Guilt Trip

There are a few features of my life that make me feel more than a little bit of a hypocrite, but I've learnt to live with the guilt, as I suppose we all do. But it bites particularly deeply that, despite being someone who occasionally extols the virtues of the arts, and especially the need to keep music live, I just don't get myself to enough concerts and such events.

So I was pleased with myself today for making the effort to hear the Singapore Symphony Orchestra in concert. It was all a bit unexpected. We'd decided to go down to the Esplanade in order to use the library and, realising the SSO were playing some Schubert (the Unfinished) and Brahms (the 2nd Piano Concerto) we bought tickets. It was the first time we'd been to the main concert hall to hear an orchestral concert. The acoustic was good, but generally I felt the space was a bit cavernous. The SSO were typically smooth, occasionally heartfelt, but I wish they'd programme a bit more adventurously.

After the serious stuff we had a bite at the nearby hawker centre and then caught some free music down at the waterfront - a young local band called B Quartet, I think. Sort of alternative rock, with an excellently manic frontman who sang well with a nice falsetto. Very Radiohead. Which is by no means a bad thing.

Well at least I've done my bit for art.