Friday, August 8, 2014

Concert beds

so... this is the inside of the famous amsterdam concert hall.... last month we went to a piano concert. as you can see, there are no chairs!! of course, normally there are chairs, but this was a special occasion. normally, the musicians are on the stage that you can see underneath the organ, but this time they were placed more or less between the audience. and yes, the audience brought their own mats, and some even brought blankets and pillows. the idea was to fully immerse yourself in the music. this was a piece for 4 pianos (and a little bit of organ, but they could have left that out for me personally). the piece is called "canto ostinato" by simeon ten holt, i guess here you can listen to some of the music (if you dont know it, i urge you to check it out!!). bluntly said, its repetitive piano music (4 pianos, as i said), and i really love it (although i know several people who cannot stand the repetitiveness of the music. i think its really wonderful, and lying down like that really fits this kind of music).
when i discovered about this concert, most tickets were sold out already. only places on a chair were still available!! luckily, they were quite a bit cheaper than the "sleeping" places (and no need to bring your own mat!) (20 euros vs 35, thats quite a difference). so.... me, tim and my sister got tickets and we went. we had great seats! not only could we see the musicians very well, we also had plenty opportunity to observe all those lying down. it was a great experience, and i think in the end we were a bit more comfortable on a chair than lying down... :) (listening to music like that at home is different from doing so in public..!!). it was fun to see some people (almost?) falling asleep, and others turning around seemingly uncomfortable.... :)