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

[Nimrod]

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.

I, too, am disappointed that Rattle has few forays into Elgar and VW. You say, Petrushka, that the omens look good. If that's the case why is Elder conducting both Elgar symphonies later in this LSO season? Rattle once told my nephew that he'd record the Elgar symphonies when 'everyone else had done them' (!) It'll be a long wait, Simon! He also told my nephew that he wasn't really into Tchaikovsky, so the Nutcracker came as a surprise. I have a very good off-the-air recording of The Music Makers, with the Rattle/CBSO in the Town Hall Birmingham (pre dating Symphony Hall) so he used to delve a bit deeper into Elgar's treasure chest. I suppose the moral of all this is that there's no law that states what appeals most to a conductor and his repertoire and we should, and are, thankful that Davis, Elder, Wilson and co. are carrying on the tradition fostered by Boult Barbirolli etc., from the last century.

[Darkbloom]

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.

The BPO staged Matthew Passion got a lot of push-back from senior players, so I'm sure there was plenty of bargaining going on behind the scenes when it came to repertoire. He was brought in to freshen things up, but he probably took things further than they were comfortable with. Or attempted to. He never came close to imposing his own personality on their sound. I wish the players would play with a lot more Furtwangler and a lot less Karajan.

[BBMmk2]

I'll be having a lot of catching up too do when I get back from holiday!

[jayne lee wilson]

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.

Yes, and all outstanding too!
Some of my very favourite Bartok, Rattle's was finely balanced between the dramatic/analytical in that memorable CBSO style.
Always loved this cover art for the concertos. In addition to the Violin Concerto 2 etc. with KWC, he did the 2-pianos & percussion work with the Labèques and the CBSO.
In Berlin his recording of the 2nd Concerto with Lang Lang (c/w Prokofiev 3rd) was considered "hugely impressive, but.....a shade too polite and comfortable" by Jeremy Nicholas in the Gramophone (11/2013), compared to older and newer classics from Anda or Bavouzet and so on...

A glance at the Berlin DCH Archive reveals Rattle's performances of Concerto for Orchestra, Violin Concerto 2 (Kavakos) and Bluebeard.... (rather more from other conductors)...
But it's some time since my last visit....

[Petrushka]

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.

Coughing on the totally unacceptable scale I heard during Thursday night's Firebird is wrecking concerts and hall managements need to be making more effort towards doing what they can to help minimise the disruption by educating audiences. A lot of it was beyond belief blatant with no effort made to cover up. As mentioned, someone in the seat behind me had totally uncovered multiple coughing fits though mercifully left the hall after the first interval. This behaviour is inconsiderate to fellow audience members, the listening radio audience and disrespectful to the musicians.

Quite aside from all other considerations, Thursday's trip cost me £200 in accommodation, train fares, food and drink and concert ticket and I'm not best pleased at having an eagerly anticipated evening spoilt by selfish oafs. My tolerance level of audience noise is very low anyway (do you realise how loud it sounds turning a programme page?) but I'm beginning to wonder, not for the first time, whether attending live concerts is worth the outlay.

[pastoralguy]

My bug bear is when an orchestra has a professional photographer taking photographs for, presumably, future material. I complained BITTERLY at a concert at the Kennedy Centre in Washington where a photographer was taking photographs with a noisy camera when the wonderful Alicia Weilerstein played the Tchaikovsky Roccoco Variations with the National Symphony Orchestra under Itzhak Perlman.

I was offered a change of seat and the lovely lady I ended up sitting next to became Mrs. PG! So, every cloud has a silver lining!

[Petrushka]

My bug bear is when an orchestra has a professional photographer taking photographs for, presumably, future material. I complained BITTERLY at a concert at the Kennedy Centre in Washington where a photographer was taking photographs with a noisy camera when the wonderful Alicia Weilerstein played the Tchaikovsky Roccoco Variations with the National Symphony Orchestra under Itzhak Perlman.

I was offered a change of seat and the lovely lady I ended up sitting next to became Mrs. PG! So, every cloud has a silver lining!

Will have to try that and see if it works for me!

[Petrushka]

Just been watching the Rite of Spring live on the LSO/youTube channel. Unfortunately not able to watch the rest live but will be catching up when it appears on the channel. It was most enjoyable with high quality pictures and sound (as relayed through my hi-fi). There were none of the technical problems I've had that made me give up on the Berlin DCH many months ago.

However, camera direction could be better: it takes a certain sort of genius to show the Rite. of all pieces, without showing the percussion in action! Nevertheless, great stuff and good to see things much closer up than I did last Thursday from my seat in the hall. Will definitely be tuning in again in the future.

[LHC]

Just been watching the Rite of Spring live on the LSO/youTube channel. Unfortunately not able to watch the rest live but will be catching up when it appears on the channel. It was most enjoyable with high quality pictures and sound (as relayed through my hi-fi). There were none of the technical problems I've had that made me give up on the Berlin DCH many months ago.

However, camera direction could be better: it takes a certain sort of genius to show the Rite. of all pieces, without showing the percussion in action! Nevertheless, great stuff and good to see things much closer up than I did last Thursday from my seat in the hall. Will definitely be tuning in again in the future.

Just back from the Hall. Stunning performances of all three pieces, but especially Firebird and the Rite.

The YouTube stream was made using a remote controlled cameras in fixed positions; no cameramen in evidence, unlike last week's relay on Medici. I imagine that having just a few fixed cameras to choose from would limit the options for camera direction quite considerably. Mind you, it does make it very unobtrusive in the hall, you really couldn't tell it was being filmed at all.

Mercifully few coughs as well tonight. Perhaps the bronchitis convention meeting was on Thursday.