Beethoven's 9th at the Sydney Opera House

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I went to a performance of Beethoven's Ninth yesterday - the full Sydney Symphony Orchestra and 120 voices from their choir in the Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House. Holy cow! What an experience. It puts a great many things into perspective. All the things I strive for as a producer, refined and distilled over centuries of trial and error, in an amazing, purpose-built acoustic space. It was sonic perfection. You could hear every part perfectly, even the two flutes or oboes when the choir was in full voice. It was absolutely amazing.

Last time I attended a symphony I was still really a kid, in my twenties, and I didn't have the appreciation for any of it I have today. It's definitely something I now want to do on a semi-regular basis (every couple of years or so, when the right programme comes along). Of all the live music I've ever experienced, I think a symphony is the one that you really need to be at. I'd never buy any of that stuff on CD but experiencing live is something very special.
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Yes it is indeed. The difference between being there in those natural accoustics and hearing it on CD is almost beyond description. Cool choice you made there. Needless to say, you are not the first one would think of as typical visitor in that environment. Even cooler you want to visit again.

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That would be sublime. I used to go to the major concert hall in Montreal on field trips when I was too young to really appreciate it. The last thing I saw/heard there was Shore's LotR symphony in Feb. 2004. The sound was organically 3 dimensional. It gave me goosebumps.
“The Generals sat, and the lines on the map, moved from side to side.”
― Pink Floyd

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I didn't realise it until the other day but after the Symphony last weekend, my next gig was the Dead Kennedys on Wednesday night, followed by a Stephen Fry talk last night. That's a very diverse week.

For the record, Dead Kennedys was the best of the three. They were great.
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IncarnateX wrote: Sun Oct 28, 2018 1:59 am Yes it is indeed. The difference between being there in those natural accoustics and hearing it on CD is almost beyond description.
And another difference is, if you sit in the orchestra and play your own violin. Didn‘t have that for too long...

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Nah, it's not the same if you have to concentrate on your own thing.
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Korg Odyssey, bx-oberhausen, Proxima, PolyMax, GR8, JP6K, Union, Atomika,
Invader 2, Flow Motion, Olga, TRK 01, Thorn, Spire, VG Iron

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Did you do it ever? When I did, I knew my part...; - )
And of course its not the same, I said its different... (Its even different if you sit in the front row vs. 3rd balcony...)
All mind blowing experiences vs listening to a CD I have heard a hundred times...

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The closest I got was first trombone in my school band and those are not great memories.
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Warren, since we share some electro roots with gothic shades, I allow myself to recommend Mozartz' requiem if you ever will have the chance to hear this live with a big fat choir, a splendid orchestra and a passionate conductor. As you may know, a requiem is a mass for the dead and one of those highly formalized church music disciplines where the lyrics are already set (in Latin of course), so the chronology of parts is the same despite different composers. Mozart died before finishing the last 1/3 of his requiem, which was made by Franz Xaver Süssmayr. Of course, there are discussions about how much Franz wrote but I think it is pretty obvious which parts are Mozarts' when you hear the last ones. It can be a very emotional and close to depressing experience because you have all the sorrow and fears of a genius, but sick and dying, composer thrown right in your face. However, it is beyond beautiful, extremely powerful, and no famous requiem I know of would even reach Mozartz' worn out socks.

I will post three of my favorite parts for you to decide whether it is something for you. You may know them already, especially if you have seen "Amadeus". As an extra gothic spice, note how the introducing brass figure in Confutatis reminds a little of an EBM bass.

"Dies Irae" (Day of anger -judgement day)





"Confutatis" and "Lacrimosa" (breathtakingly sad, I do not dare to listen without a handkerchief)



Do not know if it is for you but to me this is nothing less than mind blowing, even more so if you hear it live, therefore I will at least point you to it.

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Ta.
NOVAkILL : Legion GO, AMD Z1x, 16GB RAM, Win11 | Audient EVO 8 | Lumi Keys | Studio Pro 8
Korg Odyssey, bx-oberhausen, Proxima, PolyMax, GR8, JP6K, Union, Atomika,
Invader 2, Flow Motion, Olga, TRK 01, Thorn, Spire, VG Iron

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