Edinburgh International Festival 11.00am

[doversoul1]

Tomorrow
Nicola Benedetti, The Academy of Ancient Music and Richard Egarr

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0bd9tmc

plus
Takács Quartet and Marc-André Hamelin (sic.)
Ronald Brautigam
Pierre-Laurent Aimard
...and lots more

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01m0g0b/broadcasts/upcoming

[BBMmk2]

I’ll be keeping to the fm part today then!

[BBMmk2]

Great concert, Dover! Benedetti was flawless as usual. The broadcaster mentioned how fast her hands were moving. Richard Eggar also was brilliant as well. Highly recommend this.

[doversoul1]

It was. Flawless is the word indeed. I’d never associated Nicola Benedetti with early music, so it was a most pleasant surprise. I thought her thoughts on the difference between Vivaldi and Telemann was very good too.

[Zucchini]

The Times (5 stars) commented that "I will be amazed if this year's EIF produces anything more electrifying than [the Vivaldi] … but NB is on such sensational form at the moment that she could play the Midlothian Yellow Pages and still mesmerise a crowd."

[oddoneout]

An excellent concert, not least because it demonstrated the sheer variety of music from these two composers. I'm not a big fab of NB's playing,especially in the more lyrical repertoire,but I did think that she seemed to have found her natural home in this programme, with outstanding technique and clarity being displayed to superb effect, but not to the exclusion of musicality.

[bluestateprommer]

Somewhat hijacking the thread, but heard the Dover Quartet's EIF concert a few days back on iPlayer. Very well done, well worth hearing.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Somewhat hijacking the thread, but heard the Dover Quartet's EIF concert a few days back on iPlayer. Very well done, well worth hearing.

- particularly grateful to hear the Zemlinsky Second S4tet in a Live performance.

(Not sure why this should be thought of as "hijacking the Thread": as dovers says in the OP, "and lots more"! (I presumed that she didn't mention the Dovers out of modesty. )

[doversoul1]

- particularly grateful to hear the Zemlinsky Second S4tet in a Live performance.

(Not sure why this should be thought of as "hijacking the Thread": as dovers says in the OP, "and lots more"! (I presumed that she didn't mention the Dovers out of modesty. )

I did check just in case

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dover,_Delaware

[DMJ]

Catriona Morison and Simon Lepper gave a superb recital in Edinburgh last week. I find myself returning to listen again with pleasure. A really interesting voice and great artistry - her Mahler is particularly fine. She'll be at Wigmore next month too - again on R3.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0bf23wv

[bluestateprommer]

- particularly grateful to hear the Zemlinsky Second S4tet in a Live performance.

Indeed; I gave the Dover Q's AvZ SQ # 2 another listen, just before the 30-day deadline. Curious coincidence , on the heels of the Berlin Phil's 1st Prom just last weekend, to realize that the AvZ is also a ~40-minute work in a single span by a composer who also was dealing with personal trauma at the time of its composition.

This markes the annual personal mad rush to catch up with EIF R3 concerts as well as Proms missed during recent vacation time (besides the fact that the live R3 relays are at a very inconvenient hour for me). It unfortunately seems to be somewhat traditional here that with the understandable summer interest in the Proms, the EIF concerts tend to get ignored, at least if the lack of discussion on the Forum is anything to go by. Given the clear bias towards orchestral music at the Proms, EIF offers nice balance with its chamber music concerts, to be sure.

Have very recently heard the Nicola B./AAM/Richard E. concert on iPlayer, and soon after, the Viktoria Mullova / Katia Labeque recital. In particular, VM had considerable tuning issues with her violin, where, according to Donald Macleod, she had just traveled from France, where the heat was fairly extreme (welcome to climate change, everyone). In other words, going from summer heat on the ground, to whatever the conditions were on the plane to the UK, led to a situation where VM opened her violin case in Edinburgh, and found that 3 of the violin strings had broken. She soldiered on through it all, of course. It was also interesting to hear the Ravel Violin Sonata, after hearing the orchestrated version (or at least 2/3 of it) from the OSR Prom, in its original form again, and to re-affirm my opinion at the time of the orchestrated version.

(Slight unfortunate 'tip of the slongue' from DM after the interval music of the VM/KL recital, where, after the Halle's reading of the 'Prelude and Liebestod' with Anja Kampe, he accidentally misidentified AK as singing "Brunnhilde".)

[pastoralguy]

I'm lucky enough to have been to a few of these Queen's Hall concerts, BSP. This was NOT a good year for violin strings at the Queen's Hall! James Ehnes had a mishap during the last movement of the Brahms 3rd sonata where his e string unwound with such force that the peg clattered to the ground. I spoke to him afterwards and he told me that's never happened to him before. Consummate professional he is, he had to ask his collaborator, Steven Osborne, to vacate the the piano stool so he could effect repairs!

It was obvious that Viktoria Mullova was disconcerted during her recital as it took her ages to tune! Despite this, her intonation was impeccable.

[bluestateprommer]

I'm lucky enough to have been to a few of these Queen's Hall concerts, BSP. This was NOT a good year for violin strings at the Queen's Hall! James Ehnes had a mishap during the last movement of the Brahms 3rd sonata where his e string unwound with such force that the peg clattered to the ground. I spoke to him afterwards and he told me that's never happened to him before. Consummate professional he is, he had to ask his collaborator, Steven Osborne, to vacate the the piano stool so he could effect repairs!

Presumably this business with Ehnes and the E-string will 'show up' aurally on iPlayer. I didn't find anything specific about Ehnes' recent itinerary pre-Edinburgh, but I wonder if he was in the same boat as Mullova in traveling from somewhere on the Continent with unseasonably warm summer weather, and thus major temperature fluctuations in flying to Edinburgh subsequently.

Otherwise, how have the Queen's Hall concerts been there this summer? Based on the relays, my guess is pretty good. I have 2 weeks of delayed listening to go, having just caught up with the first week of R3 EIF relays last week (kind of "Music While You Work" that way). Ilker A.'s recital was very fine, as was the Takacs Quartet / M.-A. Hamelin Part 1 show. (The initial report from the EIF page of the Saturday TQ/M-AH relay on R3 was clearly a mistake, so it's gone from the archived Forum Calendar.)

[pastoralguy]

Presumably this business with Ehnes and the E-string will 'show up' aurally on iPlayer. I didn't find anything specific about Ehnes' recent itinerary pre-Edinburgh, but I wonder if he was in the same boat as Mullova in traveling from somewhere on the Continent with unseasonably warm summer weather, and thus major temperature fluctuations in flying to Edinburgh subsequently.

Otherwise, how have the Queen's Hall concerts been there this summer? Based on the relays, my guess is pretty good. I have 2 weeks of delayed listening to go, having just caught up with the first week of R3 EIF relays last week (kind of "Music While You Work" that way). Ilker A.'s recital was very fine, as was the Takacs Quartet / M.-A. Hamelin Part 1 show. (The initial report from the EIF page of the Saturday TQ/M-AH relay on R3 was clearly a mistake, so it's gone from the archived Forum Calendar.)

The Queen's Hall concerts were terrific. Mind you, in my many years of attending these concerts, I've only experienced a couple of, imho, genuine duds.

This years were especially good. I attended the opening concert with the AAM under Eggar with Nicola Benedetti. Very fine playing from all concerned. A real highlight for us was the Members of Die Berliner Philharmoniker playing Schubert's 'Trout' Quintet. Again, very fine playing.

Alas, I couldn't attend the Tackas' concerts but my wife was at the first one and was suitably impressed. I've heard them a few times before and have always been extremely impressed with their musicianship.

I was surprised the Ehnes mishap was kept in the iplayer recording. It could easily have been edited but seems to have been retained. It certainly added drama and, as if it needed proving, showed Mr. Ehnes to be a master of dealing with a strange situation. Pegs do slip but I've never known one unwind from the peg so that it results in the peg clattering to the floor!

[bluestateprommer]

The Queen's Hall concerts were terrific. Mind you, in my many years of attending these concerts, I've only experienced a couple of, imho, genuine duds.

This years were especially good. I attended the opening concert with the AAM under Eggar with Nicola Benedetti. Very fine playing from all concerned. A real highlight for us was the Members of Die Berliner Philharmoniker playing Schubert's 'Trout' Quintet. Again, very fine playing.

Alas, I couldn't attend the Tackas' concerts but my wife was at the first one and was suitably impressed. I've heard them a few times before and have always been extremely impressed with their musicianship.

I was surprised the Ehnes mishap was kept in the iplayer recording. It could easily have been edited but seems to have been retained. It certainly added drama and, as if it needed proving, showed Mr. Ehnes to be a master of dealing with a strange situation. Pegs do slip but I've never known one unwind from the peg so that it results in the peg clattering to the floor!

Actually, in hindsight, it was quite appropriate to keep in the Ehnes mishap in the relay recording, for the reason that you mentioned, the additional real-time drama. It did happen for real, after all, so to omit it would have smacked of airbrushing. Plus, JE's remarks after effecting repairs were drolly appropriate and good for a laugh.

The one criticism of the final week's airings is that Kate Molleson has unfortunately morphed into an overly effusive presenter, compared to her early days. Maybe it's her inner Tom Service (albeit with much more control over her speaking manner) coming out of the woodwork. This is a shame, since her presentation manner can otherwise be just right, when judiciously used. She might need to develop more of her Penny Gore side rather than TS.

Otherwise, a very, very fine selection of EIF chamber concerts indeed this summer, as you noted. My one main complaint was the Mozart-binge presentation by Robert Levin, with each half's works presented without breaks for applause. I understand that this is what RL wanted, but at least IMHO, this was an experiment that didn't work. Applause breaks between each of the works would have helped tremendously. Plus, the Ravel Quartet from the Pavel Haas Quartet had a slightly mannered feel about it. But these are minor quibbles in the big picture of a terrific feast of chamber music.