Verrassingsconcert (Surprise Concert)

Eindhoven, 5 November 2005

As a promotion for the Classical Music Week in The Netherlands, there was a free concert held in Frits Philips Music Center in Eindhoven. It was called a 'surprise concert' because we didn't know what songs would be played. We only knew that the local orchestra (The Brabants Orkest) would perform, and also there would be Janine Jansen, the most famous violist in the country (even maybe in Europe) at this time. She was the main mascot of the event, and she would play in three cities in marathon and transported by helicopter between the cities.

We knew the news from the local newspaper about one month back, and there were about 700 seats given free. Few days before 5 November we received the tickets by mail, so it was fixed!

The concert was started at 15.30 in a cold autumn Saturday. When we arrived at the music hall there were still numbers of seats available. We thought that it's a pity that people were not very enthusiastic with classical music, even if it's free :).

Then we entered the concert hall. We got seats in a side balcony, quite close to the stage. The concert was started on time, opened with a speech by one member of the orchestra (after a while we knew that he is the Timpani player). The opening speech was quite interesting, tried to motivate people to understand the music as an art even though music is very abstract. We can many times see the paintings and the sculptures, but a music performance can only remain in our memories. (Well, you can buy the CD's...but that's not a live performance anymore.)

The first piece was the Peer Gynt Suite No. 1 and No. 2 composed by Edvard Grieg. It was a very good choice, since the suites contain popular and easy tunes. For example the opening part, 'Morning Mood', is very melodic and often used in advertisements and movies. Another part, 'In the Hall of the Mountain King' even recognized by the heavy metal listener (like myself) as the tune from 'Walls of Jericho' by Helloween :).
From our seat we had very nice view because we could see the details of the orchestra. Even we could watch the percussions section in the back row.
One drawback from our seat was the sound quality. We felt like we only heard a half side of the sound. We noticed the difference because in the past we had enjoyed other concerts where we sat in the middle seats.

After the amazing piece, the stage was emptied. All the players went to the audience seats, and a grand piano was set in the middle of the stage.
When all were set, the Timpani player was back for the speech. It was a brief introduction about the helicopter trip for the star, and then entered the star...Janine Jansen. She was accompanied by David Kuyken who plays the piano. They played the Beethoven's Violin Sonata No. 4 in A Minor Opus 23. This piece also very enjoyable, with a very nice 'chat' between the piano and violin sounds. I especially enjoyed the piano sound, which was simple but pure and solid. Janine's performance was unquestionable. Her fingers were flying on her Stradivarius to produce Beethoven's sweet melodies.
The audiences gave great applause for the duo, made them back to the stage and gave us a bonus. That was a composition by Bella Bartok, but unfortunately I could not get the title that was mentioned by Janine Jansen. The song started with funny high pitch violin sound, like if someone novice plays it. In the end it was transformed to a fast and strong melody.

The Timpani player went back on the stage again after this piece. This time he interviewed Janine Jansen, asked about her busy schedule. On that day she played at 10.00 in Groningen, at 14.00 in Arnhem, and at 15.30 in Eindhoven. A day before she opened the event in Utrecht, and the following day she would play in Amsterdam. What a busy job to be the mascot!

Meanwhile the stage was arranged back for the full orchestra. By then we knew that the last piece would be Janine Jansen together with the Brabants Orkest. They performed the Mediation from Thaïs opera composed by Massenet. It was also quite catchy tunes, with big portions for the violins, harmony session by the harp, and some nice timpani variations.

And that was the last part of the show. We enjoyed about 90 minutes nice performance, and even as bonus, on the way out we could pick up souvenir bag with a nice classical double CD's containing popular classical pieces. So, in the end the performance will always be remained in our memories, and the souvenir CD will always be played to remember the day :).