A marvellous concert - Hallé Orchestra - Bridgewater Hall - Sunday 28th October 2012

[Stanfordian]

Programme: Dvořák: Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104 and Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 in E flat major, Op. 55, ‘Eroica’

Last night's concert at the Bridgewater Hall by the Hallé Orchestra conducted by Markus Stenz was a truly marvellous concert that demonstrates just how far the Hallé Orchestra has come since Sir Mark Elder was appointed as music director in 1999. I don't think that I have heard Beethoven's ‘Eroica’ played better than the interpretation conducted by Markus Stenz. Miklós Perényi playing the Dvořák Cello Concerto was a sympathetic and highly assured soloist. Ideally I would have liked a touch more late-Romantic expression but that is just my personal taste

[amateur51]

Many thanks for this excellent news, Standfordian

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Stenz is a very good conductor indeed, but I would put in a word for Loughran's (pre-Elder) Beethoven cycle with the Hallé - the Eroica there is pretty good, too.

[Roslynmuse]

I agree with Stanfordian's summing up of last night's concert - very fine playing, with many subtle details shown. The Dvorak isn't one of my favourite pieces, I'm afraid, and the interpretation seemed a little restrained to me but I don't really feel qualified to comment. The Beethoven was very fine - perhaps a little balletic at times in the first movement - how difficult it is to find that ideal point where fleet-footedness doesn't feel trivial, and where weight doesn't mean heaviness. Second movement was one of the best I've heard. A smaller band than usual, with stereophonic cellos and basses. Great timps and horns!

[AjAjAjH]

I couldn't get to any of the 3 performances of this concert. Markus Stenz is an asset as Principal Guest Conductor - he has given us some really great Mahler and Bruckner in the last 3 years. The horns are in superb form at the moment as recent performances of Brahms Piano Concerto No.2, Bruckner's 4th Symphony and clearly what has been written about last Sunday's cpncert indicate.