From Tod Machover’s Facebook post today:
From DJ Poet to the BSO:) Went to Symphony Hall last night to hear the Boston Symphony play a French-Russian program of Dutilleux, Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky and Ravel, conducted by Alan Gilbert. The revelation for me was “La Valse” by Ravel, well-known of course, but ear-expanding after all my current work with the Toronto Symphony piece. No one uses an orchestra better than Ravel, and there are always two or three layers of subsidiary sound murmuring meaningfully beyond the obvious. Subtle, surprising, and perfectly played. One extra “surprise” was that – probably due to more-than-usual empty seats in the hall (not THAT popular a program, I guess), people kept knocking the stern BSO wood-leather seats in front of them, causing the bottom part of the seat to fall down from its propped up position; made weird crashing sounds throughout the concert. Could make a terrific audience-participation element in another context!
Opera of the Future 