LPO/Sinaisky - Rachmaninov 2 & PC3 (soloist: Pavel Kolesnikov) - 29.10.14

[Nick Armstrong]

Did anyone else attend - or hear this concert on R3?

7:30 PM, Royal Festival Hall, London


Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3
Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 2

Vassily Sinaisky conductor
Pavel Kolesnikov piano
London Philharmonic Orchestra

The concerto performance took some time to warm up I thought - definitely understated, compared with some performances. To begin with, I thought the soloist was a little too matter-of-fact (nervousness perhaps at his first London concerto concert - after Lisiecki last week, Kolesnikov is another young lad, 23, but looking like a slender bespectacled 14 year old). By the time the opening music returned towards the end of the first movement, he was audibly and visibly more 'into' it, and it built up from there on in and the last movement (the best of the 3 anyway, imo) was great. The LPO were clearly - until the last few minutes - keeping a 'lid on it' so as not to swamp the restrained soloist.

Our dear IGI makes a virtue of this cooler approach in his excellent review:

http://bachtrack.com/review-rachmaninov-kolesnikov-sinaisky-lpo-october-2014

The lid came off for the Symphony - a wonderful, vivid, sweeping performance with the usual thrilling rich, crisp brass contributions from the LPO's top flight back-row. Exhilarating.

Looking forward to hearing how it all came across via the microphones....

[Maclintick]

Did anyone else attend - or hear this concert on R3?



The concerto performance took some time to warm up I thought - definitely understated, compared with some performances. To begin with, I thought the soloist was a little too matter-of-fact (nervousness perhaps at his first London concerto concert - after Lisiecki last week, Kolesnikov is another young lad, 23, but looking like a slender bespectacled 14 year old). By the time the opening music returned towards the end of the first movement, he was audibly and visibly more 'into' it, and it built up from there on in and the last movement (the best of the 3 anyway, imo) was great. The LPO were clearly - until the last few minutes - keeping a 'lid on it' so as not to swamp the restrained soloist.

Our dear IGI makes a virtue of this cooler approach in his excellent review:

http://bachtrack.com/review-rachmaninov-kolesnikov-sinaisky-lpo-october-2014

The lid came off for the Symphony - a wonderful, vivid, sweeping performance with the usual thrilling rich, crisp brass contributions from the LPO's top flight back-row. Exhilarating.

Looking forward to hearing how it all came across via the microphones....

A good concert, the young Kolesnikov beautifully articulating a piece which can too often turn into a vulgarly barnstorming note-bashing-fest a la Warsaw Concerto, & offering an illuminating lightness of touch throughout. Slight nervousness led to bit of a fumble at the colla parte marking before fig.4, but thereafter it got better & better.

Sinaisky did a creditable, though unremarkable, job on the symphony.
Perhaps Russians don't really "get" Rachmaninov in the way that particularly Americans e.g. Previn, Ormandy, do...or is that a heretical viewpoint ?

[Nick Armstrong]

Hi Maclintick, thanks for that. Were your impressions live or from the hall? I definitely got the impression at the concert that the concerto performance could come across even better via the microphones, and the symphony perhaps less well, and am looking forward to a listen this weekend.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

Our dear IGI makes a virtue of this cooler approach in his excellent review:

http://bachtrack.com/review-rachmaninov-kolesnikov-sinaisky-lpo-october-2014

Many thanks, Caliban! I think I spotted at drinks you during the interval. After the first concert in the series, where Alexander Ghindin hammered and pedalled for his life in the original version of No.1, it was balm to the ears to encounter young Kolesnikov. Definitely a pianist I would welcome hearing again and am seriously tempted by his Tchaikovsky disc. He came into the hall to watch the Symphony after the interval. He looks a good deal younger than his 25 years...

[Nick Armstrong]

I spotted at drinks you during the interval.

Good afterble, Consternoon!

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

Good afterble, Consternoon!

Spot the person who got just 3 hours of sleep last night!!

[Maclintick]

Hi Maclintick, thanks for that. Were your impressions live or from the hall? I definitely got the impression at the concert that the concerto performance could come across even better via the microphones, and the symphony perhaps less well, and am looking forward to a listen this weekend.

From a sub-optimal position in the stalls, I fear. Audrey stayed at home, being allergic to the combination of Rachmaninov & the "austerity-Britain" ambience of the RFH.

[Nick Armstrong]

From a sub-optimal position in the stalls, I fear. Audrey stayed at home, being allergic to the combination of Rachmaninov & the "austerity-Britain" ambience of the RFH.

(By the way sorry about my "live or from the hall" gibberish in my earlier message.... you knew what I meant!).

I'm sorry too to hear that the hall doesn't find favour with 'Er Indoors. I really love it, and my three guests, all of whom were first-time visitors, were all open-mouthed at the wonderful space, the design, the fabulous organ design....

[Lento]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/classicalmusic/11199472/London-Philharmonic-OrchestraVassily-Sinaisky-Royal-Festival-Hall-review-worrying.html

O dear! Rather enjoyed it myself, on the radio.

[Pianorak]

[Telegraph]. . . there was little rapport between conductor and pianist, each giving different performances . . .

Listening to the radio that was my impression as well, I'm sorry to say.

[teamsaint]

I love the RFH/SBC too Cals....despite one or two imperfections.

Try listening to an orchestral concert from two thirds of the way down the nave in Salisbury Cathedral and with an intrusively loud electrical buzz going on for the entire evening for a really third rate listening experiece.

[Petrushka]

Having spent many happy hours there I have a lot of affection for the Royal Festival Hall. I refuse to attend concerts in cathedrals anymore since I went to a performance of the Dream of Gerontius in St Paul's (it's the one on DVD with Andrew Davis) and the sound was simply awful, like listened down the wrong end of a telescope if you know what I mean, and the notorious echo turned everything into an aural mush. Cathedrals are not concert halls; they are places of worship.

[Nick Armstrong]

[Telegraph]. . . there was little rapport between conductor and pianist, each giving different performances . . .

Listening to the radio that was my impression as well, I'm sorry to say.

Hmm... I didn't hear it like that in the hall... But oh dear, the sound of the recording is very flat, the piano has an almost sour tone, to my ears.

[BBMmk2]

Hmmm rather put off by the description of Cali's of the PC but may dip into it sometime. Certainly the Symphony sounds rather enticing?

[LaurieWatt]

Many thanks, Caliban! I think I spotted at drinks you during the interval. After the first concert in the series, where Alexander Ghindin hammered and pedalled for his life in the original version of No.1, it was balm to the ears to encounter young Kolesnikov. Definitely a pianist I would welcome hearing again and am seriously tempted by his Tchaikovsky disc. He came into the hall to watch the Symphony after the interval. He looks a good deal younger than his 25 years...

Kolesnikov's CD of Tchaikovsky's The Seasons is a joy, just lovely. As for his Rachmaninov ,despite being more or less note perfect he simply didn't "get" the concerto. Despite such digitatious perfection it was an inconsistent and lifeless performance which only took off in the last three minutes where everything slotted into place and which were tremendous.