New Year's Day Concert 2014

[Petrushka]

fully agree (and Richard Strauss obviusly as well ). IMO a "better" waltz than de Danube

I've often been puzzled by the popularity of the Blue Danube. It's some way down the pecking order of Strauss waltzes in my opinion and when put beside Dynamiden the sheer quality of the latter is immediately apparent.

It's such a pity that Josef is generally overshadowed by his elder brother and died so tragically young. His pieces have a quality and touch of genius about them that cannot be denied. One of my favourite waltzes by Josef is Perlen der Liebe which carries the opus number of 53. It is a concert waltz rather than one for the ballroom and I long for it to be included in the NYDC. By the time Johann had come to his opus 53 he'd hardly made his mark. Johann acknowledged that Josef was the more gifted and he was right.

[Sir Velo]

Purely listening to music and concentrate on it seems to be in decline on this forum too, is my imperession

Indeed. It beats me how some people can make 6,000 odd posts to this forum and still find time to listen to music.

As it happens a V+ Box (or Sky Plus) enables one to pause live TV; a very handy facility for fast forwarding those ad breaks, interminable interval features, credits, or irritating announcers. It also allows one to post here without missing a note of music making.

[Prommer]

I'm afraid it's back to Kleiber's pair of concerts in 1989 and 1992 for me... not least because the choice of pieces was so impeccable. Impressive as Barenboim is, I fear this is not really his thing. The meandering around the orchestra during the Radetzky March, I could take or leave. Is he hoping to make a custom of this I wonder?

And yes, most NYDC conductors both conduct without scores and memorise the running order. DB double-checked what piece was coming next at least once today with the leader... certainly just before launching into the Capriccio piece.

[Roehre]

Indeed. It beats me how some people can make 6,000 odd posts to this forum and still find time to listen to music.

Me too .
I myself try to listen concentrated to music for some 2 hours a day, most of the time spread over the day. In winter time it's more, in summer less due to the fact I try to listen to music with as less light as possible.

Hence I haven't got any music DVDs as a screen showing either an orchestra or something accompanying the music (apart from opera or ballet stages, but even these I find most of the time in contrast with my own imagination) is simply distracting me from the music. In that respect the NYC is a tradition for Mrs R and me which is the exception confirming this "rule" .
I never use music as back ground or wallpaper and don't listen to music while driving either.

[Petrushka]

DB double-checked what piece was coming next at least once today with the leader... certainly just before launching into the Capriccio piece

Well, he certainly exchanged a word or two with the leader of the orchestra a couple of times but unless one can lip read German I think it would have been difficult to state what the subject of their conversations might have been with any degree of accuracy.

[RichardWagner]

Hence I haven't got any music DVDs as a screen showing either an orchestra or something accompanying the music (apart from opera or ballet stages, but even these I find most of the time in contrast with my own imagination) is simply distracting me from the music.

How do you manage at a live concert or opera?? Damn, those musicians are distracting.....

[RichardWagner]

Well, he certainly exchanged a word or two with the leader of the orchestra a couple of times but unless one can lip read German I think it would have been difficult to state what the subject of their conversations might have been with any degree of accuracy.

And in the first half, (watched via the red button), as he was waiting to start a piece, he gave what I thought was a somewhat frosty look in the direction of first violins.

[Flosshilde]

How do you manage at a live concert or opera?? Damn, those musicians are distracting.....

Presumably follow Bernard Shaw's advice (or was it Ernest Newman's?) for seeing a Wagner opera - sit with your back to the stage & enjoy the music without being distracted by the goings-on on stage.

Or something like that.

[Richard Barrett]

I listened to it on the radio, since I couldn't watch it here, besides which I've been in semi-darkness most of the day owing to an inexplicable aversion to bright lights which I've had since this morning. I liked most of the performances a lot, especially the Pizzicato-Polka, and I don't think I'd heard Dynamiden before, except in RS's steroidal version ... speaking of whom, in this context I found the Mondscheinmusik as cheesy as all hell, which was a surprise since I've always been quite fond of it in its operatic context.

[Prommer]

Well, he certainly exchanged a word or two with the leader of the orchestra a couple of times but unless one can lip read German I think it would have been difficult to state what the subject of their conversations might have been with any degree of accuracy.

No, he could be seen saying 'Moonshine?' or the equivalent in German (rather similar) - it wasn't tricky!

[Roehre]

How do you manage at a live concert or opera?? Damn, those musicians are distracting.....

welcome RW.
I'm afraid that it does pay reading a posting carefully.
since when are live concerts and operas projected onto screens?
I wrote

as a screen showing either an orchestra or something accompanying the music (apart from opera or ballet stages, ....) is simply distracting me...

.

[EdgeleyRob]

In answer to ER earlier: I've been to a VPO concert in the Musikverein (Mahler 3 VPO/Bychkov 2008) and it's a fabulous hall with stunning acoustics

I'm so envious,it looks a stunning arena.
I bet Alwyn 3 would sound great in there.

[Prommer]

And in the first half, (watched via the red button), as he was waiting to start a piece, he gave what I thought was a somewhat frosty look in the direction of first violins.

One of his chief virtues is his lack of an ability to dissimulate when he is either happy or not with something - viz his altercation at the Proms Ring with the leader for 'dragging' towards the end of Act I of Walkure!

I thought his interval interview with Petroc was good, not least for the cigar-chomping certainty which he displays on matters such as the VPO's past associations. Only he could do this.

[Prommer]

Very good to see (comparatively) so many women playing this year too, though I am a shade cynical about this - the shot of three of them earlier in one frame seemed quite calculated. Are they members of the orchestra's foundation itself or do they have associate status or the equivalent?

And where has Rainer got to?

[jayne lee wilson]

Well, this concert's long gone well before I ever get out of bed and for no good reason... might see some later over dinner.

But those visuals... I guess an HD image, fixed camera from midhall, on a huge screen between the speakers might be tolerable...but would it match your 3D stereo? Or maybe a 3D image then...
Sometimes the nearer you get the further away you feel...

At the Berlin DCH the entertainments lead away from the music, with the elegantly agonised Sara Willis in the Horns, or pretty-boy Emmanuel Pahud with his magic flute... or two of the wind principals, wide-eyed, shaking their heads at each other over the conductor's antics...
and yes, why WILL those Viennese dancers never keep time...!? Still there's always those Vivian Westwood dresses to look forward to...

Time for more Hindemith, I think...