We have been in Mexico, where we luckily missed the Los Angeles hot spell (one week long! as if) but managed to be rained on by the edges of two hurricanes-- Felix to the southeast, and Henriette to the northwest. Two bridges washed out and the streets of small villages were streaming with water. I was glad to get back to nice dry L.A.
Today we went to the Verdi Requiem at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in downtown L.A. (in the distance, above). It's the first time I have been downtown, and I was excited to see that the Pavilion is right next to the Walt Disney Concert Hall, an exotic creation of silver curves that I had snatched glimpses of from the freeway. But we didn't have time to look, and went in to see the Requiem. It's a piece I love, of course especially the part where the orchestra and choir crash out the Dies Irae:
Day of wrath! On that day
the world will dissolve in ashes
as David and the Sibyl warned!
That was always really fun to sing.
"Did you know they had to invent special drumsticks for Dies Irae?" said D.
At the end of the concert, which seemed to be sold out, the man behind me leaped to his feet and started yelling "Bravi! Bravi!" The people in the orchestra and most of the people in the balconies stood up, applauding with all their might.
I might have been impressed, except that, in fact, every single stage performance of any kind that I have seen since returning to the States has also received a standing ovation.
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