YouTube Symphony's Arranged Marriage

On Tax Day, the YouTube Symphony Orchestra gave its first performance with Michael Tilson Thomas conducting. How was it? I have yet to buffer my streaming video and watch the performance myself, but I was most interested in Tan Dun's Internet Symphony No. 1 "Eroica." (Wasn't Beethoven's Symphony No.3 the Eroica Symphony? Just asking.)

Anyway, Tan Dun conducted this segment of the concert. If you are curious how the piece sounds like, check this out:

(Tan Dun in rehearsal with the YouTube Symphony Orchestra)



(Tan Dun conducting the London Symphony Orchestra)



What did I think?

Tan Dun + Percussion = always cool
Tan Dun + Cheesy Brass Lines = LAME

I think my favorite quote was from Anthony Tommasini of the New York Times:

Tan Dun conducted the premiere of a piece written for the occasion, his Internet Symphony No. 1 (“Eroica”). This five-minute crowd-pleaser takes riffs from Beethoven’s “Eroica” and folds them into a score teeming with clanking percussion, corny brass chorales and perky passages that sounded as if the Crouching Tiger and the Hidden Dragon had encountered the Lone Ranger.

Hi-ho Silver! Anyway, if you're curious, check it out.