[melomaniac]

So, taking a little break from the relentless shilling for gadgets that many forums here have become, I'm happy to report that over the past few weeks I managed to catch several student concerts of electronica, including one with home-made electronic instruments (a little bit of punk survived into the 21st century...), as well as a Sol Gabetta cello recital (she was coaxed into eight (8!) encores...), a Berlin Philharmonic performance of Bruckner's 9th, a sublime rendering of string quartets by Busoni and Beethoven by the Brentano Quartet, a truly radical piano recital by Marino Formenti that included the Diabelli Variations by Beethoven in a way you've never heard them, and a wild free jazz concert by Dutch percussionist Han Bennink, surrounded by friends (including the best bass player alive, Mark Dresser). Coming up: the Ebene Quartet and more contemporary jazz. Just a reminder that it's about the music, not the gadget sales...