Apparantely, Haydn made a huge amount of money on this piece, causing him to comment, "a thing possible only in England." The Vivaldi Concerto, it turns out, can be played as a Lute or Guitar Concerto, with the lute being a bit more popular in Court at the time. However, because the two have small discrepencies in the way they are strung, sometimes the rhythm must be changed a bit to suit the instrument. It is this type of interesting detail that, to me, makes a concert like this both more enjoyable and more intimate -- the musicians are truly communing with the audience and the audience is learning along the way. Unfortunately, the auditorium was only about half-full, about an equal mix of students and perhaps family members of the orchestra? It did not seem like this venue was one that the community at large enjoyed regularly, which is unfortunate based on the enthusiasm of the musicians and really the absolute...

I have heard friends say that they retain more when studying to this type of music, and this is something I believe I will try. However, I am glad that I was able to participate in a more active form of listening to a concert such as this because the "live" music experience was really interesting and entertaining. I was also really amazed at the level of expertise, guess it is called virtuosity, in music of the guitarist. We tend to think of the guitar as a rock instrument, yet it has been around for hundreds of years and really fits in well with an ensemble such as this. Finally, I think what was most enjoyable about this entire experience was how intimate it was. The auditorium was not huge, nor was the orchestra, and I felt as if for most of the time I was participating in the experience as part of the performance. I was glad I attended and will certainly try to avail myself of additional concerts.