I saw my first Boston Symphony Orchestra concert at Symphony Hall last night, thanks to a Christmas present from Aimee’s dad. After a delicious dinner at Betty’s Wok & Noodle, we headed across the street and found out that our tickets were part of the “repartee” series, which apparently entitled us to wine, hors d’oeuvres, and a brief talk by BSO cellist Owen Young. Next time, light on the dinner, and eat at Symphony Hall. The concert was excellent, and featured a range of work from Schumann, Brahms, and Gy?rgy Kurt?g.

During the intermission, we checked out the wall of photos depicting the musicians and other Symphony employees, notably one of the three librarians who is shown holding onto what looked like a PowerBook 3400, while his fellow librarians held bound scores and sheet music. He looked so uncomfortable. The piano soloist, Radu Lupu, reminded me of Rade Serbedzija – who, by the way, seems to have a weirdly mutable name, which I’ve often wondered about: he’s “Serbedzija” in all his early films, going up to and including the first film I saw him in, Before the Rain. After that, he seems to Americanize it by the time we get to Mission: Impossible II, where he’s “Sherbedgia,” and if that was too far removed from his real name, he’s back to “Serbedgia” in Snatch. Interesting. Anyway, Radu Lupu won’t have to change his name, and he was great, with a very light touch, as Aimee put it.

Chilled to the bone but feeling blessed to have a parking spot, we decided to venture out for a drink afterwards, and happened upon Lush Lounge next door to the Claremont Caf?, a tiny little place with style but not too much ?ber-hip/New York-wannabe attititude. And of course, I ran into someone from Amherst there, which was weird but not surprising, I guess. Another thirty-second re-cap, and on with our lives.