In today’s (7/16) New York Times, Anne Barnard writes about the audience ambiance at the New York Philharmonic’s free Tuesday concert in Central Park. Among those interviewed is 26-year-old Nick Nerio, who comments, “It’s really relaxing—and almost therapeutic in a certain kind of way when you’re out running around and having people bump into you in the subway—to have this music under the stars. It almost sounds cheesy, but it’s perfect.” Barnard writes, “The sun set without drama, as if deferring to the opening bars of Mozart’s ‘Jupiter’ Symphony (Symphony No. 41). The paths between the lawns were packed with latecomers, who met one another’s eyes with mild embarrassment, like losers in a giant game of musical chairs. ‘How deep is that swamp?’ one man wondered aloud. ‘Are you guys behind the Port-o-Potties?’ another asked on his cellphone. … ‘People keep moving over and letting other people sit down even though they saved all this space,’ said [Michelle] Wiltshire-Clement, wrinkling her face with a New Yorker’s distaste for the corny. ‘There’s this peaceful camaraderie and all this peace, love and happiness. It’s very Woodstocky.’”
Posted July 16, 2009
