My First Date

On Friday, I had my first ever first date. It was a bit different than my expectations though. The woman of interest was Cailin, one of my oldest friends. A little over five years ago, we'd been on the verge of dating, one could even say we platonically dated. In the end, we chose to see other people and I began my relationship with Manda. I've been basically in relationships since, but this romantic tension never completely went away and our friendship suffered. After my return from Australia, we found ourselves both single again and our feelings for each other resurfaced. Unlike the past however, we were both older, more mature and able to talk about it in a healthy rational way. After much discussion, we decided to giving dating a shot.

It excited me to begin a dating relationship with a date, the only problem was finding a way to have a successful first date with a person I've been friends with for seven years, a person I've shared dinner with countless times. I figured I'd go all out. I made a r eservation for a trendy, four star French fusion place downtown. On the day of planning, I received an email from my friend Osmo Vanska (our "friendship" is based on my love for his conducting and interpretation of great symphonic works) offering discount tickets to see the beautiful Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto performed by the fantastic Minnesota Orchestra. My date was set!

The dinner went very well. The food was fantastic and restaurant had a great atmosphere. Due to a concert and a Twins game, finding parking was problem and road construction forced us to walk six blocks to get to the restaurant only two blocks away. At certain points in our dinner, I'd look across the table and think to myself, "dang, my date sure looks good tonight," only to realize that I was thinking this about one of my best friends.

We joined Manda and her beau Dana for the show. It was admittedly awkward to double date with an ex-girlfriend on a first date, but the music erased all this. They opened with Sigfried Idyll by Wagner, an uncharacteristic vocal-less piece that was surprisingly subdued for Wagner. It lacked much of the bombastic epicocity of his typical work, but still had the swirling, water-like quality I've always loved about Wagner. Next was the 1st Piano Concerto, which, although not the best I've heard (this honor goes to Van Cliburn's definitive 1958 recording) was still fantastic. Music director Osmo Vanska has a knack for pushing through the themes we already know and love and making us focus of the ones that often get lost in the mix. The soloist Stephen Hough was incredibly virtuosic, not missing a note of the often dizzying crescendos. He lack a certain type of feeling I crave in such an emotional piece, but he handled the work well. The performance was recorded for an upcoming complete Tchaikovsky Piano and Orchestra box set the Minnesota Orchestra plans to release sometime. For fans of Tchaikovsky, hunt this down upon release. Recently, the Minnesota Orchestra released a fantastic new recording of Beethoven's Symphony Cycle that is also worth owning. Their 9th is the best I've ever heard of such an overdone symphony. I feel so honored to have an internationally renounced music director and symphony orchestra only miles from my house. They did an encore of the second movement of Tchaikovsky's Second Piano concerto, a work I've not heard but was well played. The night ended with The Miraculous Mandarin by Bela Bartok. I'm not a huge fan of Bartok or work from this period in general. It did not completely hold my attention, but there were some sections with Stravinsky-like rhythms that I really enjoyed. Overall, the concert was fantastic.

I have to say that this was a great night overall and I was happy to share it with such great company. No, it wasn't my first date ever, but it was the first time I dated somebody that I wasn't already my girlfriend. The night did a fantastic job at setting the tone for an exciting new relationship. Yay dating.