A night out.

Watching on my iPad the beautifully crystal clear Livestream broadcast from Detroit one cannot be other than struck by the professionalism of the package. The scene gradually builds up as members of the orchestra walk onto the stage to take their place within the orchestral setting, tuning their instruments and chattering between themselves, an ever so relaxed atmosphere of professionals going about their daily task. Men and women at the hight of their talent exude a speciality, a training and a dedication to their art which gives them supreme confidence and a beauty which is rare. Thousands of hours of painstaking training are straining at the leash to show us their talent.

The concert platform has filled and the lights dim. The Detroit Symphony Orchestras leader, a beautiful young Chinese woman stands up to play a note for the others in the orchestra to find their key. She sits down and with no fuss Leonard Slatkin strides onto the stage with the soloist a young Cellist Narek Hakhnazaryan.
Being in America the performance, like the surroundings is precise and exciting. Tradition and ornateness are banished and replaced by clean functionality and a sense of modern purpose. Embellishment is stripped to the bone of all that was unnecessary, leaving one to marvel at the virtuosity of the players, especially the soloist who produced (from a $3000 Chinese made cello) a hauntingly emotional mournful sound, the strings resonating as the bow crashes onto them, the sound amplified by the sound box within the body of the instrument, adding its own timbre, a tonal colour, a resonance which sets this instrument apart.
Youth is always breaking down barriers and the attacking style of the soloist brought the audience to its feet at the end of his performance. You could see from the faces of the other members of the orchestra that they to had witnessed something special.
And so with the wonder of modern communication we had been transported into another world a world in which as they spilled out into the cold wet streets of Detroit I simply reached out to fold my iPad away (after having written this bog of course) and snuggled down under the duvet switched off the light and wished you "sleep tight dear friends" !!