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Great job Al!!!! Sounded awsome!!! Especially, the Verdi!!!

I only wish someone would have made sure the soloist knew the words to Auld Lang Syne....it was pretty funny to watch her turn around to read them off the display on the back wall of the stage!!!

I'm watching it right now here in California. Sounds great so far...

Happy new year!

I was observing Maestro Maazel's curious wardrobe statement. His tux looked great......but no bow tie!

That was, indeed, a very good concert by the NYPO.

A wonderful concert! Special ambience about the whole thing. Drop dead gorgeous soprano soloist. The orchestra sounded superb, tighter and crisper than I have ever heard them before.

I saw a few brief shots of Alan Baer, but couldn't tell what horn(s) he was using. His playing on "Auld Lang Syne" was pure tuba muscle----what a tone! He seemed to be carrying the entire bass line on his shoulders. (Of course, the double basses helped a bit also. lol)

Even the announcer, Martin Bookspan, seemed to sound better than usual.

Tuba just took over the whole last encore... And did you see Maazel grin at him toward the end?

It's really nice to hear that orchestra sounding so tight. LM is a great musician who is all about the music, and not so much himself it seems. Bravo Low Brass! Viva La "OOM PAH" on Auld Lang Syne!

1291rocks wrote:I have to agree that it was a superb performance. But was up with the commentator not acknowledging the tuba player, Alan Baer? He said the trumpets, and trombones, and didn’t say tuba. Is there any reason why?

I noticed that at the end as well. The commentor must be like my family is about low brass instrument identification. My mom still thinks I play the trombone somedays, or at least calls it that... you think she'd realize after more that 10 years.

When you do not get noticed or recognized that means you've done your job. Sometimes that is more satisfying to know. It's not like "Hey, the tuba player sounded good this time" because he sounds good all the time.

This is a great example of a really good player at work. These pieces would have been proper to the cimbasso but Alan Baer did not need to change instruments to be complety convincing on all the pieces. It just goes to show that if you are musically convincing, the choice of instrument matters a lot less. Angela Gheorgiu should be excused for not knowing the words to a song with Scots dialect words. She certainly knew the arias, the Catalani La Wally was super, and the Forza del Destino was really good. She looked great and her Puccini had a great legato. Maazel solid with good tempos. What did happen to his tie? John