Heat, music and crowds

 It’s one thing to choose to go to an afternoon concert in February because the time suits and another when the day arrives and it’s a hot, hot day. 

Oh well. off I go, ticket in hand.

My ticket entitles me to participate in a program of choral works written by Beethoven (the past) and Arvo Part (the present).  These works are performed by the Australian Chamber Orchestra and the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and the publicity blurb describes this performance as ethereal and otherworldly; this is music by two towering composers searching for the very core of human meaning.

Okay.

Access to my seat in the dress circle is easy, it’s an aisle seat and I sit there watching a situation playing out a few rows down and to the right. There seems to be some problem with tickets and seating and ushers are engaged in serious conversation with the people sitting in those seats.

A little later the concert finally starts; the music, described on the blurb as otherworldly means that in very short time I am asleep.  I snooze only briefly, wake and then thoroughly enjoy the rest of the concert.

What I don’t enjoy so much is going out into the afternoon heat and the crowds. Every man and his dog seem to be in the city this afternoon and the footpaths are crowded with people. I make my way across the bridge, along by the train station and across to the tram stop.

A short wait for the tram and I am on my way home.

Summer colour    circa 2011