LPO / Jurowski - 03.05.11

[Nick Armstrong]

I only got to listen to the Strauss this evening. I didn't think Ms Brewer came across the microphones particularly well, I didn't really enjoy her singing especially in the first 3 songs...

Any views? Especially from anyone in the hall?

[gedsmk]

ho hum. the feed seems to be down on the internet again.

[Barbirollians]

I have to agree I think I have heard her sing them better . Cracking performance of the Tchaikovsky 5th though.

Shame we seem to have to put up with the oleaginous one every evening though I suppose we can be thankful it is not Ms Derham.

[salymap]

I didn't enjoy the Four Last Songs at all. Her voice seemed forced to me with an unpleasant vibrato. But what do I know?

Didn't hear the remainder of the concert.

[3rd Viennese School]

Don’t like the songs. And I’ve had to suffer them in live performance as a fill in for something good later.

Tchaikovsky symphony no.5 was good! I always enjoy this. Lots of dramatics. And mvt 2 is that song that he nicked from somewhere.
Was my favourite symphony in 1982! Of course, I had only heard 5 symphonies by then. In my younger more naïve pre 12 note pop tune days.

The way that motto storms back in ,in mvt 2 near the end! Straight out the box.

Remember:
Mvt 1 1 sharp
Mvt 2 2 sharps
Mvt 3 3 sharps
Mvt 4 4 sharps

3VS

[Nick Armstrong]

But what do I know?

Well for one thing, you know a dodgy performance of the Four Last Songs when you hear one, Saly!

[Alison]

Caliban, you definitely listened to the wrong piece of the three.

Wonderfully fluent performances of the overture and symphony, exceptional playing

of a non-showy sort. Even the relative weakness of the LPO timps didn't seem evident on this occasion.

Ah - the simple pleasures of a live concert from the dear RFH !

[Ventilhorn]

I only got to listen to the Strauss this evening. I didn't think Ms Brewer came across the microphones particularly well, I didn't really enjoy her singing especially in the first 3 songs...

Any views? Especially from anyone in the hall?

For me, the benchmark for those songs is Elizabeth Scharzkopf and Ms Brewer did not come near that standard.

I would almost describe her singing as apologetic.

vh

[Simon B]

Christine Brewer seems to be getting a bit of a pasting here - I suspect that the microphones may not have done her justice.

Whilst it maybe wasn't the most profound interpretation of the 4LS, in terms of pure sound there wasn't much to complain about from 7 rows back in the RFH stalls. Other, that is, than that Strauss's achingly beautiful orchestration benefits from a rather more generous and resonant acoustic than the RFH. Saying that, my hearing has been playing up recently so who knows, maybe the concensus is correct...

Also, as ever, interpretation is a matter of taste, particularly in these songs. I can't abide the Schwarzkopf/Szell recording - neither the timbre of her voice nor the arch (to me) inflections and over-interpretation. I realise this is heresy, but still...

Saying all that, the 4LS were still the least good bits of an excellent concert. The outer movements of Tchaikovsky 5 in particular had buckets of nervous tension and plenty of blast from the brass - just what it needs.

[Nick Armstrong]

Shame we seem to have to put up with the oleaginous one every evening...

Is he doing every one, all 5 nights? Though he's better than he used to be.

Mark Elder delivered a very elegant 'put down' to Mr Trelawney last night in the run-up to the Hallé concert... PT was blathering on about En Saga, asking if ME thought the high woodwind depicted the bright skies of the pictures which inspired it etc etc

Elder replied drily 'I have no idea what Sibelius meant by a note of what he wrote" and then said that it was much more interesting to leave it to the listener to imagine what 'saga' was conveyed by the music...

One in the eye for the simplistic, dumbed-down spoon-feeding approach to classical music

[amateur51]

Is he doing every one, all 5 nights? Though he's better than he used to be.

Mark Elder delivered a very elegant 'put down' to Mr Trelawney last night in the run-up to the Hallé concert... PT was blathering on about En Saga, asking if ME thought the high woodwind depicted the bright skies of the pictures which inspired it etc etc

Elder replied drily 'I have no idea what Sibelius meant by a note of what he wrote" and then said that it was much more interesting to leave it to the listener to imagine what 'saga' was conveyed by the music...

One in the eye for the simplistic, dumbed-down spoon-feeding approach to classical music

I've ALWAYS liked that Mark Elder, me

I wish I could have seen Sibelius' face as Trelawney of the Balls came out with that gem

Mind, it's Sir Mark these days, innit?

[Bryn]

I've ALWAYS liked that Mark Elder, me

I wish I could have seen Sibelius' face as Trelawney of the Balls came out with that gem

Mind, it's Sir Mark these days, innit?

Indeed, but I hope you, like me, enjoy the irony of the man who condemned the standard jingoism of the Last Night of the Proms, and lost the job of conducting it as a result, being so 'honoured'. I feel sure he enjoyed the effective volte face by the establishment.

[amateur51]

Bit like the tale of Max Miller, the Royal Variety Performance & Moss Empires, innit Bryn

[Ventilhorn]

Bit like the tale of Max Miller, the Royal Variety Performance & Moss Empires, innit Bryn :lauigh:

Will someone please tell me what all this garbage has to do with the LPO and Jurowsky?

[Bryn]

Will someone please tell me what all this garbage has to do with the LPO and Jurowsky?

No idea. Why did you post it?