What was your last concert?

[richardfinegold]

Muti led the CSO in 9 opera extracts last week. Va Pensiero, the Anvil Chorus, Intermezzo from Cav, prelude from Boito Mefistofole and others. It was great fun

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Not Cafe OTO but St. John at Hackney Church next Thursday. I have real doubts I can make it, but will try.

Oops! Quite right - I don't know where I got the idea it was at Oto's. Hope you can get there, Bryn - quite an occasion last night (and lovely to chat with Michael Parsons again - haven't seen him since the Great Learning event a couple of years back).

[Bryn]

Oops! Quite right - I don't know where I got the idea it was at Oto's. Hope you can get there, Bryn - quite an occasion last night (and lovely to chat with Michael Parsons again - haven't seen him since the Great Learning event a couple of years back).

Now looks more likely I will. I have arranged to start and finish an hour earlier than scheduled and, having emailed Anton re. the availability of tickets 'on the door' and had a positive response, I should just make it if traffic is not too bad and public transport connections work as the TFL journey planner claims. Fingers crossed.

[HighlandDougie]

Sorry that my current visit to London won't extend to Bryn's Hackney concert - I'd much like to have been there. As a frothy substitute, OAE/Christie at St John's S/Square. 'Bach goes to Paris' or "who put the 'camp' in Campra". The enthusiasm of William Christie and the OAE was pretty infectious (Campra/Fischer/Bach/Rameau/Bach) so I, like most of the audience, left with a big smile on my face. I was almost at the point of dancing my way off the District Line at Aldgate East. Seriously, though, the Campra was something of a revelation for me - and the two Bach Orchestral Suites (3 & 4), conducted by a supreme master of French baroque, were a joy. A perfect way to spend a lovely summer evening.

[Bryn]

Oops! Quite right - I don't know where I got the idea it was at Oto's. Hope you can get there, Bryn - quite an occasion last night (and lovely to chat with Michael Parsons again - haven't seen him since the Great Learning event a couple of years back).

Michael was there at St John's tonight too, as, this time, was Mr Worby. I had a brief word with Anton afterwards and was advised that they recorded both works recently and they will be coming out on the Huddersfield label this autumn. Another couple of items for the wish list.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Michael was there at St John's tonight too, as, this time, was Mr Worby. I had a brief word with Anton afterwards and was advised that they recorded both works recently and they will be coming out on the Huddersfield label this autumn. Another couple of items for the wish list.

Excellent news - no doubt available at the Festival. So glad to hear that you managed to make it to the concert, too - definitely an unforgettable joy if it was anything like as good as the Leeds performances.

[Zucchini]

CBSO / Mirga GT / Jan Lisiecki / @ Cheltenham

Debussy Prelude a l'apres ...
Chopin PC1
Valentyn Silvestrov The Messenger
Stravinsky Petrushka

Apart from being fascinating to watch, Mirga GT achieved exceptional transparency of textures throughout. Full marks for assessing the venue's acoustics - in the past I've often found the CBSO sound overwhelming and congested in the Town Hall.

I particularly wanted to hear the 20yr old Canadian phenomenon, Jan Lisiecki. He gave a jaw-dropping performance of Chopin PC 1 (which I believe he recorded when 15), brisk, quite declamatory, no mannered rubato (but a little more reflection, contemplation, a la Pires would have suited me). Mirga and her orchestra were with him all the way.

Petrushka was terrific. They're playing it 5 more times on their current short tour to Germany.

[pastoralguy]

Try to hear Jan Lisiecki's recording of two Mozart piano concertos. This is playing that reminds me of the great Dinu Lupatti. A wonderful artist.

[Zucchini]

I will. Apart from your recommendation, Googled reviews in the UK and US seem full of superlatives and astonishment.

I thought he was wonderful at Cheltenham.

[bluestateprommer]

Caught the noontime matinee today at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, kind of a more expensive version of a Cadogan Hall PCM and with two wildly disparate ensembles in one concert (as is often the case with SFCMF events). Interesting to see Juho Pohjonen use an iPad for his score, and Brett Dean occasionally took some glances at Pohjonen's score, it seemed. The Johannes String Quartet had kind of a "Dresden china", ultra-refined approach to the Mozart (not that there's anything wrong with that), with a twist in their seating arrangement, with the cello on the outside opposite the 1st violin. OTOH, in terms of 'long game' thinking, this made for quite the contrast with Bartok's Quartet No. 3, where the JSQ obviously cut loose more stylistically.

BTW, some might find this SFCMF concert tomorrow of amusement.

[Richard Barrett]

As a birthday treat for madame we went last week to the Aix-en-Provence Festival to see a new production of The Rake's Progress directed by Simon McBurney, which was quite brilliant in terms of singing and staging. I don't think I've ever seen an "updated" opera done so convincingly. The only weak link was the orchestra (de Paris) which got a bit ragged in some of the more counterintuitive rhythms, strangely. I guess this production will go to other houses also; I recommend it highly. And the work itself - one can imagine how its impact in 1951 might have been less than anticipated, given that Stravinsky was by that time behind musical fashions in a way he hadn't been previously, but now that those things don't matter any more 66 years later, the complexity and colours of it, and of course the perfect combination of music and libretto, are endlessly engaging.

[gurnemanz]

We had been to see the new Jez Butterworth play "The Ferryman" last Saturday afternoon and smartphoning around for something to do in the evening rather than go straight home we noticed that Louise Alder, who had been something of a hit at Cardiff Singer of the World was replacing Andrei Bondarenko at Wigmore Hall. At the very last moment he had cancelled due to 'travel problems'. Busy schedule for her - she had sung Marzelline at the Proms the previous evening. Plenty of last-minute seats available. A most satisfying and diverse programme with Hahn, Debussy, Liszt (Petrarch Sonnets), Strauss and Britten - powerful performances and a great stage presence, and beautifully accompanied Gary Matthewman. I especially enjoyed the Strauss.

[bluestateprommer]

Caught the FLUX Quartet's performance yesterday afternoon (by now) of Morton Feldman's String Quartet No. 2 at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. Contrary (happily) to the SFCMF's blurb that the work would go for "six plus continuous hours", the FLUX dispatched it in a mere 5 hours and 15 minutes. Seats were placed on the stage for those audience members brave enough to partake of 'theater in the round' concert seating. (No prizes for guessing where I sat.) On sheer technical and physical endurance grounds alone, it was an amazing achievement.

The 'happily' part in the last paragraph was because Santa Fe Opera was performing Rimsky-Korsakov's Le coq d'or the same evening (i.e. last night). The "early finish" of the Feldman allowed time to get a sandwich at the supermarket and then barrel up there for the opera, which was generally pretty well done, probably the only R-K opera that I'll ever see live.

[Bryn]

Caught the FLUX Quartet's performance yesterday afternoon (by now) of Morton Feldman's String Quartet No. 2 at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. Contrary (happily) to the SFCMF's blurb that the work would go for "six plus continuous hours", the FLUX dispatched it in a mere 5 hours and 15 minutes. Seats were placed on the stage for those audience members brave enough to partake of 'theater in the round' concert seating. (No prizes for guessing where I sat.) On sheer technical and physical endurance grounds alone, it was an amazing achievement. ...

Their Tate Tank performance last year took 5 hours, 32 minutes and 25 seconds. The programme note writer seems to have relied upon their Mode recording. They have performed it well over a dozen times since then, and seem to be getting quicker and quicker, though much must surely depend upon the acoustics of the venue.

[Bryn]

Eddie Prevost, John Edwards & NO Moore at iklectik last night. A fine pair of sets. I hope Giovanni La Rovere's multi-mic recording does not stay in the can too long. Meanwhile I have my own simple integral cardioid mic. recordings on Zoom H5 and Tascam DR-100MKIII to compare and contrast.