Ugly

Just came back from the SSO concert.

While Paganini’s Violin Concerto No. 1 was overly technical, I felt that Rachmoninov’s Symphony No. 2 was much more rich in dynamics and emotions, which added a fluidity to it that I found was lacking in the violin concerto. However, Jin Li, the solo violinist for the violin concerto, had an amazing technique that came close to that of Paganini himself (who reportedly sold his soul to the devil in return for his talent), and dazzled most of us with double and triple stops, but perhaps to the point of saturating the audience with an overload of musical embellishments.

Rachmoninov’s Symphony No. 2 was a refreshing change from the mostly stiff and restrained concerto. Throughout all of its movements, the use of intense dynamics employed by the SSO highlighted the lush harmonies (I thought I detected atonal ones in the first movement) and poignant melody lines. The most breathtaking moment, I felt, was at the start when we were, as it were, caught by our collars and swung through the air by a gush of rich and dense harmonics that swelled, ebbed, and flowed like tossing waves. It was a pity that the people sitting next to me seemed more engrossed in their cell phones and the striking resemblance that one of the violinists had to one of the teachers.

Went to have a chicken and ham stroganoff at dhoby ghaut, but not before someone was approached by a man with hair that looked as if they had been parted into three portions and welded together by a glue gun. Needless to say, Glue Gun Guy, in a faux Western accent, managed to squeeze in his contact information and boss' business card, and left someone at a loss for words and trying to comprehend an overwhelming sense of deja vu. Go figure. I've never felt so invisible in all my life.

Ah well. We all have our Daria Morgendorffer moments. I've found this Whoopi Goldberg video that parodied the surf culture in the 80s and 90s.