Brahms 3/1st Piano Concerto live Barbican 29/10/13 LGO/Chailly

[jayne lee wilson]

Surprised not to see a thread on this - just got in in time - an outstanding Brahms 3rd has just concluded, concerto to come, a very dark & weighty mitteleuropean sound... join it for part two if you can...

[Thropplenoggin]

I'm more interested in tomorrow night...when I'll be there!

I'd be interested to know if anyone, on the basis of what they've heard, will now be buying the new cycle on Decca.

[Nick Armstrong]

Surprised not to see a thread on this - just got in in time - an outstanding Brahms 3rd has just concluded, concerto to come, a very dark & weighty mitteleuropean sound... join it for part two if you can...

Yes I loved it - the performance however was not weighty in a bad way, being lithe as well... Top drawer!

T-Nog drew attention the other day to some shocking 'presentation' of a concert which he found

wince-inducing. Utterly crass. Faux bonhomie - 'the atmosphere is buzzin' tonight'. Expressions such as how Mozart 'loved to go to the pub with his friends'...and then relating the Divertimento to this notion. Zounds! Talk about destroy one's mood as you prepare to 'enter' an audible landscape.

Trying to 'big up' the symphony, the 'glorious' Symphony No. 40, saying its one of his most popular. What does this even mean?!

I didn't hear it but feel the pain as I have waxed nauseated hereabouts in the past concerning that particular presenter.

Contrast the PERFECT intro this evening by Ian Skelly (Riccardo Chailly skipping on stage briskly enough to leave Petroc almost no time to blither in the hall).

Ian Skelly said: "I'm very much looking forward to tonight's concert. It promises to be a good one"

Thank heavens for understatement!

I'd forgotten what was on tonight, and when the "good one" turned out to be Chailly, the Gewandhaus and Brahms.... well my mood was instant delight and a perfect state to be receptive to Brahms 3 (in utter contrast to the homicidal inclinations inspired by the man with the four-letter first name referred to above)...

[Sir Velo]

Even performers have had enough of the hyperbole. See what Mahan Esfahani said on another thread.

[Petrushka]

Listening as a deferred relay (about 20 minutes late) thanks to my DVD recorder. Yes an excellent Brahms 3, usually said to be the most difficult of the four to bring off.

In answer to Thropplenoggin's query, I will most certainly be buying the recorded cycle. It's on my wish list and I have it pencilled in as one to buy as a Christmas present to self.

[Nick Armstrong]

Even performers have had enough of the hyperbole. See what Mahan Esfahani said on another thread.

Bravo

[pastoralguy]

Very excited to be listening to this as I'll be there tomorrow nite (railways permitting!) to hear the 4th Symphony and the violin concerto.

Have to say, sounds pretty fantastic to me! The RSNO played the Fourth symphony last Friday night in the Usher Hall so it'll be an interesting comparison. (Although I hear that the Gewandhaus Orchestra, like all orchestras south of the Border, omit the bagpipes that all Scottish Orchestras add unless a concert is being broadcast).


Actually, I'm listening to the second movt. Of the first concerto and some bloody woman is having a coughing fit...

[pastoralguy]

I've bought six sets of the Brahms/Chailly symphony's as Christmas presents but have intentionally not listened as I'd like to hear the concerts live first...

[DoctorT]

I'm sorry I heard this tonight. After Loughran, Karajan, Norrington, Haitink, Rattle and Gardiner I swore that there would be no more Brahms symphony cycles. Now I'm sorely tempted... Unless I'm on pastoralguy's Christmas list, of course!

[Nick Armstrong]

Unless I'm on pastoralguy's Christmas list, of course!

We are all hoping that, Doctor!!

[jayne lee wilson]

What a wonderful Brahms D minor Concerto, as weighty and fiery as one could wish, with Aimard a volatile and dramatic soloist commanding huge power - what a tremendous outburst at the heart of the first movement! His passagework wasn't always ideally smooth, but that's a very small cavil.

The Leipzigers' sonority (as outstandingly relayed on HDs, really taking you into the hall) was just a shade mellow and dark for the acoustic (strings notably so, with a splendidly hefty Doublebass section placed stage-left), but this didn't lessen the concerto's impact and made it a very easy balance on the ears at an aptly high volume.
After a sublime adagio, sounding as Clara Schumann said, "like an eleison" the finale was lighter, fleeter and more agile until its incisively-delivered conclusion, lending this performance a wonderful range of mood and texture.

The keynote of the 3rd symphony's performance was Balance. That bass foundation created a groundswell above which the winds, horns and upper strings were flowing, warm, blended and clear - always light and transparent to contrapuntal line and detail. This reading served the music, with no eccentricities of line or tempo to distract one's attention. The almost-attacca Chailly made between andante and poco allegretto was a lovely, intimate touch.

[HighlandDougie]

I'd be interested to know if anyone, on the basis of what they've heard, will now be buying the new cycle on Decca.

My attendance tomorrow night is on the basis of listening to the recordings, sped to me by amazon.fr a couple of weeks ago. As Celibidache (or Kempe) in Munich is my usual kind of Brahms symphony listening, I wasn't expecting to be impressed but I really like it, especially the 4th. I've added the 24/96 download of Leonidas Kavakos in the Violin Concerto as an adjunct (ditto on liking it) so I am now greatly looking forward to the concert, as well as to looking out for Thropp's pith helmet.

[PaulT]

I bought the set on Monday last week and can't stop listening to it. Haydn Variations are on as I type. Was at the Barbican last Tuesday for the double concerto and symphony 1. Concerto's highlight was Enrico Dindo's cello contribution and I will be seeking out his other recordings. Chailly's contribution was as sympathetic accompanist, just letting his orchestra play and ensuring the two soloists held all the limelight. The symphony was one of the handful of truly great performances I have attended in over 50 years of concert going. The tempi, the clarity of texture, the sound quality were just perfect. You guys going tomorrow night for the fourth are in for a treat. For the rest of you, just buy the CDs and if you share my view you will own the finest set of Brahms symphonies of the digital age, possibly of all time.

[edashtav]

Aimez-Vous Aimard?

What a wonderful Brahms D minor Concerto, as weighty and fiery as one could wish, with Aimard a volatile and dramatic soloist commanding huge power - what a tremendous outburst at the heart of the first movement! His passagework wasn't always ideally smooth, but that's a very small cavil.
.

I've just caught up this concerto after reading your enthusiastic recommendation, Jayne.

In the first moment, concept was greater than delivery. Pierre-Laurent left power in reserve, whereas other pianists start like a rocket only to run out of fuel when the climax needs added weight. Some of his passagework was smudged and occasional wrong notes suggested that this French intellectual was not right at the top of his form. Chailly and the LGO gave finely detailed and well-shaped support; some woodwind exchanges were wonderful.

The slow movement was wonderfully paced- nothing was hurried but paragraphs were shaped like great spans of bridges. I felt that soloist and conductor both understood that such structures depend for their support on great starts and finishes. If I had to isolate one feature that characterised the whole performances it would be allowing ends of phrases, sentences and paragraphs time to achieve full fruition. Pierre-Laurent was on his game during this movement. I , perhaps, prefer the word "Benedictus" that some commentators have used for this movement in contrast to Clara's "eleison" for there's more of a feeling that we're in receipt of God's mercy that "the dayspring from on high has visited us".

The finale was more Bachian in the clarity of Aimard’s enunciation with excellent balance between his hands and some lovely rhythmic pointing. Once the dynamism of the opening had subsided, I loved the delicacy of the orchestra’s transition and the response of the soloist in that dreamy passage before Brahms decides that he must unfurl some counterpoint full of academic gravitas before returning to the movement’s main theme. The final peroration was a glorious, and beautifully detailed end to a great cooperation between pianist, conductor & orchestra.

Pierre-Laurent has not completed his Brahms tour of duty. I predict that he will better this performance before he takes time off to recoup and get back to Bach. He has a brilliant mind and great technique. Is he assuming Alfred Brendel's mantle? Please discuss!

[amateur51]

I've just caught up this concerto after reading your enthusiastic recommendation, Jayne.

In the first moment, concept was greater than delivery. Pierre-Laurent left power in reserve, whereas other pianists start like a rocket only to run out of fuel when the climax needs added weight. Some of his passagework was smudged and occasional wrong notes suggested that this French intellectual was not right at the top of his form. Chailly and the LGO gave finely detailed and well-shaped support; some woodwind exchanges were wonderful.

The slow movement was wonderfully paced- nothing was hurried but paragraphs were shaped like great spans of bridges. I felt that soloist and conductor both understood that such structures depend for their support on great starts and finishes. If I had to isolate one feature that characterised the whole performances it would be allowing ends of phrases, sentences and paragraphs time to achieve full fruition. Pierre-Laurent was on his game during this movement. I , perhaps, prefer the word "Benedictus" that some commentators have used for this movement in contrast to Clara's "eleison" for there's more of a feeling that we're in receipt of God's mercy that "the dayspring from on high has visited us".

The finale was more Bachian in the clarity of Aimard’s enunciation with excellent balance between his hands and some lovely rhythmic pointing. Once the dynamism of the opening had subsided, I loved the delicacy of the orchestra’s transition and the response of the soloist in that dreamy passage before Brahms decides that he must unfurl some counterpoint full of academic gravitas before returning to the movement’s main theme. The final peroration was a glorious, and beautifully detailed end to a great cooperation between pianist, conductor & orchestra.

Pierre-Laurent has not completed his Brahms tour of duty. I predict that he will better this performance before he takes time off to recoup and get back to Bach. He has a brilliant mind and great technique. Is he assuming Alfred Brendel's mantle? Please discuss!

Many thanks for these thoughts, edashtav

The finest 'live' performance I've attended was with Brendel and Tennstedt at a Prom sometime in the 1990s, in a drippingly hot RAH. It sounds from you description that Aimard knew what he wanted to achierve which was something that I always got from a Brendel performance. Others will disagree, I'm sure because such intellectual determinism seems to them antithetical to artistic inspiration but that's horses for courses I guess.

You've made me want to listen to this performance. Thanks