I've always wanted to go to Carnegie Hall. and when I discovered the Philadelphia Orchestra was going to be there the night I arrived in NY and they were going to play the longest symphony on record (1 hour and a half, with six movements) complete with three choirs and a mezzo soprano- Mahler's Third, the symphony about creation and God.... well I had to go, even if I had to sit in the seventh deck, near heaven, which is just about where my ticket placed me. This hall has a reputation of being the most acoustically clear and best hall in America, if not in the world- and it lived up to its billing -- I could even hear the triangle tingling at some points. And this symphony involves a huge assembly of strings, horns, drums, and much else besides- apparently Mahler's philosophy was go big or go home. This was also the case when my wife and I saw the Lex Philharmonic two weeks ago do Mahler's First. Here are some shots I took before the performance.