Well, overall it was awesome...people were great, good music and conversation..

Now, the venue...The poor orchestra seemed shoehorned on the stage, the basses were right up against the wall as well as the percusion section.

The music:

Mendelsshon's Midnight Summer Dream was stupendous...great pacing and sound.

Telemman: I dont remember the name of the piece but came out very well..they seem to have a very capable smaller ensemble orchestra as well. Lorin Maazel seems to be a minimalist in movement, but very fluid.

Bruch's Violin Concerto...I think it was the 1st.:
I may be quartered for saying this, but I dont like this piece at all...Its seems like a patchwork, with a repeating theme just to remind us thats its all part of the same work...It lost me many times. Here I thought the orchestra sounded muddy and not very sharp. The violinist was good, but I didnt care for the tone at all.

Mussorgsky's Pix at an Exhibition:

I loved this piece. Maazel paces it like what I am programed to like (aka: Fritz Reiner's rendition for RCA Living Stereo). Great energy and sound from the brass (simople beautiful)...I like the piece as it seems to allow the instruments to really shine with their tone and sound decay properties.
They were sharp, with precise stop and go/

BUT: at the end in the climactic few bars, he cheezily held up the bell strike's for one measure too many, as if trying to build some extra drama and excitement, but I was like WTF..It didnt fit the pace he was carrying, seemed unnatural).

Overall: great experience, and knowledge gain to judge my own system and how I want it to sound.

I think I need power and autoformers (MC352)..:D

Welcome to the BIG APPLE. It seems overall you had fine time. Power and autoformers!....... like we are in for the usual equipment changes.

I think Maazel can be a little hit and miss. I've heard some recordings that I thought were fine, then some others that I thought were kind of contrived. He has a real evil look, though, which I find amusing. lol

Maybe he didn't like the work by Bruch. His most famous violin concerto is in g minor (which I think might be #2, although it's rarely referred to as #2, just as the g minor).

One odd thing that Maazel does that apparently no other conductor does: at the last chord in a piece or movement, he'll make a movement with his hands until all the sound in the HALL is gone, then he stops moving.

Maestro..he did wait til total silence in the transitions....

Pix at an Exhibition live.....:drool:

Classical music live....yeah that's what it's about. Sounds like a wonderful evening...BTW I like the Bruch.