Orion in Action again

What more could you ask for when you can see Orion in Alice Tully Hall FOR FREE??!

They said the program is too modern and people don't dig them, that's why they're givin' out tickets... So that tells a lot about general New York audiences. But I am just wondering what would happen if we move this concert downtown in the Lower East Side?

The turn out was quite pathetic on March 15th, almost half of the seats downstairs are empty. Muneyoshi and me was sitting right in the middle of row X, good view! He got the tickets half an hour before the concert. But I was late spending too much time in getting my air ticket to LA. Again I have to apologize to Muneyoshi for waiting for me.

I overheard the Ellen Zwillich String Quartet from the speaker in the Tully lobby, Danny was the first violinist. It's a beautiful piece with no titles for each movement, only metronome markings. According to Danny, this is the easy-listening piece of the night.

The rest of the program proved him right because the Schulhoff Sextet that consisted of Clancy Newman (cello) and Huang Hsin-Yun (viola) together with the Orion, seems to be a hardcore piece. With fast movements and original ideas of each section, it's a great piece filled with creativity and energy throughout. The precious thing was, Orion and the other two additional members were able to grasp the audiences' attention without making anybody kicking their front seats.

After the intermission, it was the Orion alone again, closing up the night with a not-so-easy-listening Mendelssohn F minor Quartet. It's lacking of Mendelssohn's usual "happy" and "light-hearted" elements. Instead, it was filled with melancholy and grief in the most part. But why not? Great music is great music, stereotyping doesn't work for any composers!