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So after a very controversial period, the Lincoln Theater gave its Swan Song via another great offering by MTT-(as everyone calls Michael Tilson Thomas over here). First we had Schumann's "Overture to Manfred" ,which I ADORE and think as one of his finest orchestral creations, one that tells you right in your face of the tone of despair of Lord Byron's work. Beautiful. Then we got Bernstein's "The Age of Anxiety" -(which I had never heard before and didn't like)-and as the Grand Finale MTT gave us Prokofiev "Symphony No. 5" . From the three most famous Russian exiles-(Stravinsky, Rachmaninoff and Prokofiev)-I place Prokofiev-(in my own level of likeness)-after the too-contemporary-for-my taste Stravinsky and before Rachmaninoff-(my favorite due to his pronounced lyricism and sumptuous harmonies...my thing). Prokofiev Symphony No. 5 is always a very interesting choice, particularly for its ever changing tones of the finale. The audience, me included, loved it.

And now...after some years serving as a great performance space-(the Art Deco building is from 1936)- the Lincoln Theater it will cease to exist to make way for...a shopping center, just as the New World Symphony will open next week in their brand new, shiny Frank Gehry Concert Hall/Academy. Still, I will really mourn the end of this beautiful, charming place, which has given so many great concerts to the people of Miami Beach. And now, we'll get just what we need...ANOTHER shopping center in Miami. :mad:

Good Bye, Lincoln Theater. We DO love you!!! :bow:

Miami Beach - South Beach: Lincoln Road - Lincoln Theatre

and...

Welcome, New World Center...!! :clapping:

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.contractdesign.com/contract/content_images/New-World-Symphony---3.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.contractdesign.com/contract/gallery/2099.htm&usg=__LLR4fvFEDMEXeT4CXHsixpil1ug=&h=399&w=600&sz=174&hl=en&start=10&zoom=1&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=glDHd7RnBLj0-M:&tbnh=90&tbnw=135&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dnew%2Bworld%2Bsymphony%2Bcampus%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:*:IE-SearchBox%26rlz%3D1I7GWYE_en%26tbs%3Disch:1&ei=FRU5TZ-KJcOB8gbopK2-Cg

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I think it's a shame that one of the few parts of the world which was leading in art-deco (or streamline - call it what you will, it was unique - thanks for that link to the images and the informed comments on them, Cristian) has chosen to weaken that distinction and to "keep up with the Joneses" by joining the Gehry parade. (It's no surprise - all over, decisions are being made in lack of appreciation of what communities have in favor of the fad and fashion of the day, in "plastic" arts no less than in performing arts.) The new Los Angeles concert hall has had its problems, I gather, not that the Lincoln Theatre had the best acoustics. I may be in some disagreement with my friend Cristian, but it seemed to me to sound a little small for a symphony orchestra, and I wish I had had the opportunity to hear a chamber orchestra in it. But, being a great fan of MTT (who is called that out West, too!), I did go along to a NWS concert conveniently scheduled adjacent to an MCB run in the nearby Jackie Gleason Theatre some years ago, and I was not disappointed.

Bernstein's The Age of Anxiety, also known as his Second Symphony, I knew in the '50s from an Lp of the composer conducting the New York Philharmonic in it. In those days, my method of finding enjoyment in musical arts included going to see ballets danced to music whose acquaintance I had already made - an approach widely abhorred by people in the business of marketing ballet, I've found - and so one evening I saw NYCB, I think, perform the Robbins ballet.

I don't remember much of it - I hadn't yet learned to hear music note by note and phrase by phrase, and so I didn't yet see dancing so acutely either - but I do remember some striking images: The dancers wore fencing masks at one point, becoming faceless - the scenario making much of contemporary alienation - and at another, a dancer on short stilts or something, making an intimidating figure, actually falls into the hands of some of the others. Whether this bit was about accepting the support of the group or something, a concept that occurs to me now, I can't say.

Prokofiev's Fifth Symphony and I go back a long way, too, although here again I'm different from Cristian: I like best the first and third movements for their sustained and involved construction, rather than the bang-up finale, which certainly does please audiences.

dirac[/b]'s, is time-stamped an hour earlier, according to my local time. Ah, the quirks of life in cyberspace!]

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