LPO / Jurowski - 03.05.11

[amateur51]

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

I guess it's the way we humans communicate, Vent

What do they do on your planet?

But I'll accept your admonition and try to do better.

Have you ever thought of applying to take part in this?:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006s5dp

[barber olly]

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.

I did not hear Ms Brewer's (extreme) rendition but Four Last Songs are things of beauty which should be protected from extremes of vibrato. Maybe there should be a Vibratometer which can be set at different levels for different works, with a whistle attached to call time on offenders. Who would survive the Whistle Test?

[barber olly]

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

Are you trying to change habits of this board's lifetime, whenever has sticking to the subject got in the way of a good (or otherwise) thread?

[Nick Armstrong]

I did not hear Ms Brewer's (extreme) rendition but Four Last Songs are things of beauty which should be protected from extremes of vibrato. Maybe there should be a Vibratometer which can be set at different levels for different works, with a whistle attached to call time on offenders. Who would survive the Whistle Test?

Precious few!!!!

A great idea!

[Nick Armstrong]

Are you trying to change habits of this board's lifetime, whenever has sticking to the subject got in the way of a good (or otherwise) thread?

Agreed! Long live the tangent!! It's what makes life fun and interesting

[Nick Armstrong]

I did not hear Ms Brewer's (extreme) rendition but Four Last Songs are things of beauty which should be protected from extremes of vibrato. Maybe there should be a Vibratometer which can be set at different levels for different works, with a whistle attached to call time on offenders. Who would survive the Whistle Test?

Remembering all the live Saturday afternoon broadcasts I've switched off due to the matronly chorus (and some of the soloists), they'd need an industrial strength Vibratometer at the Met....

[Peter Katin]

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.

Well, she has, she says, sung them 75 times. I found this performance as convincing as ever - the commercial recording with Runnicles shows up somewhat undernourished string sound and I'm sure that isn't what's wanted. Isn't it interesting to listen again to Flagstad and what a pity no decent recording has ever come to light?