Radio3 Live in Concert

[Pianorak]

Let someone else cope with the pianist's name, my eyes aren't up toit

Khatia Buniatishvili

[Osborn]

Prok 1 is a terrific little concerto; I've seen Khatia B in recital locally & can report that she has very very fast fingers. I'll skip the Sibelius - Karajan put me off for life!

[salymap]

Khatia Buniatishvili

Ta for that, need new glasses

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Khatia Buniatishvili

Gesundheit!

[Barbirollians]

It was the violinist in K 364 that I really didn't like . Power was fine .

[Dave2002]

HS
Also, wasn't it you (or an alter ego) who became converted to Karabits a few months ago. I hope you enjoy it.
I shall come back to this later.

[Petrushka]

I'll skip the Sibelius - Karajan put me off for life!

Don't really understand this comment. Karajan's 1965 Sibelius 4 is acknowledged as one if the classics of the gramophone and rightly so in my view. To say that HvK put one off the work itself is an odd statement to make supposing one has some sympathy with the piece to start off with. Perhaps that's what is lacking?

[Hornspieler]

HS
Also, wasn't it you (or an alter ego) who became converted to Karabits a few months ago. I hope you enjoy it.
I shall come back to this later.

Dave2002

Guilty, m'lud.

But, having listened to it just now, I know why my memory of Sibelius 4th Symphony was so vague.

Judging by tonight's performance, there is nothing memorable about it.

HS

[amateur51]

Dave2002

Guilty, m'lud.

But, having listened to it just now, I know why my memory of Sibelius 4th Symphony was so vague.

Judging by tonight's performance, there is nothing memorable about it.

HS

Having sat ten yards away from Sir Colin Davis as he conducted it last week at the Royal Academy of Music, I am surprised to see you write that, HS.

Some lovely brass bits

[Hornspieler]

Having sat ten yards away from Sir Colin Davis as he conducted it last week at the Royal Academy of Music, I am surprised to see you write that, HS.

Some lovely brass bits

Well, it wasn't Sir Colin Davis conducting tonight, was it?

Continuing to listen, I was quite underwhelmed by the Piano Concerto. Did Martin Handley really have to tell us that this was the young pianist's first attempt and that she was nervous at the morning rehearsal? Not very discreet.

Petrushka has just finished.
A very difficult work and I thought it came off very well indeed; notwithstanding a few little flips in what is a very demanding trumpet part.

Disappointing on the whole. For me, this concert did not have the polish and the flair of the recent BBC Philharmonic's programme under Paul Daniel.

HS

[jayne lee wilson]

Robert Layton, of all great Sibelians, once remarked how he regretted his earlier criticism of HvK's 1965 recording, having said that beauty of sound was not perhaps a helpful quality in a performance of No.4 - RL came very much to admire it, as any sensitive Sibelian should, it is indeed a classic.

The BBCSO played it beautifully tonight, guided through its bleak majesty by some wonderful conducting. My only minor criticism would be that the finale was just a little anonymous early on - it's a strange and original structure, piecing tiny fragments and germ-cells together for the truly tragic, more sustained musical line of the coda. A steadier pacing might have helped, but ultimately it worked. It's one of those rare masterpieces, like Mahler 6, which faces the darkest of human experiences and emotions head-on.

About part 2 of the concert I can only say: what pure orchestral and pianistic brilliance!
The Prokofiev Concerto fair leapt out of the speakers at me with a tone as broad and deep as the Sibelius had been cool and restrained, and continued to grow in spiky excitement to it's shamelessly brash and virtuoso end! Marvellous playing from every department, which continued into the Petrushka - very rich,colourful, sentimentally slav - folksy and brash, tenderly memorable. (I always get a bit upset about the poor bear though...)

A wonderful evening, even if I would have preferred the 1911 Petrushka - those thick coloured curtains of quadruple wind, "My Petrushka", as Monteux said. But this 1947 one was delivered with apt and brazen glitter.

Don't really understand this comment. Karajan's 1965 Sibelius 4 is acknowledged as one if the classics of the gramophone and rightly so in my view. To say that HvK put one off the work itself is an odd statement to make supposing one has some sympathy with the piece to start off with. Perhaps that's what is lacking?

[amateur51]

Well, it wasn't Sir Colin Davis conducting tonight, was it?

Your :devil; comment was about Sibelius symphony no 4, I thought. My comment was that I had recently heard a 'live' performance and that I was surprised that you found it unmemorable.

That's all

[Barbirollians]

I loved the 1978 Karajan Sibelius 4 which seems rather forgotten nowadays.

[Ferretfancy]

Robert Layton, of all great Sibelians, once remarked how he regretted his earlier criticism of HvK's 1965 recording, having said that beauty of sound was not perhaps a helpful quality in a performance of No.4 - RL came very much to admire it, as any sensitive Sibelian should, it is indeed a classic.

The BBCSO played it beautifully tonight, guided through its bleak majesty by some wonderful conducting. My only minor criticism would be that the finale was just a little anonymous early on - it's a strange and original structure, piecing tiny fragments and germ-cells together for the truly tragic, more sustained musical line of the coda. A steadier pacing might have helped, but ultimately it worked. It's one of those rare masterpieces, like Mahler 6, which faces the darkest of human experiences and emotions head-on.

About part 2 of the concert I can only say: what pure orchestral and pianistic brilliance!
The Prokofiev Concerto fair leapt out of the speakers at me with a tone as broad and deep as the Sibelius had been cool and restrained, and continued to grow in spiky excitement to it's shamelessly brash and virtuoso end! Marvellous playing from every department, which continued into the Petrushka - very rich,colourful, sentimentally slav - folksy and brash, tenderly memorable. (I always get a bit upset about the poor bear though...)

A wonderful evening, even if I would have preferred the 1911 Petrushka - those thick coloured curtains of quadruple wind, "My Petrushka", as Monteux said. But this 1947 one was delivered with apt and brazen glitter.

Jayne,
I'm so glad it came across well. I was at the Barbican, and it was certainly a thrilling evening. I can't share your enthusiasm for the concerto, since I felt that the pianist fell into the familiar trap of playing the first movement far too fast. This is a common fault with younger pianists who have amazing technical facility, but in fairness the equally fast encore of Prokofiev's Toccata came across well.
As for the Sibelius, some performances are craggier, but this was splendid in a slightly broader way.
The Petrushka should have been cheered to the heights, it was riveting from first note to last. In the interval I asked one of the players if we were getting the proper quiet ending, one of the best conclusions in music, and luckily the answer was yes. Sometimes orchestras play a horrible cheerful ending which wrecks it all, but not tonight, the BBC SO were magnificent.

[jayne lee wilson]

Thanks for that report FF, very useful.

The balance, especially in Part 2, took you right into the heart of things, perhaps helping the pianistic clarity-at-speed for R3 listeners? Really full orchestral tone too, very impressive and quite riveting after the precise, cool beauty of the Sibelius.
Listening at home on HDs, there were quite loud cheers after the Prokofiev, so maybe some of the audience were swept up in the excitement? I felt that the performance really suited this young man's concerto, Prokofiev out to shock and amaze his audience with a sonic whirlwind. Not much point in soloist or orchestra holding back...

But yes, a great Petrushka.
(If only the Bear could have got his own back too, like Petrushka's ghost...)