Live in concert 4/5/14 7:30pm LSO/Elder - Mozart/Strauss

[mercia]

Imogen Cooper, the LSO and Sir Mark Elder perform Mozart and Richard Strauss

Live from the Barbican Hall in London, introduced by Christopher Cook

Richard Strauss: Wind Serenade
Mozart: Piano Concerto No 22 K482

8.10 pm - INTERVAL Highlights from Imogen Cooper's acclaimed recordings of the music of Schubert.

8.30 pm - part 2

Richard Strauss: Macbeth
Richard Strauss: Till Eulenspiegel

Imogen Cooper, piano
London Symphony Orchestra
Sir Mark Elder, conductor

In a concert marking the 150th anniversary of the birth of Richard Strauss, the LSO play two of his tone poems, plus a teenage work, composed for 13 wind instruments. One of Britain's most respected pianists, Imogen Cooper is celebrated for her interpretations of classical piano music, particularly Mozart, Schubert and Schumann. Mozart composed his Piano Concerto K482 in his 30th year, giving it its first performance at a Christmas concert in 1785

[bluestateprommer]

This was another good listen from iPlayer, with the only sonic blemish being some uncharacteristic momentary fumbles from IC in the finale of the Mozart concerto. It's quite a contrast to hear the length of the road traveled between the early Richard Strauss Serenade and the two later tone poems. At the start of the 2nd half, we got quite a taste of "Professor Sir Mark Elder" when he gave a somewhat extended introduction to Macbeth, on the premise that it is such a rarely heard work (which it is, certainly on this side of the pond). Even if his introduction did go on rather long, it was useful to learn aspects of the work like how RS contrasted music in 4 representing Macbeth, vs. music in 3 representing Lady Macbeth. Sir Mark also managed the obvious theatrically themed joke of calling the work "the Scottish tone poem", since he was standing on a stage rostrum.