What was your last concert?

[amateur51]

Yesterday lunchtime I went through snow & ice to my first Free-on-Friday lunchtime concert of 2013 at Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London. It takes a lot to come between me (61), my mate Sam (75) and a free concert (and a post-concert pint in the OTT surroundings of Wetherspoons at Baker St)

The programme was a tribute to the recently deceased Elliott Carter. Students from RAM performed three Carter pieces Au Quai, 90+ and Hiyoku

Au Quai is for the unusual pairing of viola and bassoon. The programme notes by Carter tell us that the title was suggested by Schoenberg's short story 'To the Wharfs' in which he describes the mounting anxiety of the members of a French fishing village as the boats and the sea-bound fishermen failed to appear aftera storm and several days' absence. When they were suddenly sighted all shouted 'to the wharfs, au quais, OK

http://www.myspace.com/londonsinfonietta/music/songs/elliot-carter-au-quai-48797061

90+ for piano was written in March 1994 to celebrate the 90th birthday of Carter's friend the Italian composer Goffredo Petrassi

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=elliott+carter+90%2B&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a

Hiyoku was written for the clarinettists Ayako and Charlie Neidlich whose performances were so outstanding that I [Carter] chose to write this piece in the fall of 2001 for them. I asked Ayako to suggest a title and she explained it: 'an old poetic word (for Hainku) meaning two wings, wqith the connotation of two birdsflying togerther in the wind. It also has the connotation of two people traveling through life together.'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHE-WgCHgDo

The rest of the concert was a performance of Mozart piano concerto no. 24 in C minor, K.491 by the Academy Concert Orchestra conducted from the piano by Pierre-Laurent Aimard.

As is so often the case when I listen to more familiar music after I have listened to intriguing but unfamiliar music, the Mozart came up 'as fresh as new paint. The orchestra was magnificent, vibrato applied on occasion rather than en bloc and the woodwind in particular were a complete joy. Aimard was a lively soloist and the whole thing rounded off a thrilling concert very well.

Then after much applause it was out into the icy blast to Baker Street's Wetherspoons where I had my first pint of Auld Lang Syne, 'A Scottish Ale' said the label. It slipped down very easily & I tottered home without slipping and fell into a three-hour snoozle, musing on how fortunate I am to be able to hear such wonderful familiar and less familar music played with such passion and expertise ... and it was free

[teamsaint]

Yesterday lunchtime I went through snow & ice to my first Free-on-Friday lunchtime concert of 2013 at Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London. It takes a lot to come between me (61), my mate Sam (75) and a free concert (and a post-concert pint in the OTT surroundings of Wetherspoons at Baker St)

The programme was a tribute to the recently deceased Elliott Carter. Students from RAM performed three Carter pieces Au Quai, 90+ and Hiyoku

Au Quai is for the unusual pairing of viola and bassoon. The programme notes by Carter tell us that the title was suggested by Schoenberg's short story 'To the Wharfs' in which he describes the mounting anxiety of the members of a French fishing village as the boats and the sea-bound fishermen failed to appear aftera storm and several days' absence. When they were suddenly sighted all shouted 'to the wharfs, au quais, OK

http://www.myspace.com/londonsinfonietta/music/songs/elliot-carter-au-quai-48797061

90+ for piano was written in March 1994 to celebrate the 90th birthday of Carter's friend the Italian composer Goffredo Petrassi

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=elliott+carter+90%2B&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a

Hiyoku was written for the clarinettists Ayako and Charlie Neidlich whose performances were so outstanding that I [Carter] chose to write this piece in the fall of 2001 for them. I asked Ayako to suggest a title and she explained it: 'an old poetic word (for Hainku) meaning two wings, wqith the connotation of two birdsflying togerther in the wind. It also has the connotation of two people traveling through life together.'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHE-WgCHgDo

The rest of the concert was a performance of Mozart piano concerto no. 24 in C minor, K.491 by the Academy Concert Orchestra conducted from the piano by Pierre-Laurent Aimard.

As is so often the case when I listen to more familiar music after I have listened to intriguing but unfamiliar music, the Mozart came up 'as fresh as new paint. The orchestra was magnificent, vibrato applied on occasion rather than en bloc and the woodwind in particular were a complete joy. Aimard was a lively soloist and the whole thing rounded off a thrilling concert very well.

Then after much applause it was out into the icy blast to Baker Street's Wetherspoons where I had my first pint of Auld Lang Syne, 'A Scottish Ale' said the label. It slipped down very easily & I tottered home without slipping and fell into a three-hour snoozle, musing on how fortunate I am to be able to hear such wonderful familiar and less familar music played with such passion and expertise ... and it was free

Sounds like a very good afternoon, Ams....and described by you, almost like really being there !!

I occasionally get pop into Southampton Uni for their Monday Lunchtime free concerts. These are usually by young professionals, and well worth the effort. If you are crafty, you get get free parking too !!

[Nick Armstrong]

how fortunate I am to be able to hear such wonderful familiar and less familar music played with such passion and expertise ... and it was free

Cor, Ammy!! Flippin' fantastic!

Or was it ....?

[clive heath]

Philharmonia, John Wilson, RFH, 3 pm, 20/1/13 .

I have always felt that the slippery slidy harmonic interweaving of chords that distinguish Delius' compositional style is ill served by the performances I've heard (including an LP from Vernon Handley) feeling that a taut, rhythmically precise approach, would be preferable. Wonder of wonders, that is what John Wilson and the Philharmonia, resplendent in tails and white ties, served up in this concert. The piece was " On hearing the first cuckoo in spring", as hackneyed a piece as you could ever find in a matinee programme. It was revealed (with the help of minimum vibrato and delicately sprung rhythms) as an elegant slow waltz perhaps accompanying ladies in crinolines and parasols on a country house lawn.
The programme contained two Overtures, "Portsmouth Point" (Walton) to begin and "In the South" (Elgar) to end both given exuberant performances. VW's "Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis" obviously less exuberant! The concertante group were placed where the trombones and tuba would normally be and the group's single double bass in the rear corner of the stage was effectively amplified by its position giving their contribution a very sonorous quality at times, almost like an organ.
John Ireland's Piano Concerto was the reason I had booked tickets for this concert and I thoroughly enjoyed the performance having got to know the piece through Eileen Joyce's recording which I have on 78s. Leon McCawley was the soloist. One of the first movement themes which recurs in later movements is still buzzing around in my minds ear, a veritable ear-worm.

A few days earlier, "Kiss me Kate" at the Old Vic. Wonderful dancing, super singers, dynamically staged and performed. A delight!!! ... and some wry laughter from the audience at the opening song of the second half .... "Too Darn Hot" !!

[Mandryka]

This evening: the European Chamber Orchestra, at Derby Assembly Rooms.

This was the first time I had been to this venue since 1990(!). I'd forgotten what it looked like inside. John Lill was the soloist in a Mozart Piano Concerto (I forget which number, as I no longer bother buying programmes). He gave a pre-concert talk, which I attended and impressed me with his opinionated eloquence and contentious views (well, maybe not contentious to this audience - when he said that '90% of pop music consists of banging on a drum and screaming for sex', few of those assembled disagreed with him).

The band (19 members in all) stood up to play, which I found a bit off-putting (though not sure why). The other items were Grieg's Holberg Suite, Elgar's and Tchaikovsky's Elegies and Haydn's Maria Theresa symphony.

[Ferretfancy]

A piano recital by Freddy Kempf at the Queen Elizabeth Hall last night, which proved to be a real disappointment to me, although the audience seemed to enjoy it.

For a start, the piano was a Yamaha, and sounded very clangy and metallic, I believe that Freddy Kempf has some sort of sponsorship deal with them. Obviously the instrument suits his approach in performance.He started with Beethoven's Les Adieux, followed by Liszt's paraphrase on the Miserere from Il Trovatore and two of Chopin's Ballades. After the interval we had Schumann's Kreisleriana.

Like many younger pianists, Kempf seems to think that speed equals excitement and tension and that nothing must be heard below mezzo forte. The finale of the Beethoven was taken at an impossibly hectic pace, losing all detail in the process, and the same went for the contrasts in Kreisleriana, where the poetic passages seemed completely detached from the rapid ones. I've endured evenings like this with Kissin in the past, but even if you don't always like what you hear, Kissin's technique can carry the day.
Not so with Kempf, although there's no doubting his skill, much of his rapid playing simply sounds flurried and ugly.

There were a couple of encores which were cheered by some. I had the feeling that the audience were admiring Doctor Johnson's dog.

[clive heath]

For a more considered and eloquent review of the John Wilson, Philharmonia concert of entry #409 :

http://www.classicalsource.com/db_control/db_concert_review.php?id=10766

and by the way, "Richard III", translated from the Globe to the Apollo and played with an all-male cast, was as amazing as "Twelfth Night" with which it is paired. The audience were rather subdued "extras/citizens" !! but this didn't detract from Mark Ryland's take on the troubled/troubling King playing him as comic, insouciant, devious by turns and never obviously manly. Perhaps because of this it was more than usually noticeable how the female characters are forthright in their dealings with the king compared to the fearfulness of most of the men.

[Ferretfancy]

A splendid concert at the Festival Hall last night with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Philharmonia. This was the first of four South Bank concerts celebrating the Lutoslawski centenary.The concert opened with his Music Funebre of 1958 with wonderful textures from the large body of strings. Next came the 1988 Piano Concerto, played by its dedicatee Krystian Zimerman. I knew the Music Funebre, but the concerto was new to me, what an astonishing work! The audience was totally silent

After the interval came a pretty stunning performance of the complete Daphnis et Chloe. Perhaps the rapid passages were a little too fast to my taste, but it was very exciting.
As so often with players in this work, Samuel Coles the first flute was superb, as were Philharmonia Voices, about sixty of them.

I've booked for other concerts in this series, it has been a great start to the celebration of Lutoslawski. Without wishing to criticise the emphasis on Britten, I can't help feeling that he needs less of a boost compared to his brilliant Polish contemporary.

[gurnemanz]

A splendid concert at the Festival Hall last night with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Philharmonia. This was the first of four South Bank concerts celebrating the Lutoslawski centenary.The concert opened with his Music Funebre of 1958 with wonderful textures from the large body of strings. Next came the 1988 Piano Concerto, played by its dedicatee Krystian Zimerman. I knew the Music Funebre, but the concerto was new to me, what an astonishing work! The audience was totally silent

After the interval came a pretty stunning performance of the complete Daphnis et Chloe. Perhaps the rapid passages were a little too fast to my taste, but it was very exciting.
As so often with players in this work, Samuel Coles the first flute was superb, as were Philharmonia Voices, about sixty of them.

I've booked for other concerts in this series, it has been a great start to the celebration of Lutoslawski. Without wishing to criticise the emphasis on Britten, I can't help feeling that he needs less of a boost compared to his brilliant Polish contemporary.

Re centenaries, we were at the Wiltshire Music Centre last night for a Dowland celebration with counter-tenor Robin Blaze and the Theatre of the Ayre. A very enjoyable evening and we booked for the upcoming concert with the Royal String Quartet from Poland, which includes the Lutoslawski Quartet. I do not know the work but it will be quite fitting to hear it for the first time played by a group of his fellow Poles.

[Mahler's3rd]

Beethoven 4, 5 & 6 Bristol Ensemble Colston Hall, Bristol last Sunday

[MrGongGong]

This afternoon at Sheffield University in this event

http://music.dept.shef.ac.uk/ocs/index.php/t2td/t2td2013

next gig starts at 7
brilliant stuff in wonderful surroundings ...........

[Ferretfancy]

Sir Mark Elder conducted the Halle at the RFH tonight, the first time they've played there in more than twenty years. The programme was part of The Rest is Noise series on the South Bank.
The orchestra did more than justice to Vaughan Williams's London Symphony, with superb string playing and splendid horns.

The platform layout was interesting, with divided firsts and seconds, nine basses across the back of the platform, tymps on the right rear and percussion next to them along the side wall. This meant that the bass drum was right at the front near the auditorium doors.

The result was a beautifully balanced warm sound. I was in the same seat that I had for the Lutoslwaski concert last week, and this was a good position, but tonight was better What a haunting symphony this is! I must have heard it for the first time nearly sixty years ago, but it never loses its power.

In the second half the second violins and violas changed places, so that the stark viola interjections in Janacek's Taras Bulba really made their mark. This was after Christine Rice gave us a lovely performance of Ravel's Sheherezade

Considering how much the Halle have achieved in recent years in Manchester, I was a bit disappointed to see so many empty seats at what was a superb evening.

[Roehre]

Tonhalle Orchester Zürich - Bernhard Haitink
Brahms: Piano concerto no.1 / Andras Schiff
Beethoven: Symphony 7
January 11th 2013

[Black Swan]

Opera North
La Clemenza de Tito

Still not sure if I enjoyed it or not. The opera doesn't really suit itself to modern staging. Singing was ok but not earth shaking.

[Roehre]

.... The opera doesn't really suit itself to modern staging. .....

The main reason I avoid opera live and most of the DVD versions. I don't like to be negatively surprised by stagings - and thereby negatively affecting or straightforwardly destroying my enjoyment.
My spare time is too precious for this kind of nonsense, and I haven't got an abundance of money to be spilt either.