Concerts you're glad NOT to have (had) tickets for...

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

But how strange it felt to be listening to an amplified orchestra. And yes it was packed with all the hackneyed favourites including O Fortuna from Carmina Burana, the Hebrew slaves, and the Intermezzo from Cav Rust. And of course there was a smarmy amplified violinist.

[Richard Tarleton]

I knew someone who went to this - pretty excruciating by most accounts - very likely a Forumite was there?

[Zucchini]

Ungrateful? I should say!
"With THUNDERING CANNONS AND INDOOR FIREWORKS"

Very ungrateful. I like indoor fireworks.

The sort of cone things that turn into great long grey serpents are really scary but they crumble to death when you touch them and well before you can stick them down your sister's chest.

Of course in the RAH they'd have to be big as a dustbin and if they turned the lights right down there'd be total panic. And if they fired the cannons at that point...What a laugh!

[Flay]

I don't recall fireworks; maybe some flares. But there were lasers a-plenty, I'm not sure why. They didn't add anything.

[Conchis]

That Pogorelich concert has been generally panned: Andrew Clements gave it only one star in the Guardian, too.

[Ein Heldenleben]

A thread prompted by this scathing review:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/classicalconcertreviews/11434417/Ivo-Pogorelich-Royal-Festival-Hall-review-the-piano-seemed-to-have-gone-out-of-tune.html

Was any Forumite present?

Yes I was there and what an extraordinary evening . Sitting in the second row my neighbour warned me of Pogorelich' s eccentricities - the forty minute plus Rach Two for example. He came on stage with a page turner who must deserve some sort of medal for his unflappability. Scores by the masters were tossed by the pianist under the piano .One was left just in the player's eye line so - incredibly - the page tuner was asked to move it further under the Steinway. The piano sound was very bass heavy - one or two critics have questioned whether it was in tune. Certainly it was out of tune after the pounding it received in the Dante Sonata with a ping on what was to prove a key note in the Schumann. Pogorelich has an amazing technique but the sound he produces I do not care for - tempi seemed pulled all over the place . There seemed very little sense of line or of forward pulse . Sadly this problem came to the fore in the Schumann Fantasie . Some very eccentric fingering in the final pages accented the soaring final melody in precisely the wrong way . I thought about leaving during the interval and wished I had after the Petrushka . But then a final twist - both sets of Brahms Paganini variations played superbly - beautifully characterised . Perhaps the variation form suited the fragmentary , quasi - improvisational feeling of Pogorelich's playing. I am being charitable here as some of the critics have been very harsh. The ' worst in memory' definitely not ...memorable for the wrong reasons ..yes . After the Brahms the piano stool was shoved with foot under the piano - definitely no encores.

[Alison]

Heldenleben

Fascinating review. Just out of interest how full was the hall and what was the reaction of the audience on the night?

[Old Grumpy]

Any concert louder than 115dB - http://www.for3.org/forums/showthrea...ows-Best-Dears (#3)

[Ein Heldenleben]

Alison - sorry - I've been so bound up with the Bruckner thread I missed your question. The hall was pretty full- I got a return in the second row the day before and there was little left in the piano side of the stalls. Also extra platform seats which usually means a sell out . The audience were very enthusiastic - though whether in response to the playing or Pogorelich's reputation it's difficult to judge. But despite the bravos at the end as I say the piano stool got a tell tale shove with the foot under the Steinway.
There's quite a good twitter strand -Pogorelich- which pretty much contains the full range of those that absolutely hated his playing ; those that admired it ; and those that , like me , couldn't believe the quality of the Brahms after what he did to the Schumann . Fact is it's much easier to write in criticism than in praise. Some of the phrasing and fingering in the last movement of the Schumann had me shaking my head in disbelief . One example - he played two of the final c major chords cross hands (why?) and this was after playing the two handed arpeggiated coda with hands slightly out of sync. The fingering of the soaring final melody was very eccentric - using in places an accented third finger jab where every other pianist would use the fifth finger didn't help the legato line. Other extraordinary moments - lowering the piano stool with the left hand while playing with the right - I think during the Brahms. But the Brahms was beautifully played - not just flash virtuosity but some lovely characterising of each variation . With this and the molto lento Bruckner on Saturday night it has been quite a week...

[Nick Armstrong]

Pogorelich

Many thanks for your impressions, Heldenleben.

This review is a thoughtful one: https://thebflatsheep.wordpress.com/...festival-hall/

[Ein Heldenleben]

Thanks Caliban. Yes I read this review earlier courtesy of the twitter strand . It's a rare sympathetic review amongst some very harsh ones . It does give rise to the question of what responsibility the critic has when clearly the performers is , to put it tactfully, somewhat out of sorts . Or does that responsibility lie with the promoter or the artist's team who put the artist before the public ? Despite the criticisms I am glad I went and , as always , learnt something about the music . I don't agree that this concert should not have gone ahead or that Pogorelich , or the audience , was in some sense being exploited. I do feel a bit for the page turner though - quite a few whispered asides throughout from the pianist - what was going on ?