Northern Sinfonia/Mario Venzago 2/11/2012 19:30

[jayne lee wilson]

Live from the fine Sage acoustic, a fascinating programme, of great interest given the conductor, whose recent refreshing of Bruckner interpretation has won much praise (and not only from me...) The Bruckner 2 (CPO), so freshly read and intensely expressed, was recorded with this orchestra in the very hall on air tonight. What will he make of Dvorak 7? Well, it won't be dull or routine! We may even fall off our chairs...
Part One of the concert is hardly outworn either.

Mozart - Overture: The Magic Flute
Ibert - Flute Concerto (wiht Juliette Bausor)
Schoeck - Sommernacht
****
Dvorak Symphony No.7

Don't miss this opportunity to hear Venzago's potentially radical approach to a familiar masterwork!

[french frank]

I've deleted HS's thread, as requested, but here's a bump for this one - tonight's concert.

[Hornspieler]

I've deleted HS's thread, as requested, but here's a bump for this one - tonight's concert.

Thanks for doing that, FF. Now on to last night's concert:

It's a long time since I enjoyed listening to music as much as this.

A scintillating performance of "The Magic Flute" followed by the magical flute playing of Juliette Bausor in the Ibert concerto.

What elan and technical assurance!

An interesting talk about the Sage at Gateshead held my full attention during the concert interval

Othmar Schoeck's - Sommernacht revealed some textures rarely heard in string orchestra writing and was a reminder to me of a composer who has almost been forgotten over the years.

What can one say about Dvorak's seventh symphony? Always my favourite and, like the Northern Sinfonia's Brahms 2nd last year, given a lightweight and clear reading.

This is a very fine orchestra and I am surprised that it does not receive a greater share of Radio Three's live concert allocation.

A well chosen programme that I would recommend to any listener.

HS (I'm still bubbling over with excitement)

[salymap]

At last I've found my way to iPlayer radio although iPlayer TV still won't work forme or others.

So far I've heard and enjoyed the Mozart overture and the frighteningly difficult Ibert which I don't know.
Both brilliant and goodsound with headphones.

I hope to hear the remainder later when the day gets more sorted.

[EdgeleyRob]

I listened this morning.
Not sure about that Schoeck thingy,can probably live without hearing it again.
The rest sounded great to me.
The Ibert I'd never heard before,don't know anything about flute (or indeed any musical instrument)playing,but it seemed almost impossible at times.
This sounded like a brilliant performance.Bravo.

[teamsaint]

I listened this morning.
Not sure about that Schoeck thingy,can probably live without hearing it again.
The rest sounded great to me.
The Ibert I'd never heard before,don't know anything about flute (or indeed any musical instrument)playing,but it seemed almost impossible at times.
This sounded like a brilliant performance.Bravo.

THanks for the review HS and others...sounds a really interesting concert.

ER..the main issues in playing the flute are covered here...!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNfGyIW7aHM

[Hornspieler]

Thanks for the review HS and others...sounds a really interesting concert.

ER..the main issues in playing the flute are covered here...!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNfGyIW7aHM

My old friend, the late Cecil James (bassoonist) once said to me "Anyone can play a flute. Stick it out of the window and it plays itself!"

He was joking, of course. (I think)

HS

[jayne lee wilson]

It was a very good evening wasn't it?

To HS's concise summary I will only add that Venzago's approach to Dvorak 7, if less radically shaped or phrased than his Bruckner recordings, was still unusual in foregrounding winds and brass against light, largely vibrato-less strings, whose character was thus gutty and clear rather than the more usual warmth and sweetness. This gave us a stark, bracing, even gritty symphonic drama, never conventionally Romantic or heroic. Just occasionally, in the first movement, one perceived some textural muddle and approximation in the swifter passages, but this came from Venzago's thought-through approach, more preludial than usual in the first 2 movements; releasing the tensions they created in tighter, sometimes explosive accounts of scherzo and finale. (I do wish that conductors would plunge straight into the finale though, rather than dispelling some tension by allowing orchestra and audience to relax between them...)

The balance on HD-hi (the R3 AAC stream) was fairly close and slightly dry, brass blaring a little, with an excellent dynamic range; really true pps. The Sage sounded a little less lustrous than in the same performers' Bruckner 2 - perhaps due in part to the presence of an audience drying out the acoustic?

[Tony Halstead]

(I do wish that conductors would plunge straight into the finale though, rather than dispelling some tension by allowing orchestra and audience to relax between them...)

Hmmm... I don't quite agree with you there, Jayne.. I have a ( maybe naive) belief that composers did actually specify those movements that they wanted to 'link' to the next movement ( the obvious example being Mendelssohn).
So, in the absence of any specific 'attacca' instruction by Dvorak from Mvt 3 to Mvt 4, one can assume that he actually wanted the very 'dispellation of tension' that you have identified.

[EdgeleyRob]

ER..the main issues in playing the flute are covered here...!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNfGyIW7aHM

I take it all back,the Ibert concerto must be a doddle.
Classic MP.

[jayne lee wilson]

Hmmm... I don't quite agree with you there, Jayne.. I have a ( maybe naive) belief that composers did actually specify those movements that they wanted to 'link' to the next movement ( the obvious example being Mendelssohn).
So, in the absence of any specific 'attacca' instruction by Dvorak from Mvt 3 to Mvt 4, one can assume that he actually wanted the very 'dispellation of tension' that you have identified.

Sure, WH... it's just a personal feeling about it after hearing it done this way - it really made emotional sense to me. Can't recall which performance though, or not without a lengthy shelf-tour...

[Dave2002]

I take it all back,the Ibert concerto must be a doddle.
Classic MP.

And so are Rodrigo's and Nielsen's.

[Old Grumpy]

This is a very fine orchestra and I am surprised that it does not receive a greater share of Radio Three's live concert allocation.

Perhaps it's because the Northern Sinfonia are Classic FM's Orchestra in the North East of England!

OG

[salymap]

I've just listenedtothe Dvorak symphony no 7. Timps seemed rather prominent in the 1st movement, listening on headphones, otherwise seemed good to me.

I can never decide whether this or no 8 is my favourite. The one I'm listening to I guess.