It's great that you had such a wonderful experience. Gergiev and the Mariinsky (or with the LSO) can be amazing when they are on form.

Just something worth mentioning about the ending of of the Shostakovich. He is quoting the closing bars of the second movement of his Symphony No 4. This is the symphony that he was working on when Stalin and Pravda denounced him for his opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, with the words "muddle instead of music". This was in one of Stalin's purges. Shostakovich became a 'non-person', someone dangerous to be associated with. Many of Shostakovich's friends, patrons and family also suffered in the purge (actually his patron Marshal Mikhail Tukhachevsky was arrested and executed) and Shostakovich kept a packed suitcase in the hall of his apartment, in case the authorities came for him.

The Symphony No 4 was withdrawn during rehearsals and was only performed some 25 years later (due to the efforts of Kondrashin, I seem to remember).

So, knowing that, I always find the closing pages of his 15th symphony unbearably poignant.

It's funny you say all of that because my boyfriend who is a shost freak educated me on all of that hahaha..

I love all the other quotes as well, especially to 7!

Sorry, Angelina, I hope I didn't come over as 'trying to teach my grandmother to suck eggs'! (I suppose I'm a bit of a Shostakovich freak too, in a minor way.)

Artur Rubinstein in solo recital at the gymnasium at Princeton University around 1969 or 1970. I don't remember the program but I remember being awed and moved.

Haha not at all! I'm happy when I see people who know such things!

Horowitz last concert in the USA at the metropolitan opera House. I stood number 2 in line over three days and still have my tickets and picture taken with the maestro. Also Gilels last concert at Carnegie Hall. Also the 1991 season tickets at carnegie Hall were Horozoski played on his 100th birthday and Bolet played on his 82nd birthday after losing 70 pounds from his brain tumor secondary to AID's (If I remember correctly). These are my favorite concerts I have experienced.

Likewise, I don't remember the program, but I heard Rubinstein play here when I was a teenager. Moreover, naive, star-struck youth that I was, I went backstage after the performance and spoke with the Maestro in the Green Room. No one else was present.

Alas, I remember not a word of what he might have said to me, and I'm absolutely sure that I mumbled some inanities that would embarrass me were I able to remember them; thank goodness, I can't!

Regards,