant to be easy, and pleasing, and the composer can challenge the listener doing different things with the music. I appreciated that explanation, and it made a lot of sense to me, but after Rouse, I enjoyed Bethoven because it was "pretty" .

Location:Santa Rosa