Stravinsky: Firebird, Petrushka, Rite in one evening - live 21.09.17

[Darkbloom]

I've been trying to think of composers that Rattle doesn't touch. Tchaikovsky used to be the obvious one, but he recorded some ballet music with the BPO a few years ago. I don't see Bartok figuring all that prominently (although he did MfSPC at the Proms). Perhaps someone more informed has some suggestions?

[pastoralguy]

Terrific concert in the hall though Firebird was torpedoed by some of the most disgraceful coughing I've ever heard in a concert. It was coming from immediately behind me and was ruinous. Not sure how much of this came across on the radio though all was well for the remainder of the evening. Empty seats behind explaining why.

That's awful, Pet. No evidence of coughing on the radio. I suspect the microphones are positioned to minimise this.

[pastoralguy]

How was the Rite ? A performance by the CBSO and Rattle in Sheffield in 1987 I have never forgotten - their recording sadly did not come close .

His Berliner Philharmoniker version is much better.

[Petrushka]

I've been trying to think of composers that Rattle doesn't touch. Tchaikovsky used to be the obvious one, but he recorded some ballet music with the BPO a few years ago. I don't see Bartok figuring all that prominently (although he did MfSPC at the Proms). Perhaps someone more informed has some suggestions?

Rattle has recorded the three Bartok piano concertos, the complete Miraculous Mandarin and the Concerto for Orchestra with the CBSO. He still hasn't touched Tchaikovsky apart from his Nutcracker recording with the BPO while his forays into Elgar and Vaughan Williams are also rare. One hopes that the gaps in his repertoire will gradually begin to fill up in his time with the LSO. The omens look good.

[Barbirollians]

Rattle has recorded the three Bartok piano concertos, the complete Miraculous Mandarin and the Concerto for Orchestra with the CBSO. He still hasn't touched Tchaikovsky apart from his Nutcracker recording with the BPO while his forays into Elgar and Vaughan Williams are also rare. One hopes that the gaps in his repertoire will gradually begin to fill up in his time with the LSO. The omens look good.

He also recorded the VC2 and Rhapsodies with KWC and the record won a Gramophone Award .

[Petrushka]

That's awful, Pet. No evidence of coughing on the radio. I suspect the microphones are positioned to minimise this.

When someone is having multiple coughing fits right behind you it's easy to think that it's also ruined the performance for thousands of R3 listeners too. The very many quiet passages in the Firebird were punctuated by coughing that must surely have been audible over the air, though. Then again, I have a very low tolerance threshold to audience noise anyway.

I've never understood why some people find it so difficult to sit in a concert hall for more than 5 minutes without noisily clearing their throat and then wait until the quiet passages to do it again. In over 45 years of attending concerts I can truthfully say that I have never once coughed during the music.

[pastoralguy]

Yehudi Menuhin commented that 'The British keep all their coughing for the slow movements is unfair' in his autobiography.
However, I do remember a very fine performance of the Beethoven Violin Concerto in the Usher Hall that was ruined by extensive coughing. (Had I been the soloist I think I would have stopped as indeed Andreas Schiff famously in an Edinburgh Festival concert commenting 'If the audience doesn't want to listen then I don't want to play').

If I have a cough I either don't go or I go armed with water and cough sweets as well as copious hankies. I usually ask if I can change my seat near the end of the tow for easy exit should my efforts be unsuccessful.

[DracoM]

To be serious, some people CAN get emotions up enough to disturb respiratory systems and precipitate throat / breathing regularity.

[LHC]

I'm going to the repeat of this concert on Sunday, and am really looking forward to it.

Forumites may be interested to know that it will also be streamed live on the LSO Youtube channel at 6:00 pm on Sunday.

[edashtav]

I meant to listen live but a failure to realise the early start time wrecked my plans. I've started to catch up this afternoon and here are some quick comments on Firebird - 1910
On an image sent to me by a friend who was lresent in the Barbican, I noted the use of small rostra to raise rear desks of the strings betokening a conductor who demands to be seen: rhythm will rule.

FIREBIRD:
Good choice of initial tempo , full of forward movement; some conductors allow the music to become too static. The first extended Wagner horn solo revealed a slight tuning problem for the first horn. Strings and upper wind instruments were excellent: crisp, fleet-footed, and rhythmic. I really enjoyed the quantity of telling detail that was carefully etched to give the score a sense of depth and refinement. A change of scene and tempo brought a scherzo à la Tchaikovsky, or Mendelssohn. It was interrupted by the horn, playing well but , to my ears, but not perfectly in tune with the rest of the band and rather bluff in tone. Cracking canonic interplay between flute and oboe. A new section started with a piccolo that was hugely out of tune. Fortunately, the first horn Showed us beautiful tuning for the most romantic and indulgent pages in the score.Another piccolo interruption was acidic and unpleasant. I was worried by balance issues with horns and trumpets too close and brashly dominant. I fear that I'm being too picky for the performance as a whole was insightful and detailed and much the best that I've heard played live. The percussion were wonderful. The Danse Infernale was terrific: packed with pace, passion, and precision. The grand and extravagant orchestration of this earliest version of Firebird made this performance one to treasure.

PETRUSHKA
Petrushka was even better than FIrebird. Orchestra and conductor were on soil that they had ploughed and enriched many times before and each could relax confident in what was around the corner. I followed it with a score and was delighted by the clarity, unity and rhythmic confidence. There were times when the whole orchestra "swung" . Scarcely a flaw from start to finish despite speeds which were electrifying and extremely demanding. Absolutely stunning, and a performance deserving of being turned into a CD. World class playing and interpretation. This was the first Stravinsky I heard via a BBC series that told its story to schools and
it retains my affection. I noted how more metrically complex it was than Stravinsky's first ballet and heard, in this performance, pages that pre-echoed passages in Stravinsky's later symphonies. There's so much more to this ballet than brilliant, onomatopoeic story-telling.

[Bryn]

Even though it stands up least well as a concert piece (IMVHO, of course) I just love the absence of 'linking material' in Petrushka. I always like to shut my eyes and imagine scenes. And if imagination fails, one can always view various different versions on Youtube. Were I a teacher trying to interest kids in Stravinsky, this...or bits of it...would surely be the easiest to sell.

Oh dear. More interval music.

On the subject of 'linking material', does anyone here know of a recording of the 1911 version sans the drums links? In that original score, unlike the 1947 revision, they were optional, but I cannot recall hearing a performance or recording without them.

[Petrushka]

On the subject of 'linking material', does anyone here know of a recording of the 1911 version sans the drums links? In that original score, unlike the 1947 revision, they were optional, but I cannot recall hearing a performance or recording without them.

I can't recall any either though some conductors do omit the odd one or two without showing much consistency in the matter. However, without checking I couldn't say which recordings. In any case, I greatly prefer the drum links as they add much to the Shrovetide Fair atmosphere of the original ballet.

[Sir Velo]

That's awful, Pet. No evidence of coughing on the radio. I suspect the microphones are positioned to minimise this.

The coughing was definitely audible on the HD feed. However, it seemed not to be limited to one individual but originating from several sources scattered around the hall. It was particularly notable at the beginning, presumably before the audience (or some of them) had settled. As others have noted it is a sure sign of inattention, as well as a complete disregard of one's fellow citizen. Usually, I find at a concert the eye compensates for these distractions. Listening at home, there is no such sensual stimuli and the presence of these unwarranted intrusions will prevent me from listening certainly to The Firebird again;' tis pity, since the 1910 version is all too rarely heard these days, and the performance revealed the most luscious details in the score.

[Darkbloom]

Rattle has recorded the three Bartok piano concertos, the complete Miraculous Mandarin and the Concerto for Orchestra with the CBSO. He still hasn't touched Tchaikovsky apart from his Nutcracker recording with the BPO while his forays into Elgar and Vaughan Williams are also rare. One hopes that the gaps in his repertoire will gradually begin to fill up in his time with the LSO. The omens look good.

Thanks. I wasn't aware of those recordings. I wasn't sure about Bartok but knew I hadn't heard him do much recently.

These LSO performances sound like Rattle rejuvenated. It shows it must be a mixed blessing working with the BPO. Their Firebird was all about weight of sound but the LSO gave it a really magical quality here.

[Petrushka]

These LSO performances sound like Rattle rejuvenated..

My impression too. I do rather think that Rattle was limited in what he could do in Berlin and therefore the BPO years must constitute something of a failed experiment. Rattle had long wanted to do the three great Stravinsky ballets in one evening so it is significant that he does so now and not while he was at the helm of the 'world's greatest orchestra'. I think that Berlin proved more resistant to what Rattle had to offer than we know.

We can look forward to much more of the flair of those programmes from the CBSO years with an LSO at the top of its game.

PS Interesting to see Sarah Willis among the horn section on Thursday night. Wonder if the move could be permanent.