Last Night's BMOP concert

Last night, I went to the Boston Modern Orchestra "Boston Connection" concert at Jordan Hall, along with epilimnion, D., and a couple of her friends from NEC. The concert was uyp to the usual high standards.

Symphony for Strings, by Jonathan Sokol
The first movement was a little dull, but the piece really got going with the scherzo. The third movement, Reflection, was the best, I thought. Sokol did some great things with string harmonics and pizzicato that made the movement shine like light on water.

Concerto for Viola, by Kryzstof Penderecki
This piece was the highlight of the concert for me. Nicholas Bootiman, the soloist, was incredible. And the piece itself is marvelous. It's dark and intense, and fascinating from beginning to end. The more animated central section had a great rhythmic motif. Throughout the piece, Penderecki also maked wonderful use of percussion, particularly in the ways he combines the timbres of the gong and the xylophone with the various string instruments. I clearly need to listen to more Penderecki.

Lives of the Saints, by Lee Hyla
I really wanted to like this piece for chamber ensemble and mezzo-soprano, but it just didn't do anything for me. The second movement had some really great moments, but I just couldn't get into them. Perhaps it was that I found the first movement noisy and overstuffed, and was thus turned off by it. I don't know. I didn't think it was a bad piece, I just didn't like it.

The musicians upstairs

For the last couple of years, my upstairs neighbor has been a man I dubbed "guitar guy. He was, of course a guitarist. He played mostly jazz and classical, and he was very good. I could hear him through the ceiling. He spent hours playing and practicing, sometimes until 11 or so at night. And he'd start pretty early on weekends. But I didn't mind, because he was so good (I'm sure all that time spent with the guitar was why he was so good). In fact, it was sometimes quite nice to drift off to sleep listening to jazz guitar playing softly above my head. And there were a couple evenings during which he was working on more up-tempo stuff, and he was really on fire. I never met him, or even knew his name, but sometimes I felt like I did know him, because I was privy to so much of his music-making.
Guitar guy moved out last month. And I missed him. The unseen upstairs was too quiet.
It has now become clear, however, that guitar guy has been replaced by another musician. I've started to call her piano chick. I know she's a woman, because I heard her yell "damn" while practicing today. Yup, there's another piano above my head. Piano chick is, like guitar guy, very good. And like guitar guy, it's because she spends a lot of time with her instrument. I think she practiced for about six hours today. I don't mind, though. Although I am tempted to go up there and see what kind of piano she has, and what pieces she's working on.