I could be an excellent music critic if I knew what I was talking about.

"Oh, I thought the orchestra was fantastic. Tremendous energy and verve and .. and ... and ... passion. Very spirited. Did you say some of them were only 15? Really? You don't say! Fantastic. Huge talent. Brussels adored them? Why, how very kind of them. The violins have wonderful technique. That Beethoven piece is awfully hard, but just look at those violins go at them. Wowee. Hot damn, man. Did you see the percussionist? That cymbal player .. how intense was he?! I feared greatly for his nose, so intent and close was he to his instrument. Did you notice how energetic they were? And they kept it up the entire two and a half hours! Incredible. That oboe in the beginning of Miserere?! Wasn't that the most priceless thing you've ever heard?! Such humour in the piece! You know I thought that last note just before the tenor came in sounded like a musical fart! Oh, it was brilliant! The choir? Oh, the choir was none too bad. Oh, but the orchestra .. the orchestra was FANTASTIC. I clapped hard for the choir, but I stood for the orchestra. Brilliant. Fantastic!"

I was at a concert this evening. Carmina Burana, done energetically, is always a crowd pleaser.

"Hmm .. I wasn't terribly fond of the soprano. Lovely tone, and effortless top notes .. wowee, did you hear her Dulcissime?!! She made it sound so easy. But there was no .. oomph! It's the climax of the entire piece and she sang it as if she was just out for a stroll. Oh-I'm-terribbly-good-see-how-effortless-I'm-singing-these-horrendous-high-Cs-and-Es-why-it's-a-piece-of-cake-don't-you-just-love-me mentality. All I can say is, she's young. Too young, perhaps. Gosh, she was boring! Now, the baritone! Oh, he was good. I liked him a lot. It was obvious he was having a marvelous time and didn't mind letting us know that he was having fun. Oh, he was jolly one, that baritone."

Jason was part of the choir. So were a few friends from high school. I even knew someone in the orchestra - a brilliant violinist, but oh such an ass at times.

"I thought you started off really really well. Big bang. Great stuff. But then by the time you got to the third movement, it had lost some of the energy. It was patchy - some absolutely fantastic stuff .. others .. you were all over the shop. I could see the men going off in their own little world in In Taberna, as usual, and not paying the least attention to the beat. You were racing ahead at a fine rate, no one watching Peter at all! Von Engellant ... that final Heil! .. I nearly jumped! Brilliant stuff there! Your Hahas were lame. Such an anti-climax they were! You lost me at Veni, veni, venias. Bluueppphhh .. that was boring. Fair enough, you had been standing for nearly forty minutes in very cramped conditions by then, and you were tired. Ecce Gratum ... no one was watching the beat. It came out so weak. Oh, the tenors' fault, was it? Ahh .. that explains it. I'm not sure I liked the way you sang semper crescis. Yes, I know it's meant to be breathy and soft and all. From where I was sitting, I didn't hear the excitement behind the words. You need to have that excitement and intensity straight after the bellowing of O fortuna, velut luna, status variabilis bit. It could have been more breathy, more intense. Me? Should have sung? In that crowd of 400 voices, with barely enough room to stand, let alone read my score properly, besides having to sing that awful Blanzifor? Hahaha. Nah-uh, no, thank you. I was very happy where I was."

A definite glorious time, had by all. Oh, that was a terrific, rousing concert!