Live in Concert Concertgebouw / Jansons/Mork : Haydn/Bruckner 04.04

[edashtav]

7.30pm
Haydn: Cello Concerto in C

8.20pm
Bruckner: Symphony No 7

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam
Truls Mørk, cello
Mariss Jansons, conductor

Two great pieces played by one of Europe's leading orchestras with a great conductor at its helm and a trusty 'cellist to illumine the Haydn.
I shall in the Barbican and will report later

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

It should be quite an experience.

[Petrushka]

Was hoping to catch the R3 broadcast but a cancelled train put paid to that!

One for the I-player tomorrow night.

[pastoralguy]

Wonderful concert!

[edashtav]

A Sensation Concert by the Concertgebouw under Mariss Jansons

Wonderful concert!

Absolutely right , pastoralguy.

Haydn's Cello Concert in C may be his finest concerted work and it counts amongst my top 10 Haydn peces. I rememberr the excitement engendered by its discovery, followed by the first 20th century performances. It has all the possitivity that you associate with Haydn and, of course, with the key of C. Truls Mørk was a fine choice for soloist. He showed a great technique. On the one hand he could project music with clarity and vigour, just right for those parts of the music that stem from Haydn's bluff, hearty side and on the other hand he refined his volume and tone to a mere whisper yet still commanded a Hall as big and unsympathetic as the Barbican's. Jansons used, if not a period-sized band, one considerably reduced: strings 6.6.4.3.2 were joined by the obligatory pairs of oboes and horns. The performance was astonishingly fine, wonderfully balanced, with a real give and take between soloist and orchestra and Truls Mørk spun the many lyrical passages with a fine line and exquisite use of rubato. I loved the slow movement, a veritable aria for cello and strings. The finale was fast, accurate and replete with delightful interplay between the cellist and the superb first violins. The audience loved it and demanded an got an encore - quite a grave movement of unaccompanied Bach that proved a refreshing tonic after the champagne fizz of the Haydn.

Please find time for this magical performance on your iPlayer.

Bruckner's 7th symphony was my reason for attending the concert. Again, the full Concertgebouw's ensemble, pure tone and musicianship never fell below excellent as Mariss Jansons piloted a clear and relatively swift course (No shades of Maazel's recent vist to the RFH!) Mariss Jansons is my favourite 21st century conductor. I admire him for his uncanny ability to step up a gear, to transform a good interpretation into something incandescent, sublime and packed to the rafters with revelations of an astonishing nature. That happened again tonight. The first three movements were good but not exceptional: had I closed my eyes I could be back hearing the same orchestra in the same hall reliably conducted by Bernard Haitink.

There's been much discussion on For3 recently of the difficulties posed by Bruckner's finale. Gosh, did Jansons take this one by the scruff of its neck! Fast, furious, emphatic but tremendous attention, not only to inner parts and detail but also to vital connective tissue:STRUCTURE! I've listened to this work frequently over the past 58 years. I have never heard a more acute, insightful perfomance of its tricky finale. Had you trained a video camera on my face , you would have seen it wreathed in smiles not once , not twice, but countless times. These were smiles of recognition and acknowledgement that musicians have got a passage, an emphasis , or an aspect of structure absolutely right. Jansons' control of the shape of this movement was sensational. . There was a sweep, a unity, a thrusting drive that carried all before it and made the final chord - sometimes a damp squib- into something apocalytic and truly, madly final. This movement turned a fine performance into an unforgettable experience.

Don't believe me - turn on your iPlayer and prepare to be astonished!

Well done R.3 for allowing so many to access this great musical event.

[jayne lee wilson]

Very enjoyable report Ed., thankyou.
Changes in my routine (or perhaps sheer lack of routine ) and less listening time, have made it harder for me to attend to the live relays, but with this one - perhaps a certain judicious (if sacreligious) fastforwarding to the B7 finale....?
or is it ...?

[Hornspieler]

Absolutely right , pastoralguy.

.......Please find time for this magical performance on your iPlayer.

Bruckner's 7th symphony was my reason for attending the concert. Again, the full Concertgebouw's ensemble, pure tone and musicianship never fell below excellen,t as Mariss Jansons piloted a clear and relatively swift course (No shades of Maazel's recent vist to the RFH!) Mariss Jansons is my favourite 21st century conductor. I admire him for his uncanny ability to step up a gear, to transform a good interpretation into something incandescent, sublime and packed to the rafters with revelations of an astonishing nature. That happened again tonight. The first three movements were good but not exceptional: had I closed my eyes I could be back hearing the same orchestra in the same hall reliably conducted by Bernard Haitink.

There's been much discussion on For3 recently of the difficulties posed by Bruckner's finale. Gosh, did Jansons take this one by the scruff of its neck! Fast, furious, emphatic but tremendous attention, not only to inner parts and detail but also to vital connective tissue:STRUCTURE! I've listened to this work frequently over the past 58 years. I have never heard a more acute, insightful perfomance of its tricky finale. Had you trained a video camera on my face , you would have seen it wreathed in smiles not once , not twice, but countless times. These were smiles of recognition and acknowledgement that musicians have got a passage, an emphasis , or an aspect of structure absolutely right. Jansons control of the shape of this movement was sensational. . There was a sweep, a unity, a thrusting drive that carried all before it and made the final chord - sometimes a damp squib- into something apocalytic and truly, madly final. This movement turned a fine performance into an unforgettable experience.

Don't believe me - turn on your iPlayer and prepare to be astonished!

Well done R.3 for allowing so many to access this great musical event.

So you liked it, then?

I'd better have a listen tonight on iPlayer.

Bruckner's 7th has always been my favaourite of his symphonies. I remember playing it for the first time in the RFH under that inspiring conductor the late Sergiu Comissiona.

Hs

[edashtav]

So you liked it, then?

I'd better have a listen tonight on iPlayer.

Bruckner's 7th has always been my favaurite of his symphonies. I remember playing it for the first time in the RFH under that inspiring conductor the late Sergiu Comissiona.

Hs

Yes, I enjoyed it so much that I'm going back for more this evening: this time an early Beethoven P.C. (no.1, with Lars Vogt ) and a COMPLETED version of Bruckner's 9th.

{ OH DEAR, I'VE JUST DOWNLOADED STEPHEN JOHNSON's PROGRAMME NOTE FOR TONIGHT: WE SHALL BE HEARING THE "THREE COMPLETED MOVEMENTS!. Grrr
MORAL : always read the small print on the tin!}

Good of you to remind us of Comissiona, hs. I think he was Rumanian, like Silvestri. In those days, if you were from Constantin's homeland, you were certain of gigs galore in Bournemouth.

[edashtav]

Very enjoyable report Ed., thankyou.
Changes in my routine (or perhaps sheer lack of routine ) and less listening time, have made it harder for me to attend to the live relays, but with this one - perhaps a certain judicious (if sacreligious) fastforwarding to the B7 finale....?
or is it ...?

I guess that you deserve a doctor's certificate, excusing you from the first three movements, Jayne, since you are the proud possessor of an AB "Long Service Award" and I reckon you can whizz through a decent approximation to Jansons' approach to the earlier movements in your head... but nothing will have prepared you for the finale. You'll be bowled over. (Is that good or bad? )

P.S. The Doctor says it'll be a tonic!

[BBMmk2]

I will have to listen on iplayer too! Much prefer the live 'as it happens' but this will have to do. Be a busy day but hopefully to0morrow be good.

[Petrushka]

I listened to this on the I-player last night having been prevented from catching the live relay by a train cancellation.

A good performance of the Bruckner 7, very finely played as you'd expect from the Royal Concertgebouw. However, there seemed to me to be something only slightly above routine in Jansons' interpretation and I wasn't conscious of anything particularly special about the finale either. The finale confounds expectations in its brevity but it is always a perfect summing up of all that has gone before. Here, it did perhaps enable the performance to suddenly take flight but it was too late for me.

For a truly great live performance of the Bruckner 7 try and get hold of a 1976 Salzburg Festival account from Karl Böhm and the Vienna Philharmonic available (?) on the Andante label. Now there's Bruckner playing and interpretation of a very high order indeed.