What was your last concert?

[vinteuil]

Some people do play Bach on the piano

... and I love many of their performances.



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[Bryn]

... and I love many of their performances.



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Friedrich Gulda and Peter Hill among my favourites.

[Richard Tarleton]

... and I love many of their performances.



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indeed. Likewise, I promise I have and adore harpsichord performances of Bach. My acquaintance with much of Bach's solo repertoire started on the wrong instrument (or at least wrong strings) - courtesy of Messrs Bream, Williams, Tortelier, Starker, Milstein, Brendel et al - but my tastes have evolved, esp. in the plucked and scraped departments, with the result I have an eclectic CD collection. Depends what mood I'm in. Sitting at an early age feet from Lina Lalandi dressed in a sheathlike dress (her), looking like the Oracle at Delphi, playing Bach on a clavicord in the Holywell Music Room, made a profound impression

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Alina Ibragimova & Cedric Tiberghien

Playing the three Brahms Violin Sonatas to a packed King's Hall in Ilkley. (With a Prencore* of Three Romances by Clara Schumann)

Stunning playing from both players - as near flawless as we have any right to expect: a fantastic evening.

(* - they played these "encore" pieces at the start of their recital, as a bonus to the advertised programme.)

[Zucchini]

That's welcome news fhg. We hear them in about 4wks time; 1 x Mozart, 1 x Beethoven, 2 x Brahms

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

That's welcome news fhg. We hear them in about 4wks time; 1 x Mozart, 1 x Beethoven, 2 x Brahms

Sounds a good programme - though after Wednesday I'd be loath to miss any of the Brahms Sonatas. Both Musicians at the top of their game, really getting to the heart, mind, soul, and muscle of this Music. One of the best concerts I've ever been to - hope the experience is as good for you.

[Bryn]

Igor Levit playing Rzewski: "Ages" (world premier), 3 Mendelssohn "Songs Without Words", and Mahler arr. Stevenston: Adagio from the 10th, at Wigmore Hall. This in celebration of Fred's 80th birthday today. I will comment further, later.

[HighlandDougie]

Alasdair Beatson (Piano), back in his home town of Perth, in an immaculately played and deeply felt (where appropriate*) recital of Beethoven (Bagatelles Op 33), Bartók (five pieces from Mikrokosmos), Debussy (Images, Book Two), Brahms (Intermezzi, Op 117), Satie (Embryons Déssechés) and Dohnanyi (Rhapsody in C major), with a Minuet and Trio by Beethoven as an encore.

* Hmm, 30 seconds of Satie is probably more than enough

[EdgeleyRob]

Well worth catching this afternoon's live BBCPO broadcast from Salford

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09z63nv

I was present but arrived late so had to sit in a row of chairs which had been placed in front of the main seating.
However this meant that I was sat literally within touching distance of the Piano during the DSCH Concerto,mind blowing doesn't even begin to do this performance justice

[Nick Armstrong]

Well worth catching this afternoon's live BBCPO broadcast from Salford

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09z63nv

I was present but arrived late so had to sit in a row of chairs which had been placed in front of the main seating.
However this meant that I was sat literally within touching distance of the Piano during the DSCH Concerto,mind blowing doesn't even begin to do this performance justice

Being a front row junkie at concerts, I envy you very much!

[HighlandDougie]

Stravinsky: Symphony in C/Tango; Debussy: Fantaisie for Piano and Orchestra; Shostakovich: Symphony No 6

Leif-Ove Andsnes/LPO/Vladimir Jurowski - RFH 18 April 2018

Not sure what any listeners to the Stravinsky Symphony on the radio thought but I was a bit taken aback by some pretty rough playing from the woodwind and the brass. Most definitely not up to LSO standard, I thought, but maybe that's just the LPO these days. But, there was, I think, a reason ... to which I will return. TOH, who was unfamiliar with the Tango was underwhelmed - and I've certainly heard tangier performances. But L-O A did the business with the Debussy (a work I greatly like but not exactly standard repertoire, even in this centenary year), as did the orchestra and VJ. I doubt I'll ever hear it better played. Is it because he looks like what I imagine a rather sober Norwegian chartered accountant might look like - Hugo Boss suit etc - that he isn't quite given his due as a virtuoso pianist? The Jorge Bolet de nos jours? Anyway, it was a treat, as was the encore - Stravinsky's Tango, "played as it ought to sound". He was cheerfully signing CDs at the interval, surrounded by a cluster of groupies - women of a certain age, mostly, then he (and I think Mrs Andsnes) came and sat through the second half. Which was terrific. Aha, I thought, now I know why the Stravinsky sounded so under-rehearsed as the orchestra had clearly been concentrating on the DSCH 6 (a VJ specialty) as the playing was as good as it is ever likely to get in this symphony. Like the Debussy, I doubt that I will ever hear it better played. A really enjoyable evening - and such a pleasure being on the Southbank in the RFH on a beautiful day, as opposed to the sepulchral gloom (and smelly gents) of the Barbican.

[EdgeleyRob]

Being a front row junkie at concerts, I envy you very much!

Me too,this was something else.
I was on the same level as the piano looking straight down the keyboard,I could touch the thing without leaving my seat.
To think that I was annoyed at arriving at the last minute.

[MrGongGong]

1st night of BEAST FEaST
A great start with multichannel pieces in the dome and a cracking new piece from Jonty Harrison

http://www.beast.bham.ac.uk/beast-feast-2018/concerts/

Lots more tomorrow and Saturday

[Richard Tarleton]

To Swansea last night, for a performance of Bruckner 7 in the fabulous acoustic of the Brangwyn Hall, Swansea's answer to the Musikverein. BBC NOW in top form under Joseph Swensen whom I had not seen before - outstanding solos and ensemble in all departments. If there was a problem, the trumpets, trombones and tuba let rip just a little too much in the codas of movements 1 and 4, rendering the Gothic fan-vaulting of the violins practically inaudible even though they were sawing away like there was no tomorrow. It reminded me of my very first Bruckner 7 in 1971 (Philharmonia/Groves, standing in for an ailing Klemperer), where as one critic put it the brass cut through the orchestral texture like field artillery. Still, it was superb playing. Hornspieler's favourite moment, where the horns come in after the Wagner tubas in the coda of the Adagio, was beautifully done - the horns and Wagner tubas on excellent form. The performance was being recorded for later broadcast on Radio 3, so I'll be interested to hear whether they do anything about the orchestral balance (there were enough microphones on the stage).

Before the interval, Tasmin Little knocked off the Bruch VC, beautifully - the programme tells me she plays a 1757 Guadagnini.

[HighlandDougie]

Good way to avoid the wedding nonsense is to be out of the country and to go to a concert, as in:

Yuliana Avdeeva (Piano)/Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra/Hans Graf in Mendelssohn (Die Schöne Melusina), Chopin (Piano Concerto No 2) and Brahms (Symphony No 3).

Stellar pianism (I thought, "Ah, Clara Haskil reborn"), excellent orchestra (certainly as good as the Hallé), lovely hall with excellent acoustics and an audience of rapt, respectful and mostly young Hong Kongsters. For once, I felt ancient. And not a hint of Hazza 'n Megzie.