Carnegie Hall

It really is all about who you know. A good friend of mine called me up and said that he had $10 discounted student rush tickets to Carnegie Hall for a Bach performance, and it didn’t take me long to say yes. The performance was great, and the concert hall was a nice venue. We were up on the highest level, which honestly I didn’t mind at all. The seats had restricted legroom (they were behind a banister) which was tough with my friend and I being tall, but we managed. Surprisingly, the ushers didn’t make an issue out of people taking pictures, so I got to take several until I found a shot I was happy with.
The performer, whose name escapes me, did a great job, he was playing “The Well-Tempered Clavier, Part I”, so it was interesting hearing a collection of short pieces. It’s kind of crazy, given how complex the music was, to consider that Bach wrote these pieces as trainers.
The really interesting thing to note was that about half the people in the audience had their eyes closed while listening, and the other half were watching the performer. (I was among the later) Not that the sound quality was bad, but to me, given that this was a solo performance, watching the performer play was a very important part of the live experience. I can go home and listed to the piece on MP3. It was interesting too that people held their coughs, chair shuffles, and movements between breaks in the pieces; the performer would play for 5-10 minutes, then take a 1-2 minute pause before continuing, and the whole room would cough, move about, etc. It was quite amusing.
Unlike the Metropolitan Opera, this performance I really did enjoy, and would welcome and opportunity to go back again with friends.