Dual

went for the concert named DUAL: An American Salute, for which a friend was guest playing. Dual is the Distinguished Universities Alumni League, covering alumni clubs of 17 schools in the US and the UK, which you can guess. (that's about the lamest way of connecting people together, to create extra connections naturally. ) They were the organiser of the concert. the lousiness of the concert is beyond description, and my friend's item, was the only thing worth hearing.

what a typical american thing. it started with grand and bland patriotic pieces such as american salute by Morton Gould, and Lincoln Portrait by Copland (of all the works he wrote!) being amateurs does not give the band excuses for the unpolished, impersonal and sluggish playing despite the conductor's immense effort in mobilising them. bad. bad. best still, they had to play Lincoln Portrait, incorporated in which a narrative about Lincoln and excerpts of his speeches. they got an american man to speak it, who did it with absolutely zero passion. how could they portray such a great soul with so little soul? Only the piano in Rhapsody in Blue brings the concert a little life. he actually plays with a lot of colors and wit and is actually in context. that is what i just discovered. i think he's grown. well, i'm not so much a piano critics, but then i liked it.

and then, there was a light-hearted women's chorus, singing a bunch of songs in major keys with a lot of cheerful phrases repeated and not much color change anyways. they have to put this cute little women's chorus item after the grand masculine pieces, to show that while the men are concerned about big issues, the women are just petit and sweet? (which reminds me of the victorian idle women. surprising how closely contemporary american culture resembles that of the early 20th century england.) can't help but think that the concert is an apt portrait of the conservative side of american cultural landscape. there's no wonder that dual mainly consists of the major old distinguished universities on the east coast of the country.

and above all, of course, this concert is for charity. the kids from the Cannossian School Percussion Band were good though, considering that they are kids with hearing impairment. simple pieces, but almost played to perfection, in contrast with the main band. such spirit with which they played their pieces, and the enthusiastic conductor seemed full of passion and love. i think they won the loudest applause from the bored audience.