5 May 2007

One of my friends, Mystic, and I met this morning to join a tour of the National Stadium. The National Stadium will soon be torn down to make way for the construction of a new Sports complex. Being a nostalgic person I am, I could not help but register for the tour to see the National Stadium before it becomes history.

Mystic was very kind to go the extra mile to drive all the way to where I live, and drive me to the stadium. Before the tour, Mystic and I have breakfast at the Mac Donalds' fast-food restaurant nearby the National Stadium.

I shall write a post on our tour of the National Stadium at a later date, so please check out this space. Strangely, Mystic's predictions came true. There were personnel from the media following our tour group, and I won't be surprised if someone told me that they saw me appearing for a split-second on the news on TV.

I realised that there were so many people registering for the tour, that the organiser had to organise several tour groups for the day. If my eyes had been sharp enough, I think I saw fellow bloggers, acroamatic and Cool Insider, from a distance while I was on my tour. They were too far away for me to even shout for their attention.

After the tour, Mystic drove me to the Old Airport Road Hawker Centre (I suppose?) and treated me to lunch. The Oneh oneh sold by the stall behind the Toa Payoh Rojak was merely average when I tried it today. The Kway chap however was better than average. There was a queue for the kway chap and Mystic was very kind to join that queue to order it for me. Mystic had lor mee for her lunch. A word of thanks to Mystic for being so patient with me for the day.

After lunch, Mystic drove me to Tanjong Katong Complex before she left for home. I went to two music shops along Tajong Katong Road to check out for double bass bow case. I did not find any bow case that I felt was worth buying. Anyway, I've purchased a few music books from one of the shops.

Then in the later part of the afternoon, I spent much of my afternoon at library@esplanade. This is the library that is located within the Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay. Since I had more than 3 hours before my next appointment, I had spent quite a fair bit of time researching for materials that would be helpful in my preparation to write programme notes for the DipABRSM music performance exams. It had been quite fruitful.

In the evening, I attended the concert, Strains of Majesty, by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. It was one of the best SSO concerts that I have attended for this year.

I simply like the interpretation and the intensity of Beethoven's Symphony No. 3. The rendition was refreshing and engaging. Tonight's rendition is by far the most memorable rendition of Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 that I have heard live. I think Maestro Jahja Ling has done a great work at conducting the orchestra for the concert.

Nina Kotova's rendition of Dvorak's Cello Concerto in B minor was pretty engaging and inspiring too. While I think her right-hand technique could need more work on (and so do I), she has very good sense of musicality and intonation. I could not help but say that Dvorak is a genius to write such a brilliant cello concerto.

Special thanks to one my friends, ML, for making time to accompany me for this concert. It so happens that I had won a pair of tickets to this concert a few days ago because I've managed to call in to a call-in contest on the radio station, 92.4 FM. The seats that I have won were very good seats. Many thanks to ML too for her treat to dinner, and her lovely greeting card. It was nice catching up with her.

Overall, while I did have my moods swinging for the day, the day turned out fairly fruiful. I think the good concert had helped.