Recently I had an invitation from a friend to go with her to a concert by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. Considering the parking debacle of the last time I was at the symphony, we decided to be very cunning, as well as cheap, and use the parking space of a friend who lives in the West End district of Vancouver and has no car at the moment.

While our friend lives a fifteen minute walk from the Orpheum Theatre the plan was to go early, stroll along Robson Street, a quite trendy street for fashion shops and restaurants and find somewhere to eat before going to the Symphony. Good plan except it was freezing cold so we walked briskly past all these wonderful stores in order to keep warm. I was also not aware that this is where all the young Asian people in Vancouver seem to hang out on Saturday evenings, no doubt due to the number of different types of Asian restaurants in the area. Or do you think they might be shopping in the Coach Store, or Gucci or Prada or perhaps Salvatore Ferragamo? They were certainly out in great numbers, in groups of three or four, meandering slowly down the sidewalks and generally impeding our fast pace.
Well we did stop for dinner and finally arrived at the Orpheum in time to check out the program and the concert started not long afterwards.
The first offering I had never heard before, Richard Strauss’s Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks, Opus 28 which was a quite charming piece with excellent solos for the French horn and the clarinet.
We certainly had not heard the next piece before, for Equilateral, Triple Concerto for Violin, Cello and Piano and Orchestra was being performed for the first time ever, a world première, no less. Since it was being recorded we were asked not to cough, sneeze, rustle or make any noise whatsoever. Right. Certainly not. The Gryphon Trio were the performers of this new piece written by Jeffrey Ryan, VSO’s Composer in Residence. This piece I found interesting in parts but I think I would need to hear it again to fully appreciate it. Often the solo instruments seemed to be overpowered by the orchestra although each soloist was given an opportunity to extemporize above the continuum of the orchestral background.
Finally after the intermission came another of my personal favourites, The Planets by Gustav Holst. This orchestral suite consists of seven movements and is the most widely performed composition by an English composer. The range of instruments used for this piece is wonderful, with everything on stage including extra woodwinds, two harps, xylophone, glockenspiel, bells, along with two timpani players. It was a visual delight to watch the percussionist display his talents as well as a sound delight for the whole. Each movement represents a different planet and the last, Neptune the Mystic, featured the eerie voices of the Elektra Women’s Choir who performed offstage.

I hope you will enjoy music of the planet I have chosen below. It was not an easy choice on YouTube. Would it be Venus, the Bringer of Peace to a background of images from outer space? Finally I chose a video which showcases more of my loves, both dance and ice dancing. So may I present Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity. You will recognize the music I’m sure, especially around the mid point. The beginning and end are said to be very reminiscent of English folk dance music. Enjoy.

The conductor for the evening was Bramwell Tovey, who has been the very popular music director of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra since September, 2000. We are very fortunate indeed to have this English conductor and composer in Vancouver.