All Things Japanese by West Winds

Didn't expect that I will go this concert. Somehow I went.

The ticket price was $16. Somehow I managed to get a free ticket.

Did I mention "I left $6 in my wallet" on msn nickname? Somehow I managed to get dinner at Marina Square and even a slice of cake after that. Somehow...

The concert was good. I was sitting at left corner of circle 1, somewhere I never been before. Quite close up view of the band, just that cannot see the pianist.

The first half, they played some Japanese music composed by Japanese, and also Impressions of Japan composed by James Barnes. But I was in fact feeling quite boring, somehow. Just don't know how to appreciate those kind of Japanese music (although sounded totally not Japanese). Or rather, I was quite tired and feeling uncomfortable because of studying.

The second half of the concert was conducted by guest conductor Ito Yasuhide, who composed all the songs that were being played at second half. His pieces are generally different from the pieces that were being played at first half. And with his passionate conducting, the concert became alive. Somehow I saw image of Mr Tan on the conductor.

The conductor showed his skill on piano on the first piece of second half. A little boy sitting in front of me was very amused (I think) and mimicked the motions of the conductor. Just by the style of his piano I knew the second half will be totally enjoyable.

The conductor cum composer gave us a total of 4 encores (if I remember correctly, because the atmosphere was very high and didn't put in effort to count). After the third encore, there were actually standing ovations from the audience below. I think more than 50 people stood up. The first time I saw standing ovations in Esplanade. Actually I wanted to stand, somehow I didn't.

But the audiences were terrible. The last piece on program booklet has 3 movement, and they clapped just after one movement, when there was a gong sound. And that's still acceptable. What worse was some audience sounded "shhh..." and then the audiences all started "shhhhh!!!" from around the hall. Damn irritating.

Overall, enjoyable and truly worth the $16 which I didn't have to pay. After Planet Earth, somehow I felt that the pieces of the concert were quite easy, it just like how we played in Italy. The musicians and the audiences were all enjoyed very much (apart from the irritating "shhh").

After the concert, went to have Häagen-Dazs. And I was broke. But still, I am feeling rich.