Posted by Sylvain Gagnon on May 30, 2003 at 15:52:20:
Last Wednesday, I drove 3 hours in my old car to hear the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal perform the Pictures at an Exhibition at 10:30 AM and the Berlioz requiem at 8PM.
A young conductor named Jacques Lacombe conducted the morning concert, which beside Mussorgsky included DVORÁK, Legends, Op. 59, Nos. 1-5 and KUHLAU, Concertino for two horns.
Dennis chose to play the Bydlo on euphonium. This was very well done and was in character with the faster tempo the chef demanded. I'm sure Dennis could play the Bydlo on a sousaphone and make it sing as well.
Now my afternoon was fine. I spent some time at Twigg, bought a Reunion Blues Leather gig bag for my small tenor trombone, did some shopping, got a nice juicy parking ticket (to add to my collection!) and bust a brake line at the next intersection. Now this also happened to me in Boston two years ago and the garage only changed one side I just figured out.
After getting a ride from the tow truck to the concert hall, I was ready to hear this magnificent 150 strong choir, the 6 timpani players, and the 4 brass choirs situated in the loges on each side of the hall. Jean-Claude Casadesus was the conductor and Stanford Olsen was solo tenor. Beside the fact that my seat wasn't very good, I was taken by this incredible performance and lifetime experience. Thanks to Mark, Pierre and Chantal who helped me crash the VIP party after the concert, I was able to appreciate that they didn't serve cheap "piquette" to their benefactors.
Montreal sounds just fine without Charles...
S.G.