Tchaikovsky

I made them go. I don't often make my boys go hear "long hair" music (?!), but this was Easter. I wanted it to be a memorable year, wanted to do something unusual to mark the weekend. Kiel was coming home, and would miss all the wonderful Good Friday events. This seemed a perfect special event for us to do together.

I asked Kiel in advance, and he was agreeable. Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra was playing an Irish piece, the Grieg piano concerto featuring the Canadian pianist Louis Lortie, and Tchaikovsky's Sixth Symphony, affectionately called the Pathetique. We would make an evening of it. I had a gift certificate for a restaurant left over from a Christmas present, just waiting to be part of a celebration. We would have dinner, then catch the pre-concert lecture before enjoying the swirling sounds of the orchestra.

Anyway, it was *my* idea of a perfect evening. The dinner part went well and we topped off the good food with a decadent chocolate dessert (the waitress was amused that we asked for one dessert and three spoons). It was rich and melty and warm - just right. Drew tolerated the lecture. Admittedly, the conductor worked hard to be personable, but fell somewhere short of engaging, especially when the pianist began to ramble a bit.

We had seats in the 'nosebleed' section. Even with my discount, it was a stretch price wise. We were packed in like sardines. The house was fairly full, no room to relocate somewhere less crowded with more legroom. Drew was immediately taken with the huge chandelier and took pictures with his phone. We chattered away about various things that were second nature to me since I had worked there for so long, but brand new to Drew.

I refuse to feel badly about forcing him to endure the long concert. He nodded sleepily now and again, but its not often he hears an orchestra, and for a provincial ensemble, this one is fairly decent, being made up of so many Eastman faculty who are stellar musicians. I myself soon forgot about our surroundings and my kids and fell into the familiar and well loved music.

It was nice. Nice to hear good music, nice to spend time with the boys, nice to be part of the upper crust world of elegance for an evening, nice to be touched by something beyond the normal day to day stuff. I'm glad I made a special effort to do something different. And who better to do it with than an enigmatic Russian. Delightful!