Frozen Planet in Concert now also in BRUSSELS

I just came back from the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra concert hall.

WHAT a concert. Let me try to get through it.

First I left home in proper "Planet Earth" attire: brown slacks and shoes, blue dress shirt, white jacket, green tie with blue stripes, and green fedora hat. Proper Earth colours!

It was all I could not to give the maestro an ovation as he walked in, before he'd even played a single note. I was sitting second row (which was the first row practically speaking since the actual front row was left empty) and right SMACK in the middle of the section. So I was effectively RIGHT in George Fenton's face. There was George freakin' Fenton right there, directly in front of me! Less than three meters away!!! The shadow he cast from the back lights reached me! I KNOW he noticed how emotionally moved I was as he turned around to speak between each piece.

I don't have the program right before me but the selection was quite stunning. A very nice balance of stirring pieces, uplifting ones, and yes, even action music, too. My only Planet Earth fave he didn't play was "The Blue Whale." Big, big shame he didn't play that. Other than that very nice selection, and I swear he must've picked certain pieces that aren't on the CDs.

The most awkward was the "Caves" section. Half the piece that played was pre-recorded and was featured just so the vocalist lady could sing to it. She was very good, but still weird to have pre-recorded audio play for so long at a concert. I guess they did it that way because the piece featured too many electronic elements to play live. Finally, more than halfway through the piece the orchestra kicked in.

Well okay I take it back: the most awkward moment of the evening was the end of the first act, when he played a totally random Gershwin song dedicated to the filmmakers and field researchers of Planet Earth. So out of place. I suppose the audience viewed it as "good fun." Gershwin knows how to write a flawless song, for sure... it's just an awkward pick at this concert, is all.

Best part for me was the Akavengo segment. More than any other piece it had tears running down my cheeks. It was also the ONLY piece of the whole evening that prominently featured the Planet Earth main theme! Peculiar.

Obviously, this being a "visual media concert" the concert hall probably felt the audience would stone them to death if they didn't provide a big screen with footage to match the music. So okay, have your cute footage, I don't mind, I don't care (my eyes were closed as I swayed to the music most of the time anyways). If those people forgot that they came to a CONCERT and NOT a movie, then that's their problem. BUT I tell you where you draw the line: those occasional sound effects were UNACCEPTABLE. Thank GOD they really weren't too terribly intrusive or frequent, but I could still hear them.

Other than this slight gripe (which I know Mr. Fenton must've fought against all he could) the concert was perfect. Well, I had read on the ad that Fenton would also play segments from his famous film scores such as Gandhi and Dangerous Liaisons and I was really looking forward to that but it turns out it wasn't part of the program.

As soon as the last note of the last piece struck, I was the first one to bolt upright and clap like a madman. I clapped until my hands were sore. He came back twice for an encore bow, but he never actually gave us an encore piece. Sad. I think I deserved it as a fan.

I had my copy of We're No Angels with me (perhaps the most highly-prized Fenton score) just on the off-chance the maestro would mingle with his audience at the end and sign autographs. Sadly I don't think he realized there actually WAS a fan of his in the audience. Isn't it sad when you have total confidence that not a one person in a 1000+ audience besides you could've listed just FIVE of Mr. Fenton's film scores.

Well, this makes the 5th concert I've attended in my life. I'll look forward to the next one, however long that'll take until I find another in my area.