Barry Platnick
Sep-18-2009, 4:58pm
I went o the world premiere of Thile's symphony last night and it was great. He needs to be mic-ed better but the writing was fantastic, and so of course was he.
He was really humble and a little nervous I think.
when it was done he did a Bach solo and then a fiddle tune with one of the violinists who had also been a fiddle champ.
G if you get the chance.
Andy Miller
Sep-21-2009, 6:52am
Went to the final CSO performance yesterday. Glad I did. Thile's playing was, unsurprisingly, great. It did sound a bit odd to have him mic'ed - you could hear the mandolin coming from the speakers flown overhead, separate from the rest of the orchestra. I was surprised at how acoustically quiet the mandolin was in that context, never having heard it played with an orchestra before. Guess it shouldn't be a big shock that one mando is quieter than a dozen-plus fiddles. . .
Thile's concerto is not for the faint of heart. It's contemporary, all right! While to my ears it wasn't particularly accessible, I continue to be amazed that anyone could conceive and create such a thing. Seems like quite a feat to me. I wonder how many other mandolinists and orchestras will ever play it? Few if any, perhaps?
He played that Bach partita for solo violin afterwards, then played Grey Eagle with one of the CSO violins, and played a short blues/swing tune with Jeffrey Kahane, the conductor, on piano.
Poohblah
Sep-21-2009, 2:33pm
My friend posted on facebook "Chris Thile is a badass" for doing this.
Made me smile :)