Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla seems to be starting to make her mark experimenting in Birmingham. Last Sunday's concert included one or two surprises including an orchestral layout for the Mozart Piano Concerto which I had never seen before.
The completely lidless piano was placed with the keyboard parallel to the front of the stage so the soloist was seated with his back to the audience. The body of the piano completely divided the strings with the Firsts, Cellos and Basses on the left and the Violas and Seconds on the right. The end of the piano was almost directly in front of the woodwind with enough space for the conductor to stand more or less in front of the oboe. (Nothing too unusual with that I hear you thinking). But the conductor stood facing the pianist and the audience with her back to the woodwind.
This actually seemed to work very well providing eye contact for the conductor with both the strings and the pianist. With a minimal turn to the right the conductor also had good contact with the wind players. The pianist was also able to see the wind players. I'm not sure it works so well for anyone in the main body of the audience wanting to "see" the pianist.
In over forty years of concert going and viewing this is a new one on me - does anyone know if this is new, an old idea resurrected or common in other parts of the world?
I know she has not been with the orchestra long but differences are already beginning to show. The whole concert, Haydn 31, Mozart PC 27 and Beethoven 5 was played almost without vibrato and there was a great emphasis on dynamics with some occasionally very quiet playing from the strings.
The concert is repeated on Thursday afternoon and is being recorded for that other Classical music radio station. I wonder if the experiment will be repeated with the microphones present?
The completely lidless piano was placed with the keyboard parallel to the front of the stage so the soloist was seated with his back to the audience. The body of the piano completely divided the strings with the Firsts, Cellos and Basses on the left and the Violas and Seconds on the right. The end of the piano was almost directly in front of the woodwind with enough space for the conductor to stand more or less in front of the oboe. (Nothing too unusual with that I hear you thinking). But the conductor stood facing the pianist and the audience with her back to the woodwind.
This actually seemed to work very well providing eye contact for the conductor with both the strings and the pianist. With a minimal turn to the right the conductor also had good contact with the wind players. The pianist was also able to see the wind players. I'm not sure it works so well for anyone in the main body of the audience wanting to "see" the pianist.
In over forty years of concert going and viewing this is a new one on me - does anyone know if this is new, an old idea resurrected or common in other parts of the world?
I know she has not been with the orchestra long but differences are already beginning to show. The whole concert, Haydn 31, Mozart PC 27 and Beethoven 5 was played almost without vibrato and there was a great emphasis on dynamics with some occasionally very quiet playing from the strings.
The concert is repeated on Thursday afternoon and is being recorded for that other Classical music radio station. I wonder if the experiment will be repeated with the microphones present?
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