Any other boarders manage to get into last night's terrific LSO/Rattle concert?
What is it about Sir Simon that he can turn a concert into an event? He has always had brilliant programme building skills but time and again he manages to pull off something quite special and so it was last night.
First up was the Webern 6 Pieces for Orchestra. I don't think that British audiences have ever really taken to Webern as this fine performance was obliterated by a barrage of coughing such as I've rarely heard. Hall managements, like it or not, are going to have to grapple with this issue, preferably with announcements from the stage, if a small section of the audience isn't going to ruin concerts for those wishing to listen. As it was the crystalline beauty of these miniatures performed by a huge orchestra came across vividly in the hall and the funeral march packed a thrilling punch. I would have thought that with the large number of players at Rattle's disposal for the evening he might have opted for the original orchestration which uses a bigger orchestra still but we had the 1928 revision as we mostly do nowadays.
Barbara Hannigan joined the LSO for the Three Fragments from Wozzeck by Berg. Voices are a real problem in the Barbican (at least from my usual seat) as they just get lost in the orchestral tumult and reading the text in the Barbican gloom proved impossible. However, Hannigan's finest hour (well, 20 minutes or so) was still to come.
After the interval, Barbara Hannigan again joined the LSO for Ligeti's Mysteries of the Macabre and it was an astonishing tour de force from her. She came on stage, to considerable laughter dressed as a young girl in pigtails and short skirt and proceeded to give one of the most incredible performances I've ever seen in the concert hall. Contemporary classical music has rarely received such cheering as this one had! Rattle and Hannigan were both quite simply superb. Part singing, part dancing and part comedy routine it had to be seen to be believed and fully deserved the long ovation.
Top that, we all must have been thinking. And top it they did in a thrilling Rite of Spring by Stravinsky a great end to a great evening.
If the rumours swirling around about Rattle being the next LSO chief are true and this is the standard that they can come up with then we are going to be in for a real treat!
The concert was televised live throughout much of Europe by Arte (BBC where are you?) and presumably will be on DVD at some point. Just hope they can eradicate the coughing in the Webern.
This wasn't a concert, this was an event and a great start to my concert going in 2015.
What is it about Sir Simon that he can turn a concert into an event? He has always had brilliant programme building skills but time and again he manages to pull off something quite special and so it was last night.
First up was the Webern 6 Pieces for Orchestra. I don't think that British audiences have ever really taken to Webern as this fine performance was obliterated by a barrage of coughing such as I've rarely heard. Hall managements, like it or not, are going to have to grapple with this issue, preferably with announcements from the stage, if a small section of the audience isn't going to ruin concerts for those wishing to listen. As it was the crystalline beauty of these miniatures performed by a huge orchestra came across vividly in the hall and the funeral march packed a thrilling punch. I would have thought that with the large number of players at Rattle's disposal for the evening he might have opted for the original orchestration which uses a bigger orchestra still but we had the 1928 revision as we mostly do nowadays.
Barbara Hannigan joined the LSO for the Three Fragments from Wozzeck by Berg. Voices are a real problem in the Barbican (at least from my usual seat) as they just get lost in the orchestral tumult and reading the text in the Barbican gloom proved impossible. However, Hannigan's finest hour (well, 20 minutes or so) was still to come.
After the interval, Barbara Hannigan again joined the LSO for Ligeti's Mysteries of the Macabre and it was an astonishing tour de force from her. She came on stage, to considerable laughter dressed as a young girl in pigtails and short skirt and proceeded to give one of the most incredible performances I've ever seen in the concert hall. Contemporary classical music has rarely received such cheering as this one had! Rattle and Hannigan were both quite simply superb. Part singing, part dancing and part comedy routine it had to be seen to be believed and fully deserved the long ovation.
Top that, we all must have been thinking. And top it they did in a thrilling Rite of Spring by Stravinsky a great end to a great evening.
If the rumours swirling around about Rattle being the next LSO chief are true and this is the standard that they can come up with then we are going to be in for a real treat!
The concert was televised live throughout much of Europe by Arte (BBC where are you?) and presumably will be on DVD at some point. Just hope they can eradicate the coughing in the Webern.
This wasn't a concert, this was an event and a great start to my concert going in 2015.
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