Symphony Review: Carmina Burana
After our meal at Matt's in the Market, Kristy and I walked over to Benaroya to catch the performance of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana performed by the Seattle Symphony, the Seattle Symphony Chorale, the Northwest Boychoir, and some featured soloists as conducted by Carolyn Kuan. We first heard Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto performed. It was done very capably by soloist (Joan Kwuon). But, really, the concerto was nothing more than a nice little piece of candy to consume before the big stuff.

After we dispensed with the concerto and the ensuing intermission, the chorale entered and began to fill up the expanded stage row by row. The chorale was followed by the boychoir, which appeared to be about half the size of the chorale. After the symphony members returned to the stage, the combined mass of musicians was impressive. Our seats weren't great... but they were still serviceable. We had tickets for row 7 left orchestra, but the expanded stage gobbled up the first four rows... so we were actually seated just three rows from the action, seated squarely in front of the section of first violins.

Once the conductor brought everyone to attention, the chorus that brackets the work, O Fortuna, began with verve, vigor, and plenty of volume! The O Fortuna piece is famous and as the program notes "shamelessly" if not effectively appropriated for all manner of popular culture such as movies, radio, and television (such as this humorous commercial for Carlton Draught beer). Nonetheless, it is nothing less than spectacular when consumed live by such a vast array of musicians. The tight singing and enunciation, led by the precise Kuan (who mouthed the words to the entire piece) was awe-inspiring. Wow!

The baritone and soprano soloists were wonderful... they brought life and drama to the pieces they performed and the audience responded. There wasn't much for the tenor, but he was also very good with the one piece he had to perform. Also of note: the soprano was dressed in an especially impressive and exquisite red dress. Ask Kristy about it.

The entire performance earned the three standing ovations it received. This is a piece, no... a spectacle, that - like Beethoven's Ninth - just must be witnessed in person, live and in color. If we had attended Friday night's performance (which we had originally intended to attend but had to exchange because of our conflict with the Birthday Hoedown), then we would have returned tonight to see Carmina Burana performed again. If we ever have the chance to see it performed by such a capable ensemble, we will not even think to pass on such an opportunity. Tonight was a rare treat we will remember for many years to come.

Restaurant Review: Matt's in the Market

Matt's in the market is located right next door to Chez Shea the third floor right in the heart of the Pike Place Market. Look closely to your left just as you get to the third floor, because you might miss it... Matt's is a bit small, but very quaint (in a good way). The kitchen is open and can be seen from any table in the restaurant; you can watch your food be prepared if you like.

We arrived for our 5:15 seating and were seated right next to one of the third story windows in Matt's. We looked down on the entrance to the Pike Place Market and watched the fish being thrown and the tourists posing on the pig throughout the evening. We saw two different wedding couples show up, take pictures, and leave. It was kind of fun spot to people watch and have some good eats. We were fortunate to have the benefit of being able to take our time this evening as our date at the symphony (to see the magnificent Carmina Burana) was not to start until 8:00pm.

For our appetizers, I ordered the mussels and Kristy ordered a beet salad. My mussels were served in a deep bowl with this great tasting broth accompanied with chorizo sausage, chermoula, and these large hand-made wonderfully seasoned saffron crutons. The appetizer was hearty and had a wonderful flavor. The dish reminded me of the mussels I would eat in a little town in Taiwan called 淡水. where I served as a LDS missionary. The church was located down by the fishing boat docks, and we would often go down to the docks and get this wonderful bowl of mussels and fish broth made with the freshest catch. It was good, but this dish at Matt's is probably better than what I had back in 淡水. Kristy's salad was a bit disappointing. The menu seemed to suggest that the salad was composed primarily of beets but it was not (beet salad is one of our favorite salad selections recently). So Kristy ate the beets and picked at the rest. She didn't appear to enjoy it.

For our main courses, Kristy ordered the pan roasted wild salmon with fingerling potatoes, corn relish, and a tomato vinaigrette. I ordered a pork loin chop served with yellow wax beans and a smoked chile and tomato salsa. Both of our dishes consisted of freshly prepared and hot meat served over chilled vegetables... very appropriate for our warm summer evening. We both were very satisfied with our meals. I ordered a non-alcoholic Bitburger Beer to go with my appetizer and entree... I wasn't keen on the flavour of the beer at first, but as I consumed it I grew more accustomed to it (I'd order it again with my next Matt's meal if it seemed like an appropriate complement).

For dessert I ordered the peach bread pudding and Kristy ordered the dark chocolate pudding. The bread pudding was a bit of a disappointment... not quite "peachy" enough. But despite my protestations (which I voiced to the very amiable server), I finished every last bite of my dessert. Kristy's dark chocolate pudding was quite good; the consistency and flavor of the pudding reminded me of my Mom's best-on-the-face-of-the-earth chocolate cream pie. The dessert was actually not called pudding but something else, but it tasted exactly like pudding - egg yolks, melted chocolate, a small amount of sugar possibly, cream, and butter.

Summary: Very tasty food. Great location for people watching, especially in the summer during tourist season. We will return for more of Matt's food. Recommended.

(Update Thu Sep 6 11:43:44 PDT 2007 // sections -> selections)