Orchestre National Avignon Provence. Jochem Hochstenbach, conductor. April 23, 2024.

Auditorium-Orchestre National de Lyon.  First Balcony (Seat E91, 15 Euros).

Program

Brahms Serenade No. 1

I could find little information on the concert.  We didn't notice any programs being offered at the venue.  Perhaps the rather long introductions at the beginning is how it is done?

Not much information on the front of the ticket either.  Mar = Mardi, Tuesday.

The Lyon Orchestra wasn't performing during the two days we were in town.  When I found out this concert was on, I walked over to the concert hall (about 30 minutes) to buy two tickets.  They were all priced at 15 Euros for the event.  I was told there were only a few seats left in this section, yet there were many empty seats in the auditorium.  (To be fair, an audience size the NJ Symphony would love to have.)

Some gentleman came on stage to introduce the orchestra and the conductor, as far as I can tell, as he said it all in French.  When it came time for the conductor to speak, he apologized for not being able to speak in French, and spoke English instead (interpreted into French).  He described Brahms's hesitation in composing symphonies, and called his early orchestral compositions serenades.  He further described the movements and played short excerpts to illustrate his points before settling in to perform the entire piece.

The acoustics in the hall was good, even though we sat on the left side of the auditorium.  The serenade consists of six movements, and has a strong pastoral feel to it (an idea the conductor emphasized by asking the horn to play a few measures).

The outside of the auditorium.  It looks like it could use some maintenance.  Wikipedia refers to this as Auditorium Maurice Ravel.

The inside is fine.  The acoustics is good.

Brahms completed the first serenade in 1858, and the first symphony in 1876.  Brahms's composition style clearly matured considerably in the intervening two decades.  If I didn't know what I was listening to, I wouldn't have guessed Brahms, and certainly not a symphony he composed.  Nothing wrong with that, sometimes a dose of light music will do the job, and that's the intention of today's program.

On the way back, Anne was sure someone (a young girl) tried to put her hand in her coat pocket.  There is much talk these problems have moved to smaller cities as well.  It was close to 8:30 pm when we got back to the boat, the restaurant managed to find something for us to eat.