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Impressionisms

Last night, E and I went to see the Seattle Symphony pay Ravel's Daphnis and Chloe at Benaroya. It was - breathtaking. We'd had Brahms's Concerto for Violin & Cello in A Minor to whet our appetite. Brahms was very, very good but Ravel absolutely satiated the audience. It's an overwhelmingly scored piece - very heavy on winds and strings and also two harps, a celeste, a wind machine, and a full choir. The timpani made the floor under us shake. We could feel the reverberations of the music vibrating through the strings into our chests (with cheap tickets, we were very close to the stage).

"Well," said the man behind me as we gave a standing ovation, "that just about took every-a-body some-a-where."

If you watch this recording (though it's not the conductor we saw) and you'll get a taste of it - the beautiful melodic depiction of the sunrise. But you should hear it for yourself:

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