A Little Culture

We went to the Colorado Springs Philharmonic yesterday to listen to a performance called “Old and New”. The selections were Mozart Overture to “The Magic Flute”, Leroy Anderson Piano Concerto in C Minor, Keith Emerson Piano Concerto No. 1, and Beethoven Symphony No. 5.

After The Magic Flute, I said to Don, “Isn’t that the music to every Looney Tunes cartoon ever made?” He said he was picturing Bugs Bunny in his mind as the music was playing.

I’ve never heard of Leroy Anderson. His concerto was a bit too soundtrack-y to my ears, but the second movement was kinda fun in an Americana kind of way.

The Keith Emerson concerto was the real reason why I even wanted to go. This is one of my favorite classical pieces and I’ve never heard it live before. When the concert director came out to introduce the show, he said they had spoken to Keith Emerson directly and he was so excited to have the concerto played in Colorado Springs that he was planning on coming himself and doing the introduction. But some type of family emergency came up and he had to cancel at the last moment. Bummer. But it was super awesome to hear it live. I guess my only complaint was that I felt like the trumpets took a little artistic license and were a bit too loud sometimes. I don’t know enough about classical music to know whether it’s kosher to change a composition.

And I’ve never heard Beethoven’s 5th all the way through before so that was cool, too. The conductor had no music in front of him when he conducted it.

Lila went with us. Not sure if she enjoyed it as much as we did. Oh well, she tried something new.

Lunch at Applebee’s: $36
Three seats in the nosebleed section of the philharmonic: $60
Seeing Lila roll her eyes at us with a “I can’t believe I got talked into coming to this old people show” look: Priceless