An evening of kulcha

Have just returned home from seeing the Australian Youth Orchestra at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw (Concert Hall). Although not an afficianado of classical music or orchestras, I thoroughly enjoyed the evening. (Thanks Mick for the tickets!)

To start with, the Concertgebouw is a wonderful building, with beautiful architecture and marvellous acoustics.

And the orchestra was great. They played four pieces, as well as several encores. The piece I enjoyed most was their second one, Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini, which featured the Czech pianist Lukas Vondracek.

Unfortunately this is where my philistine nature shines through. As the piece started, it had a sound that made me think 'Walt Disney programs'! Now I was planning on keeping this rather uncultured thought to myself, until we left the concert, and my fellow Aussie concert-goer Maria blurted out exactly the same thought! It's always nice to know you are not alone...

And in that vein, one thing I have been hankering after for a while is one of those inflatable boxing kangaroos, 'cause sometimes you just need to be a little overt about being Australian. I think it is safe to say though, that this was not the sort of occasion where it would have fitted in!

This evening was quite different to the last concert I went to at the Concertgebouw, which featured Madeleine Peyroux. Peyroux is a jazz singer who seems to be frequently referred to as sounding a lot like Billie Holiday. It turned out she had spent plenty of time busking on the Leidseplein, so felt very at home in Amsterdam. That was also a great concert, and has inspired me to head down to the record store and get one of her albums. All I need to do now is turn that thought in to action!

Shane