Visiting Boston's Back Bay - #1
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| Italian Harpsichord |
This past week Peter and I flew to Boston for the Early Music Festival. Attending the festival has been on Peter’s bucket list for many years and, of course, I was not going to miss it either. As usual we took lots of photos as we enjoyed the Back Bay area of Boston. The weather was mostly rainy, overcast with only occasional sun. I wore my ‘fitbit’ and at the end of 3 days realized I walked an average of 22,200 steps each day! And yes, most of it was in rain!
The Public Garden founded in 1837 was one of our first stops. There is a lovely ‘lake’ with swan boats that were picturesque and not working that day.
Squirrels chased each other across grass and up trees.
Mother Mallard had her ducklings in tow as they swam.
The Globe Alliums looked like dancers in formation and the roses were in bloom.
But the Dogwoods took center stage with all the trees just filled with blooms. Even the locals said it was a spectacular year for the Dogwoods.
Our first concert was at Jordan Hall, the principal performance space of the New England Conservatory. It seats 1019 people and I counted 36 empty seats! It is considered one of the most perfect acoustical performing spaces in America. The program, “Music of Wolfgang Amade Mozart on Mozart’s Original Instruments” was more than spell binding. In fact, you could hear a pin drop as the music from the violin, viola, clarinet and fortepiano blended to fill the hall. Until one hears Mozart’s music on the instruments of his time; the instruments he composed his music for, one cannot really understand the magic of his music. That is true of all early music composers. It is a completely different experience. If you have not heard Mozart played on original instruments, please give yourself a gift and listen.
Jordan Hall http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_Hall
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