I’m a classical music nitwit.
But years ago my friend Andreas introduced me to Dmitri Shostakovich and some of his symphonies, I especially loved No. 7, Op. 60 ‚Leningrad‘; 1. Allegretto; from 7:39 on because, listening to it, I felt the joy of mathematics, I had a vision of cinematic numeral beauty.
Today thanks to my friend Frauke, she invited me to the Philharmonie of Berlin: Musikfest Berlin 09: Orchestra London, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Dmitri Shostakovich, Symphony No. 8.
It was so exciting to watch the musicians, we had a good seat above them all, enjoying, hearing them like a swarm, a flock … and I liked the mixture of old and very young ones. I loved the percussion section the most, so concentrated partly for just one single boooom 🙂
Here you see the conductor Vladimir Ashkenazy receiving a bunch of flowers at the end of the wonderful performance:
