London Philharmonic

I went to see the London Philharmonic Orchestra at Arlington Theatre in downtown Santa Barbara, and I must admit I was thoroughly impressed. The theatre itself is barely above average acoustically, but the orchestra was simply amazing. They performed Britten's Simple Symphony, Op. 4, Khatchaturian's Violin Concerto (1940), and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64. I had played the Britten's piece in my own orchestra, and never really liked it that much; to me it always came off as rather elementary, but the performance by a professional orchestra cast it in a very different light. However, it still paled in comparison to Khatchaturian's masterpiece. The soloist was a young man only one year older than me by the name of Sergey Khachatryan, also of Armenian decent. He did a splendid job maintaining the atmosphere of the piece and its folk-like qualities. Tchaikovsky's symphony was also brilliant, with the famous French horn solo perfectly executed in the second movement. Overall I was very pleased and glad to have the opportunity to listen to such a high class orchestra. Next week is Keith Jarret on Monday, and then a couple concerts over spring break, so I'll talk to you then!