I understand the need for the familiar, especially when our day-to-day lives bristle with so much that is unfamiliar in this (choose one) digital, virtual, frenzied, hyper-speed, techno age. Yet there is still the thrill of something new, unheard, unmediated.
This morning was the first rehearsal for Revueltas’ La noche de los Mayas, with guest conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya. He debuts with the SLSO this weekend, as does Revueltas’ startling composition. Today was one of those days when those in the upstairs offices with their speakers on said, “What’s that!” Mexican rhythms, an invigorating display of percussion (I believe there are 13 different percussion parts to the work), great splashes of orchestral color. Lotsa music.
Then, this evening as I was leaving for a quick cup of coffee before the Off Stage event tonight, Jonathan Biss was rehearsing Beethoven alone on stage: the familiar, yet extraordinary, at the close of day.
