Have you ever had a Concert Experience where your reaction was completely at odds with the rest of the attendees? I did last night.
Ricardo Muti conducted and Leonidas Kavakos was the Violinist. The program was listed as
Beethoven VC
Intermission
Bernard Rand. Dreams (World Premiere)
Liszt Mazeppa
Kavakos played many long cadenzas that were unfamiliar to me, several per movement. Apparently one that was used in I is
the cadenza that LvB wrote when he made a Piano arrangement of the work, and features an extended duet with the tympani . It’s really long. The other multiple cadenzas appeared to be based on Greek Folk Songs as reinterpreted by the Backstreet Boys. Due to these interjections, and the fact that Ricardo chose a tempo for the slow movement that was more appropriate for the beginning of the Gorecki Third, the performance lasted almost an hour.
The crowd went wild. I was in a foul mood to begin with, as I have a knee problem and was in significant pain by the time I got to my seat, but I actually felt obliged to boo, not that anyone except my wife could hear me. Kavakos encored with a Gigue from one of the Bach Sonatas, and he made quite a few audible slips, but at least afaik he didn’t add anything, so that
was o.k.
The Rand piece was like many other premieres, about 15 minutes, percussion laden, ambient music. Unexpectedly, by default, it was the highlight of the night.
I haven’t heard Mazeppa in something like 40 years, and that wasn’t long enough. What a piece of trash! Under normal circumstances I would have considered it sacrilege to be closing a Concert featuring the Beethoven VC, but given the circumstances of the performance of the latter, why not?
Ricardo Muti conducted and Leonidas Kavakos was the Violinist. The program was listed as
Beethoven VC
Intermission
Bernard Rand. Dreams (World Premiere)
Liszt Mazeppa
Kavakos played many long cadenzas that were unfamiliar to me, several per movement. Apparently one that was used in I is
the cadenza that LvB wrote when he made a Piano arrangement of the work, and features an extended duet with the tympani . It’s really long. The other multiple cadenzas appeared to be based on Greek Folk Songs as reinterpreted by the Backstreet Boys. Due to these interjections, and the fact that Ricardo chose a tempo for the slow movement that was more appropriate for the beginning of the Gorecki Third, the performance lasted almost an hour.
The crowd went wild. I was in a foul mood to begin with, as I have a knee problem and was in significant pain by the time I got to my seat, but I actually felt obliged to boo, not that anyone except my wife could hear me. Kavakos encored with a Gigue from one of the Bach Sonatas, and he made quite a few audible slips, but at least afaik he didn’t add anything, so that
was o.k.
The Rand piece was like many other premieres, about 15 minutes, percussion laden, ambient music. Unexpectedly, by default, it was the highlight of the night.
I haven’t heard Mazeppa in something like 40 years, and that wasn’t long enough. What a piece of trash! Under normal circumstances I would have considered it sacrilege to be closing a Concert featuring the Beethoven VC, but given the circumstances of the performance of the latter, why not?
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