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I wonder what George Crumb was doing when he came up with the idea of putting a gong inside a plastic tub filled with water and then banging on the gong while lifting it in and out of the water.  Was it an accident or completely intentional?  I'd like to think that the 80-year-old (yet still very spry) composer just happened to one day drop a gong or two in some water and discover the haunting sound it creates when you play it.  Either way it was genius.

I'm in no way a connoisseur of orchestral music, so if you're thinking that...stop that right now.  Right now!

Humpback WhaleWhat was more charming?  The piece inspired by four personable canines (Canis Mundus - A Dog's Life) or the piece inspired by the singing of humpback whales (Vox Balaenae - Voice of the Whale)?  The dog piece was quite charming (apparently he has a devilish dog named Yoda) but the whale piece...(oh silky, sweet heaven-beckoning angels...the WHALE PIECE!!! I am floating in a sea of water with several beautiful men who all look like Jason Bateman...and I'm a mermaid...and my hair is five feet long and my skin is radiant and my eyes are purple...) was mesmerizing.  

While playing Voice of the Whale, composed for flute, cello and piano, performers wore masks--think old school Batman mask without the ears.  The idea: "The masks, by effacing the sense of human projection, are intended to represent, symbolically, the powerful impersonal forces of nature (i.e. nature dehumanized)."  In addition to that, the piece was performed under blue stage lighting.  Batman

I'm in no way a connoisseur of orchestral music, so if you're thinking that...stop that right now. Right now! But...I've seen my fair share of performances, some lullaby, chamber music that inspired thoughts of the dashing Colin Firth and some so completely avant garde that I had to consciously fight my eyebrows from a perpetual WTF-Lift.  

Tonight's performance...with the masks and the blue lights...BLEW ME AWAY.  The flute, the cello, the piano...all imitating sounds of nature, the mysterious calls of humpback whales, one of the oldest mammals on our planet...was sensual, guttural and precise. (I could swim naked for hours with that music!)

Pavo is now an official partner with the ASO, so look out for some behind-the-scenes footage, interviews and recordings that you'll only get from the fresh face of Pavo and of course some killer ticket give-aways.I think many times, the beauty of orchestral music gets lost in the stiffness of its reputation.  Wear your slacks, don't clap until all the pieces of the piece are complete, don't fall asleep, love everything you hear, no non-music-people allowed, etc.  

This ASO performance shook that stiffness out for me.  It was still in a concert hall with the clapping rule and several pairs of slacks, but George Crumb's compositions took me out of all of that.  I was floating with the whales.  I was understanding their language.  

Needless to say, I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the Alabama Symphony Orchestra's season.

Needless to say, I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the Alabama Symphony Orchestra's season. Pavo is now an official partner with the ASO, so look out for some behind-the-scenes footage, interviews and recordings that you'll only get from the fresh face of Pavo and of course some killer ticket give-aways.  

One of Pavo's fabulous writers, James P. Fahy got the honor of interviewing George Crumb prior to the concert tonight.  Look for that candid interview with the Pulitzer-Prize-winning composer in the very near future.  

(Ohhhhhh...cellos, fluttery blue lights....I'm still in an undersea trance!)

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