Phew, that was quite a sing. Two hours with 15-min interval. The Giles Swayne African-influenced Magnificat 1 (on its third outing here) was particularly demanding in strung-our concert position.
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Without a doubt cloughie, a class actOriginally posted by cloughie View Post“Music is the best means we have of digesting time." — Igor StravinskyComment
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Gabriel Feltz, chief conductor of the Dortmund and Belgrade Philharmonics, hatched a fairly crazy plan in 2020, to perform all the Beethoven symphonies in one day, with the Belgrade orchestra playing 3, 4, 7 and 8, the Dortmunders 1, 2, 5 and 6, and both orchestras merging for 9. After the obvious postponements, it finally happened in Novi Sad last Sunday. The first eight were played in a concert hall and the last outdoors on a specially constructed stage. I heard 5, 6 and 9. I don't particularly want to comment on the performances, except to say that the way Feltz balances wind and strings and his emphasis on precision of phrasing, particularly at the ends of phrases, seemed to me an intelligent and sensitive way to acknowledge the lessons from HIPP approaches. The most memorable moment for me was the third movement of no.9, which, despite the suboptimal circumstances, I found very deeply moving in a way that only Beethoven can bring about if one is receptive to it.
Orchestra members were joking that the next one-day symphonic marathon ought to be Mahler or Haydn.Comment
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Maybe it should be Hovhaness - or Bourgeois - or even Segerstam...(!)...except that it would be impossible to cram the entire symphonic output of any of these into a mere day...Originally posted by RichardB View PostComment
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Not a concert , but La Boheme at the ROH last night.
Being a opera numpty, I can’t tell you much, other than it all looked and sounded good to me, and the street scene sets were gorgeous.
There was a full house pretty much.I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own.
I am not a number, I am a free man.Comment
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Just got back to my hostel in Oxford, after seeing Jonathan Powell play all of Scriabin's piano sonatas (and three encores, a prelude, Album Leaf and the Poem Langueur). As people know, the last five sonatas are among my favourite music out of anything, and Jonathan didn't disappoint! Overall, and I don't think I'm projecting owing to the fact that he performed it all from memory, but in general I found it to be very playful and improvisational, spontaneous and really beautiful. Highlights for me were numbers 8 and 9, the latter was especially exciting and inexorable, as well as suitably sensuous and caressing when necessary! All tempos were good. Superb music making, and nice to briefly meet him after, shake his hand and wish him a happy birthday.Comment
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Another piano recital this time in Ipswich. Steven Osborne on superb form playing Debussy Pour le Piano, Berceuse Heroique and the recently (relatively) discovered 'alternative' 11th study as well as a selection of six of the Studies with D959 in the second half, all topped off with a lovely Keith Jarrett inspired encore. I've never heard a better piano recital and it wasn't played on a Steinway D but a smaller boudoir sized instrumentComment
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Seems he also, somewhat later, played Vers la Flamme! By which time I had left.Originally posted by Joseph K View Post
Oh well, I'll have to make do with a video on Facebook...
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Glad you enjoyed the concert, it was clearly something close to your heart, and rather a special night.Originally posted by Joseph K View Post
I keep dipping into the sonatas, have followed a couple on youtube with scores. I think I need quite a bit more immersion, and to do some more score following. Whatever, your enthusiasm for the music is inspiring.I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own.
I am not a number, I am a free man.Comment
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Earlier this week, saw this recital at Juilliard:
The obvious novelty in the program was the String Quartet No. 4 of Mieczysław Weinberg, which I'd never heard before in any format, and was my first-ever live experience of any chamber music by Weinberg. The kids did a very fine job (as did all 3 student ensembles in each of their works), but hearing MW's SQ #4 kind of confirmed my earlier general impression of hearing much of Weinberg's music, namely passages of interest that didn't necessarily add up to a total experience for me. But the chances to hear any of Weinberg's music are exceedingly rare, so I wasn't going to miss this chance.
Of slight amusement was to read this approximation of the concert's running time:
The Juilliard staff miscalculated by only about 85%"Running time: approximately one hour, without an intermission"
. Granted, for the first two works, students from each quartet gave a brief introduction, which added just a bit to the overall running time. But the powers-that-be could easily have put in a 10-minute pause after the Weinberg to allow folks to stretch, use the facilities, and such. All very first-world concerns, of course. It was what it was, and was well worth the time.
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What phenomenal value this was with a wildcard in the second row of the circle! I can’t claim to be familiar enough with Shostakovich to comment authoritatively but I was, well, blown away. Other posters who are aficionados will be able to comment. The premiere in the first half of a work by Louise Drewett was I thought deeply engaging and also quite deceptive. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Alice Sara Ott in the Ravel was incredible. Ferociously detailed whilst remaining nimble and fluid. Loved it.
Is there a thread for commenting on facilities at venues? The Barbican is just atrocious. It’s beyond a joke that 40 years after opening the same things are still true in a vastly different world.
Which is not to detract from the splendid concert I have just been privileged to attend.Comment
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On Saturday night I went to a a superb concert performed by the Scarborough Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Shaun Matthew. I wouldn’t normally mention a concert with a largely amateur orchestra, but this was quite sensational.
R-K: Rhapsody Espagnol
Aritiunian: Trumpet Concerto (soloist Richard Wood)
Tchaikovsky: Symphony no. 6
The soloist was a local man, with a fine professional pedigree.
No Proms-type irritation of clapping at the end of the 3rd movement either.
The firstComment
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