I went to the TSO the night before I headed off to Paris. Originally, I was supposed to go with my parents, but because of the heavy snowstorm, they declined to go. Instead I invited Peter and Richard to come along. The night was titled Classical Legends and featured 6 pieces! However, the night was still short since there were no major pieces. Apparently The Star also thought the same way since they don’t have a review of the night online! Although they might have used the weather as an excuse.

I enjoyed the first piece, Smetana’s Overture to The Secret. It sounds like a “pop” Classical piece. Next up was Strauss’ first horn concerto. I was looking forward to this piece because I love the sound of the horn, however this and listening to the Mozart horn concerto’s again, I realized that the horn is not a good solo instrument. Mozart’s Symphony No. 32 ended the first part and even though it was a symphony, was only nine minutes.

Two Dvorak pieces were after the intermission. For The Midday Witch, the conductor, Charles Oliveri-Munroe, explained the themes to the audience by having the instruments play pieces of the themes. I found this really informative and it helped me understand the music. It’s too bad that other conductors don’t follow this example more often. Humoresque (the 7th) was the second piece, and I enjoyed this one as well; too bad it is a rather short piece. The evening capped off with Strauss’ Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche which was a weird and eventful piece.