Too Much of a Good Thing? - May 28, 2018

Having been gorging on concerts and particularly enjoying choral concerts I was excited for my first Estonian event featuring their Eurovision soprano contestant. I was a little nervous not knowing much about Eurovision but decided in this nation of singers, the place that sang its way to independence, how could I go wrong?

The venue made me a little wary, part of a shopping complex, a sort of upscale modern Nordic kind of place, then when the lights came on to smoke effects on stage, orchestra in sort of big band arrangement, light show, and conductor in white I jacket ... I knew this was going to be something different.

Illeagal picture snapped during second encore.

And with each over the top song or orchestral piece, I thought, "how can they possibly top this", and then they did. Each subsequent one amping up volume, emotion, light show tricks, costumes (the featured soprano changed at least 6 times), until my brain was exploding with input. I thought about leaving at intermission but it was only 7:45 with hours left of daylight to fill so I fortified myself with prosecco with the idea of numbing a little to dial down the intensity.

The last piece was an intergalactic tour de force with all three singers going at it and the house went mad.

It leaves me with questions - when you have so much singing talent in one country does it naturally evolve beyond all good taste into stratospheric hyperbole, and all of this in the land of Arvo Part - what does this brilliant composer think? 

Mercifully this evening concluded with a long slow sunset view of the old town.