Kiersten’s Blog

Taylor and I have been lucky enough to spend the last two nights listening to lovely music.  Tonight we saw the San Diego Bach Collegium.  A friend of his from graduate school conducts the group.  They were fantastic!  I was actually surprised at how good they were.  I was expecting a good concert, but not as good as I heard.  They performed all six motets written by Bach.  It was very enjoyable.  I will admit, though, I was really tired and kind of fell asleep.  But not enough to make me not hear or get startled when applause happened.  I still thought it was exceptional.  We get to see them again next month.  I’ll try to be more rested before the concert next time so maybe my eyes will stay open.

Last night we visited Copley Symphony Hall in downtown San Diego to hear Joshua Bell.  I was really excited for this concert.  Taylor got me tickets for Christmas.  I loved listening to him and watching him (through my binoculars) and his incredible technique.  He was so relaxed.  I was especially impressed with the tightness of the ensemble (violin and piano).  They performed Bach, Saint-Saëns, Schumann, and Ravel Sonatas.  It was really amazing how together they were, especially with the super fast octave runs in the piano, doubled by the violin in the Saint-Saëns.  I have no idea how they did it, but I was blown away.  The concert was great, but I was somehow let down.  Don’t get me wrong, Mr. Bell played flawlessly, but somehow I expected something more.  Maybe it was due to our seats, but some of the really intricate parts were kind of lost behind the piano.  I felt like I didn’t quite hear everything I wanted to.  Maybe I just had a bad seat.  Maybe the acoustics in the hall could be better.  (It’s kind of a funny building.  You would never know it was a symphony hall from the outside of the building.  It just looks like a high rise building.)  Or maybe I was just so spoiled by Yo-Yo Ma last year, that nothing will ever live up to that experience.  No matter what it was, I still had a good time and definitely enjoyed the concert.