What was your last concert?

[Barbirollians]

Royal Northern Sinfonia / Paul McCreesh
Sheffield City Hall 12.10.17

Mozart : Ballet Music from Idomeneo
Haydn : Cello Concerto in C ( Guy Johnston )
Mendelssohn : Symphony No 3

Disappointing turnout at SCH but I am afraid Thursday concerts need rather more obvious repertoire and orchestras to pack them in - we had RLPO/Petrenko all Sibelius the other year and the Warsaw Philharmonic last year with Chloe Hanslip in the Beethoven Concerto .

Well more fool those who stayed away . This was a cracking concert - why the Ballet Music is not played more heavens knows it is delightful stuff . Guy Johnston played a straight bat in the concerto with the exception of those quirky Britten cadenzas and then we got a charming performance of Faure's Elegie as an encore .

The highlight was the Scottish - with the RNS' s chamber string section the textures were wonderful and McCreesh conducted with terrific zip yet much charm and tenderness in the Adagio . I understand Gateshead got the Lobgesang which I should have loved to hear this combination tackle.

[gurnemanz]

Mrs. PG and I were at the RSNO's opening concert of the 17/18 season at the Usher Hall on Friday.

The programme consisted of a newly composed work that was completely unmemorable but was mercifully brief. The rest of the concert consisted of the Elgar violin concerto with Nicola Benedetti as soloist and Stravinsky's Rite of Spring.

The Elgar was very good although I felt the soloist was just trying a wee bit too hard. Unsurprising really since I understood this was the first time she had played it publicly and it's such a huge work. She certainly played the notes wonderfully well but I'd like to hear her play it again once she's more 'inside' the piece. I don't think she was particularly helped by the conducting by the RSNO's head guy, Peter Oundjian which, imho, was functional rather than inspiring.


*** Just realised that the Glasgow repeat of this concert is being broadcast on Monday nite on Radio3 at 19.30.

So, judge for yourself!

PS We saw Nicola B do the Elgar a few weeks ago in Bath coupled with Enigma (done in first half). The conductor introduced it as her first public performance. An enjoyable and committed performance of a work I was hearing for the first time live.

[Barbirollians]

I am looking forward to Vilde Frang playing it with the CBSO and Mirga in November.

[LMcD]

This afternoon at a local church:
Rossini String Sonata No. 1
Shostakovitch String Quartet No. 3
Dvorak String Quintet Op. 72
(Quartetto Familia /Music in Felixstowe)

[pastoralguy]

PS We saw Nicola B do the Elgar a few weeks ago in Bath coupled with Enigma (done in first half). The conductor introduced it as her first public performance. An enjoyable and committed performance of a work I was hearing for the first time live.

Many thanks for that, gurnemanz. What was your impression of her performance?

[Conchis]

Royal Northern Sinfonia / Paul McCreesh
Sheffield City Hall 12.10.17

Mozart : Ballet Music from Idomeneo
Haydn : Cello Concerto in C ( Guy Johnston )
Mendelssohn : Symphony No 3

Disappointing turnout at SCH but I am afraid Thursday concerts need rather more obvious repertoire and orchestras to pack them in - we had RLPO/Petrenko all Sibelius the other year and the Warsaw Philharmonic last year with Chloe Hanslip in the Beethoven Concerto .

Well more fool those who stayed away . This was a cracking concert - why the Ballet Music is not played more heavens knows it is delightful stuff . Guy Johnston played a straight bat in the concerto with the exception of those quirky Britten cadenzas and then we got a charming performance of Faure's Elegie as an encore .

The highlight was the Scottish - with the RNS' s chamber string section the textures were wonderful and McCreesh conducted with terrific zip yet much charm and tenderness in the Adagio . I understand Gateshead got the Lobgesang which I should have loved to hear this combination tackle.

I've never been to SCH - largely because the repertoire tends to be so conservaitive.

Down the road in Nottingham, things are a bit more varied - we get Mahler and Shostakovich, as well as some new works.

[Ferretfancy]

At the Barbican last night for Bruckner 7 preceded by the Beethoven Triple concerto. This was a visit by the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra with the wonderful Herbert Blomstedt conducting.

The soloists in the Beethoven were Leonidas Kavakos, Gautier Capucon and Kirill Gernstein. I have a soft spot for this piece, although I know it's not considered one of his best, but played as well as it was last night, any reservations disappear.Capucon is a very characterful cellist and it was a delight to observe his platform rapport with Kavakos's violin. Lovely sound from the orchestra.

After the interval came a magnificent performance of Bruckner's 7th with that warm Gewandhaus sound. The ninety year old Blomstedt was in complete control, conducting without baton or score. Only a slight shakiness walking on and off the platform let us see his age.

This has to be for me the first highlight of the winter season.

[P. G. Tipps]

At the Barbican last night for Bruckner 7 preceded by the Beethoven Triple concerto. This was a visit by the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra with the wonderful Herbert Blomstedt conducting.

The soloists in the Beethoven were Leonidas Kavakos, Gautier Capucon and Kirill Gernstein. I have a soft spot for this piece, although I know it's not considered one of his best, but played as well as it was last night, any reservations disappear.Capucon is a very characterful cellist and it was a delight to observe his platform rapport with Kavakos's violin. Lovely sound from the orchestra.

After the interval came a magnificent performance of Bruckner's 7th with that warm Gewandhaus sound. The ninety year old Blomstedt was in complete control, conducting without baton or score. Only a slight shakiness walking on and off the platform let us see his age.

This has to be for me the first highlight of the winter season.

Needless to say, I was present for this one as well. As far as I'm aware I've never seen Blomstedt conduct Bruckner in live concert before. The Beethoven never at all ... it was a marvellous performance from all three soloists and so refreshing not to be served up the usual Mozart piano concerto!

My initial impression was to smile at the programme notes describing the 90-year-old conductor as 'still sprightly', and, as Ferret says his approach to the podium betrayed the simple reality of his years.

However, once there the conductor displayed quite astonishing physical vigour and the mental application required for the towering symphony, and the Leipzig responded accordingly.

I was initially disappointed to see no percussionists on the platform for the famous climax in the Adagio. So many performances ... mostly notably including accounts by Wand ... have left me with the feeling that cymbals and triangle do indeed add something extra to the great moment. Not here ...the timpanist took good care of that! For probably the first time ever I began to believe there is absolutely no need to include percussion at this point.

Super stuff, Herbie ... you may even have converted me!

[Nick Armstrong]

Unforgettable recital last night in Cambridge by one of the new countertenors in King's Choir, with one of the choir's tenors in the Britten Canticle, and organ scholar Henry Websdale accompanying.

Joe Zubier and James Micklethwaite each have the quality of voice that can bring tears to the eyes (in a good way!) singing just one note. The Howells King David and Britten's Abraham and Isaac in particular were pretty overwhelming.

Watch out for the names in future....


Purcell: Lord, what is man?
Purcell (keyboard realisation by Benjamin Britten): Job's Curse
Howells: Four Songs, Op. 22

1. There was a Maiden
2. A Madrigal
3. The Widow Bird
4. Girl's Song

Howells: O, my deir hert
Howells: King David
Britten: Canticle II - Abraham and Isaac
---------

Joseph Zubier
Countertenor

James Micklethwaite
Tenor

Henry Websdale
Piano

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

A Tale of Two Pianists

Frederick-Francois GUY: King's Hall, Ilkley, Weds 11/10/17

I suppose Guy's performances might charitably be described as "heartfelt" - I find this sort of playing incredibly dull and far too slow. Brahms' Third Sonata should take about 35 minutes maximum (Katchen, for example, takes 32min 27") - Guy took 46 to drudge his way around the notes. No sense of the Music's different characterisations, no energy in the Allegro Energico Scherzo, lame Andantes, no liveliness in the outer movements (he seems to think that both Allegro maestoso and Allegro moderato mean "without any sense of Allegro"). The lack of energy was also a feature of the two Beethoven Sonatas before the interval - the Moonlight and the Pathetique - whose presence possibly accounted for the presence of a young (12-ish) lad ("You know the Moonlight Sonata - let's go and hear someone play it in a concert. You might like it!") who squirmed in paroxysms of boredom throughout the Brahms. I shared his agony. He will go through life convinced that "Classical" Music concerts in general - and the Music of Brahms in particular - are tedious tests of endurance that he has no intention of subjecting himself to ever again.


Tamila SALIMDJANOVA: The Venue, Leeds College of Music, Weds 25/19/17

Wow!

The four Schubert Impromptus D899 were pretty impressive - even if the pianist rather indulged in some "I raise my eyes to the ceiling, thus" irritating performance mannerisms; AND even if these works defeat the noisy limitations of a Steinway Grand right from the very opening octave Gs; AND even with the twit sitting behind me tapping onto her raincoat a rhythm that very nearly but not quite entirely failed to match those of the performer's!

But the Liszt B minor Sonata was just extraordinarily fine. This is one of the few works for piano that I really wish that I could play - and this was the third time that I've heard it performed Live. Ben Frith in t'Wigmore Hall in the early '80s was powerful and eloquently lyrical; Anthony Peebles in the Eastbourne Arts Centre in the mid-'90s a ferocity and fire that left the instrument quivering onstage for about seven hours after its ordeal had finished. Ms Salimdjanova was phenomenal in her own terms - gone the performance mannerisms of the Schubert, her concentration completely focussed on the keyboard. The virtuosity of her playing itself was mind-boggling - watching the blur of her arms and hands, it was eye-defying, too - but this was no mere "speed typing" exercise: the themes were superbly characterised, the voices in the fugue clearly delineated; the voicing of chords and balance of melody and accompaniment - all exemplary. A couple of moments when I would have preferred some of Frith's easing of tempo in some of the lyrical moments (allowing some "air" into the Music, letting it take a breath) aside, this was how I like to hear Live performances - giving the impression that the player is moving heaven and earth to give the audience everything that the Music has to offer. She played the whole programme from memory (and I have a feeling that she had a memory slip, forgetting the chord sequence somewhere between bars 703-709 - but if she did, she "improvised" a pretty impressive substitution!) but again, I did not sense any suggestion that this was "showing off" - rather, a way of getting more fully "inside" the Music in order to present it as completely as she could to the listeners.

A lunchtime "freebie" - I suspect that it won't be very long before I have to cough up considerable sums of cash in order to hear this pianist. It'll be worth every penny - a superb artist.

[Ferretfancy]

There was a one off showing of Eisenstein's October at the Barbican last night, with the LSO playing Meisel's original score from 1928. The film has been restored, and some material reinstated where possible. This film has suffered numerous cuts in the past, including alterations demanded by Stalin!

The presentation last night was excellent, on a sizeable screen and the full orchestra was conducted by Frank Strobel. Some of the famous sequences such as the horse suspended on the rising bridge, or the storming of the Winter Palace were quite stunning. Of course, the latter did not actually happen. The real thing was quite a tame affair, but what propaganda!

I first saw October at the old National Film theatre in about 1958, and as it had been banned for public showing in Britain on its first appearance this was quite a revival. The only previous showing in 1928 was for members only at the London Film Society, and there seemed to me to be quite a few members showing up at the NFT in 1958. As Jimmy Edwards once remarked "All long hair and beards, and the men are just as bad!" I remember lots of cloth caps and sandals with socks.

Of course, the NFT showing was given with piano accompaniment, probably by Ena Baga or Arthur Dulay. Seeing the film last night with the LSO was a very impressive experience.

What was the music like? Well, it wasn't Shostakovich, but it was rousing and suited the action well.

[Stanfordian]

On Wednesday at a Liverpool Phil concert I heard the Sibelius concerto played by Henning Kraggerud. I've heard this concerto played many times in concert, by big names too, and I have been usually left feeling disappointed. No problems feeling the icy chill here ! This performance from Kraggerud was the finest I've heard. It was stunning!

[DublinJimbo]

Stanford: Irish Rhapsody no. 1 op. 78
Saint-Saëns: Cello Concerto no. 1 in A minor op. 33*
Suk: Symphony no. 2 in C minor op. 27 ('Asrael')

Richard Harwood*, National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland / Case Scaglione

Just back from this wonderful concert in the National Concert Hall in Dublin. I went for the Suk (first time hearing it live), which was the undoubted highlight, but thoroughly enjoyed the whole programme. The conductor was unknown to me but I'd be happy to see him on the podium again. The orchestra certainly took to him and played magnificently throughout. Richard Harwood was excellent in the Saint-Saëns and came across as a pleasant person as well as a fine artist. He treated us to an encore of the first movement from Bach's first cello suite.

What a magnificent work the Suk is! I have several recordings (Libor Pešek with the RLPO still remains my favourite after 25 years), but no recording can compare with the experience of hearing it live, especially when performed with such passionate commitment as it was tonight. The melting conclusion of the work when it achieves C major after all the previous tumult was especially wonderful. All in all, a great night.

[ostuni]

A wonderful performance, this afternoon in Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, of Beethoven's Leonore, with René Jacobs directing the Freiburger Barockorchester, and Marlis Petersen outstanding in the title role. I have to say that I was a bit doubtful before hearing it: I went partly to see a good friend who was singing in the chorus (the ever-excellent Zürcher Sing-Akademie). But I found the performance totally convincing - and there was some spectacularly good playing from the band. Next week"s Paris performance is being recorded for release: highly recommended.

[Bryn]

Last night it was off to the Performance Space at City University for "American Songbook", a concert by Lucy Goddard (mezzo soprano) and Siwan Rhys (piano). Included were the first UK performances of three songs by Morton Feldman. I was glad to have the opportunity to hear them but I found the considerable degree or vibrato used employed by Lucy Goddard quite unidiomatic, especially in the works by Cage and Feldman. Whether Michael Finnissy is happy with the degree of wobbling I do not know. Otherwise the concert was well constructed, presented and performed. There was a hint that the duo might record the Feldman songs.