Rhi and Benner at the symphony

Rhi and I love music of all sorts. But one area where we--I particularly--feel like our expertise and experience is lacking is symphonic music. I have been wanting to expand my love and appreciation for it recently, so what a great blessing that one of my bosses just out of the blue offered us a pair of tickets to go see the LA Philharmonic at Walt Disney Concert Hall.





The building itself is wonderful, designed by Frank Gehry. Even the escalators up from the parking garage are gorgeous.





Then we got inside the concert hall. We were there to see "Adés Conducts Adés," which means Thomas Adés was conducting some music he wrote. This was the view from our seats:




(We run out of pictures at this point because an usher came up and said we weren't allowed to take pictures. Woops!)

I don't think either of us had ever seen a concert from this POV before, and it was an amazing experience. It was so much fun to hear the sounds and pick out which musician was making them, particularly when--during one piece--there was a lone mandolin player hidden in a sea of violinists. Adés' music is also very percussion heavy and really utilized just about every percussive instrument available. So it was fun to watch the ten percussionists running around the back row, dodging one another, clanging cymbals and bells and tympani.

The music itself was interesting, in a very good way. It was evocative and seemed like it was very much trying to rattle people. Very modern, save for the last piece which was written by an Italian composer in the late-1800's whose name escapes me. It was a wonderful night for us to get away from the couch, and we very much appreciate my boss' generosity.