I Rarely Use This Word

Magnificent! I rarely say it, especially after a concert. I may use words like great, excellent, or the overused incredible. But last night's performance by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra (DSO) had me repeating "magnificent!" aloud. The first movement was great. But when the orchestra finished the fourth and last movement to Beethoven's 5th (the one with a hundred endings), I sat stunned for a moment. Then along with the rest of the packed house, I jumped to my feet to offer wild applause.

My friend Reiko and I took our daughters for girls' night out and thanks to a partnership with the DSO and DTS, we had seats on the eighth row. The DSO is performing all nine of Beethoven's symphonies in sequential order during this five weekend-long festival, and we had the great pleasure of hearing Symphonies 5 and 6 conducted by Jaap van Zweden.

In February the DSO announced the appointment of van Zweden as its new music director. During the 2007-2008 season, he will conduct three weekends as music director designate, and we attended performance number one. What a way to start! (I'm trying to remember when I've had a more enjoyable experience watching a conductor.) He assumes the music director position for the 2008-2009 season. Bravo!