Yesterday was a day of Beethoven! In what way? Well, remember I told you about the seefilmfirst website where I got free tickets to see ‘Sunshine Cleaning’? (Don’t go stealing my ticekts now 
) Well, it seems like, besides free tickets for films, we also get notices about free tickets for some concerts! That’s great! Last week I received an e-mail promoting a series of events linked with Beethoven over the weekend. I looked through them and two events caught my eye: A Film about Beethoven’s ninth symphony yesterday morning and a concert of Beethoven’s cello sonatas yesterday evening. I logged on to the site and booked my tickets. So Voila’! Off I was yesterday!
Film: Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony
The Film was a story of how and why the ninths symphony came about, and how it has transcended everything, being used to represent from Marxist to Soviets, to Fascists and now also as an anthem for Europe! It was an interesting blend of old videos, videos of reconstructions, and modern images all interlinked. What was very strange however was the ending! It just ENDED, in the middle of a scene! We all sat there, and the hall attendants told us they would go to check what happened…apparently it stopped like that! WOW! They told us it could be as it was not fully edited (the emphasis was more on Beethoven for the whole series of events rather than film-making, so that is OK I guess). But anyways…WOW! It was very strange. They also didn’t seem sure of themselves…they just guessed it had finished as the time was right. Otherwise however it was quite interesting, though I could have done without some of the scene reconstructions shown on the videos
Beethoven’s Cello Sonatas
Another concert of the first 3 sonatas was done a few months ago, so yesterday the concert involved the last 3 cello sonatas. I used to play the cello, but stopped taking lessons around 5 years ago, as I realised I am not dedicated to it…it was common for me to go to the lesson with just 15mins of practice all week if at all! So I decided to stop wasting my teacher’s time. This was my first time being to a cello concert though (of this standard at least).
The concert was good, but the music maybe not exactly to my liking…not because it was not good! Far from it…especially judging from the number of bows the musicians took. I guess the reason is also part of why I started losing my enthusiasm for music…I don’t enjoy the idea of making music alone, or by two in this case…for me music is a more collective thing, which you make in groups, and enjoy the process of how all the instruments intermingle together. This comes from me finding playing on my own futile, but was always fascinated when playing in groups or in an orchestra…the fact that I was part of that whole which was making such great (or not so great, depending on when ) sound really lifted my spirits. However, I was not disappointed. I may have been if I had paid £22.50 like the person sitting next to me, because it is not exactly my thing, but paying nothing I was MORE than happy.
And guess what? I went home yesterday and told one of my flatmates that I was at a classical concert…and she was very excited! It seems like she really likes them, but finds no one to go with. SO I have tickets for a symphony concert next weekend (free of course 
), and hopefully I get her to join me!
Tags: 'cello, Beethoven, cello sonatas, free tickets, ninth symphony, Ode to Joy, orchestral playing, seefilmfirst, violincello, violoncello
June 28, 2009 at 11:23 am |
I’m going to go and look at the seefilmfirst website you’ve mentioned. I’m not sure that I’d pay £22.50 to go and hear a concert of cello sonatas either, but I’d certainly enjoy it for free!
It’s also worth looking at the website of the Royal Academy of Music http://www.ram.ac.uk/ as they have a programme of student concerts which are open to the public, and many of them are free, too!
June 28, 2009 at 11:28 am |
@ HelenEdith: Thanks for visiting my blog and for your comment! You should definitely sign up! And thansk for the tip about the RAM. Will check it out
Keep on visiting!
June 28, 2009 at 4:44 pm |
I registered too…probably will never hear from them imma nsomma
June 28, 2009 at 5:09 pm |
@ Cec: Was Malta an option on the country list? Or did you register as London?
June 28, 2009 at 8:08 pm |
They dont ask for the country haha just the post code :S
June 28, 2009 at 8:10 pm |
@ Cec: Hehe…then pretty sure you won’t get any
June 29, 2009 at 5:17 pm |
did you fix your hard disk in the end?
luck you, you get to see concerts for free. tickets go for 500 kc here in Prague which is why I’ve been putting it off for ages. the only cello I enjoy these days is Apocalyptica, not exactly classical but hey they’re amazing.
June 29, 2009 at 5:25 pm |
@ Grace: Nopes…not much you can do to fix it. Have ordered a new one though, and it should be on its way. A friend from malta should also be bringing me the recovery media for the laptop (since I conveniently left them in Malta
) this week, so then I can install it and hopefully all works! Wish me luck!
Yeha…I remember wanting to go see a concert in CZ, but never got round to doing it, mainly because of price. Maybe in my next two trips there…who knows? And Apocalyiptica are good anyways
July 6, 2009 at 6:27 pm |
[...] of my friends have taken up the offer to join me for similar stuff. However, after I went to the Beethoven concerts, one of my flatmates said she was interested…woohooo…I got a friend to go with [...]