We have season tickets to the National SO. I am in charge of this in the household, which means that before the beginning of a season, I get to determine which concerts my wife and I are going to attend. Fortunately, the NSO makes it very easy to pick and choose which concerts will be on our schedule, so I can micro-manage our season to my heart's content. In the five years we have held tickets, I have not attended a majority of the concerts that were originally on my plan. This year was no different: I think I swapped out of five of the seven concerts originally on tap. But the flip side of this is that the planning process takes place in the summer, and by this time of year I forget which ones I've scheduled, other than the true highlights. Sure, I could get on the NSO Web site and find out what concert I'm attending on a given night, but where's the creativity in that? So for the concert we attended last Thursday night, I tried something new: I deliberately went to the Kennedy Center with no foreknowledge of what would be performed. The first piece on the program started in utter silence. Guest conductor Manfred Honeck waited until there was complete quiet, then gradually, slowly, brought the piece to life. It was melodic with just a hint of an edge. It made me think of Korngold, maybe, or something composed with Hollywood in mind. Imagine my surprise when, later that night, I found it was by Webern. "Im Sommerwind, Idyll for Large Orchestra," was composed in 1904 but before Webern "became Webern." It was straight out of turn-of-the-century Vienna. He didn't publish it, and it remained unknown until it was discovered in 1961 and premiered the next year. I am far from familiar with the "real" works of this composer, but never in a million years would I have guessed it was by him. The next piece on the program was a snap to identify: Beethoven PC 1, played by Ingrid Fliter of Argentina. The Washington Post reviewer wasn't too excited by her but I thought she did fine. But what is it with the audience? They applauded after the first movement, which is understandable. But the applause after the second movement caused us to miss the attaca beginning of the finale. Get in the game, Kennedy Center patrons! The composer of the third and last piece on the program was also easy to determine. There are some composers who are easily identifiable. Last year, the NSO performed Elgar 2; within the first three bars you know exactly who composed it. I broke that record the other night: It seemed like less than five seconds into the piece, I knew we were hearing something by Richard Strauss. I have to admit, though, I get my Rosenkavaliers, Alpine Symphonies, Heldenlebens, Symphonia Domesticas, and Til Eulenspiegels mixed up sometimes, and I am nowhere close to memorizing or barely recognizing any of them. But after listening to the whole thing, I was certain it was Ein Heldenleben. And so it was: Straussian to the core, impossible to imagine it being composed by anyone else. I enjoyed this little experiment. It was like entering a room of people, some of whom you knew and some you didn't. The first one I "met," Anton Webern, was surprisingly sympatico and friendly, even if new to me. It was good to see Beethoven again, a known quantity and a welcome figure. And seeing Strauss was like meeting someone you were sure you knew, yet couldn't place. When the light dawned, it was like remembering a pleasant encounter with a person with whom there is infrequent contact. My next NSO concert will be an all-Russian affair; pity I got a look at the schedule beforehand. Mitch Friedfeld *********************************************** The CLASSICAL mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's HDMail High Deliverability Mailer for reliable, lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html