Best Sound

I just got back from an ASO concert.  This 2011 Nyx piece by some European person, The Poem of Ecstasy, and Rach 3.  I liked the first two pieces a lot more than I thought I would, and the Rachmaninov with Garrick Ohlsson was ever so lush and Romantic (a little too much so than I would've liked tonight, in fact)...  BUT, these were my favorite parts, from favoriter to less favorite:

1. I never knew ASO's true sound until I heard them today in the UGA performing arts hall.  Wow, I always thought Doc was just being a snob by saying, "The Atlanta Symphony Hall is such a dry hall..." But wow, I only discovered today how true that is, and how great our concert hall is.  Only tonight, after hearing ASO's true fortissimos, I realize that the ASO sound I've heard and enjoyed since middle school was like listening through an auditory haze.  Wow, how powerful and transparent and reverberant and warm and colorful their sound was tonight...  This for $5?!  What a steal.
2. Garrick Ohlsson's encore of a Chopin waltz!  Ohhhh it was so good.  I've always, always loved Chopin (who... doesn't?), and I've been listening to Chopin / Chopin-ish piano music a lot on Pandora these days.  Oh, it was so lovely to hear one live in a fantastic hall, and well-played, too.
3. Seeing people... seeing Mr. and Mrs. Su on stage with many others I recognize... that was nice.  Seeing Dr. Railsback from the other side of the row, I'll mention it tomorrow at school... Stalking and bothering Mr. Su in the rehearsal room, and running into Dan Pham and Marcus!  The place was packed like I'd never seen it before!

I'll never think of the ASO the same way again, and I'm that much more proud to have them in my hometown!