What was your last concert?

[amateur51]

Capriccio at ROH. Yes, it was a concert, with the orchestra on stage. Great cast, strange work, but very enjoyable and I'm glad to have heard it for the first time after all these years. We were in London for the weekend and the other performance we took in could hardly have been more contrasting: The Night Alive – Dublin low life at Donmar Warehouse with Ciarán Hinds, also well worth it.

Gosh he's slipped off my theatrical radar - a fine actor. I shall investigate further - many thanks for the alert, gurney

[clive heath]

..well it was a Gig really, at the Bedford Arms, Balham for my niece, Jem Cooke, launching her third CD and joined in one song by a member of "Naturally 7" with which group she has toured Germany recently.

Naturally 7 are giving next Monday's Late Night Prom,

"Fresh from their residency at the O2, the inimitable vocalists of Naturally 7 build on the gospel legacy in a Late Night Prom of a cappella soul with a hip hop tang."

Jem has a big following at the Bedford where she has played quite a few times and far be it from me to go Gaga over her singing as I'm obviously biassed but you could do worse than give the tracks on her site a hearing, I'm fond of "Stranger Things" which she sang last night (with its echoes of " Anyone who had a Heart")

http://www.jemcooke.com/bio.php

[Richard Tarleton]

Just back from another Fishguard Festival gig, the Dante Quartet playing Haydn Op 50 no 5, Ravel and Debussy in the ballroom of a Pembrokeshire hotel. Lovely playing, and only the minimum rattling of cutlery in the distance. An F major first half, but very different sound worlds.

First time I've seen/heard them. Different violist to the one currently on their website, Rachel Roberts, and as I was too mean to buy the whole Festival programme book for just 2 concerts I'm afraid I don't know her name. I only realised later that of course I recognised Krysia Osostowicz from my Domus CDs.

[MrGongGong]

I've just heard the first half of Kissin playing Haydn and Beethoven in a big tent on the edge of a mountain
not my usual gig BUT extraordinary playing and he was a bit startled at the end of each piece as if he had forgotten we were there !

Sadly having to work now so missing the rest

[amateur51]

I've just heard the first half of Kissin playing Haydn and Beethoven in a big tent on the edge of a mountain
not my usual gig BUT extraordinary playing and he was a bit startled at the end of each piece as if he had forgotten we were there !

Sadly having to work now so missing the rest

A lovely description MrGG - is he showing any signs of a bald spot yet?

[teamsaint]

Managed to find some music on a quick jaunt to Bruges this week.

Organ recital, (not really my thing) by Eugeniusz Wawrzyniak, who is the organist Notre Dame Charleroi, I think.

Interesting , and reasonably varied programme at the sansalvatorskaathedral. I would be interested to hear what board members might know of the organ there. Sounded decent to me, but i am no kind of an expert.

Programme included

Premier Suite in E . Borowski. A really good show opener, I thoroughly recommend this.

Sonata No2 .Mendelssohn. Never really got the hang of these, yet, but will give this one another spin now I have heard it live.

Prelude and Fugue plus Variation, by Local boy Cesar Franck. Good stuff.
Couple of transcriptions of bits of Tchaik. Hmmmmmm

Capriccio Op16 by Surzynski. Nice

Bit of early Szymanowski, an Etude, OP4 no 3.

A toccata and Fugue/Bolero by Sawa, of which the Bolero was the longest and best section.

Finally a march on a theme of Handel by Guilmant.


A really enjoyable hour, and Mrs TS agreed. She's not usually a big fan of this kind of music, so he must have been doing something right !!

[amateur51]

Managed to find some music on a quick jaunt to Bruges this week.

Organ recital, (not really my thing) by Eugeniusz Wawrzyniak, who is the organist Notre Dame Charleroi, I think.

Interesting , and reasonably varied programme at the sansalvatorskaathedral. I would be interested to hear what board members might know of the organ there. Sounded decent to me, but i am no kind of an expert.

Programme included

Premier Suite in E . Borowski. A really good show opener, I thoroughly recommend this.

Sonata No2 .Mendelssohn. Never really got the hang of these, yet, but will give this one another spin now I have heard it live.

Prelude and Fugue plus Variation, by Local boy Cesar Franck. Good stuff.
Couple of transcriptions of bits of Tchaik. Hmmmmmm

Capriccio Op16 by Surzynski. Nice

Bit of early Szymanowski, an Etude, OP4 no 3.

A toccata and Fugue/Bolero by Sawa, of which the Bolero was the longest and best section.

Finally a march on a theme of Handel by Guilmant.


A really enjoyable hour, and Mrs TS agreed. She's not usually a big fan of this kind of music, so he must have been doing something right !!

Sounds to have been an hour well spent ts - I know very little about organ music except I often enjoy it when I encounter it. Your holiday sounds full of adventure - keep on keeping on, I say

[bluestateprommer]

well, in this case, my last several concerts, as I'm in Santa Fe, New Mexico currently, my last full day here, and I've caught 4 concerts and 1 opera in the last 2 days. 3 concerts at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. with one more coming to night:

Thursday afternoon: Leclair duo for 2 violins, DSCH String Quartet No. 9, LvB op. 16 quintet for piano and winds
Thursday night: EvD Piano Quintet No. 2, Schulhoff Sextex, Felix Mendelssohn's String Quartet No. 6
Friday night: String Quartets by Conlon Nancarrow, 3 young composers, and Marc Neikrug (can edit to give the young folks' names later. In a nice gesture, as Neikrug's work was the last, when it came time for the composer to take a bow, he actually invited the 3 young composers back on stage for a last collective bow )

This afternoon to come: http://www.sfcmf.org/concert/bach-pl...-time-of-goya/

Thursday night: Santa Fe Desert Chorale, an all American choral program, with religious hymnal and spiritual selections dominating, and not much "classical"/concert hall selections as such - good concert, but not quite my cup of Southwestern-flavored tea

Last night @ Santa Fe Opera: La donna del lago, with Joyce DiDonato in the lead, and Lawrence Brownlee as the "mysterious stranger"/suitor. Generally good, if rather an endurance test, with the first part going 95 minutes and 70 or so after intermission. Good singing, although the orchestra seemed strangely muted and almost 'desiccated', if that makes sense. But then the temperature dropped considerably in the evening, to around 60 oF (not quite 16 oC), which a friend in the orchestra remarked wreaks havoc with tuning, as strings tend to go sharp in such cold, while the brass and winds tend to shade flat.

The world premiere performance of the new opera about Oscar Wilde, music by Theodore Morrison and libretto by Morrison and John Cox, simply titled Oscar, is tonight. My source tells me the music is really good. I don't have a ticket yet, but we'll see.

[pastoralguy]

Just back from another Fishguard Festival gig, the Dante Quartet playing Haydn Op 50 no 5, Ravel and Debussy in the ballroom of a Pembrokeshire hotel. Lovely playing, and only the minimum rattling of cutlery in the distance. An F major first half, but very different sound worlds.

First time I've seen/heard them. Different violist to the one currently on their website, Rachel Roberts, and as I was too mean to buy the whole Festival programme book for just 2 concerts I'm afraid I don't know her name. I only realised later that of course I recognised Krysia Osostowicz from my Domus CDs.

I wonder if the viola player was Judith Busbridge. I'm sure has been a regular member with them for some years.

[MrGongGong]

Just back from a stonking Quartet for the End of Time
at the Verbier festival
amazing clarinet playing from Martin FRÖST

[amateur51]

Just back from a stonking Quartet for the End of Time
at the Verbier festival
amazing clarinet playing from Martin FRÖST

I envy you MrGG - he's a great clarinettist. Were you working at the Festival?

[rodney_h_d]

Last two actually! Both at Petworth Festival

[1] Laura van der Heijden [cello] in recital with Huw Watkins - Locatelli D major, Brahms Op.99 and Rachmaninov Op.19
First time I've heard her live! Extraordinarily beautiful sound! Whatever she is playing, she is one of those [comparatively few!] string players who - apart from anything else - immediately excite me by having what sounds like "perfect" technique. I remember a thread on the old message board on the subject of why some string players appeal more to certain people. It must be to do with intonation, but also other things including the unobtrusive and natural sounding use of vibrato.

[2] Ruth Palmer [violin] - only the second time I've heard her live, which I've been looking forward to.
A "Hidden Acoustics" unaccompanied recital of Bach: Partitas in E major and D minor and Ysaye: Solo Sonata No.2
Beautiful recital - with strange ending! I've experienced violinists [including David Oistrakh at the Royal Albert Hall!] breaking a string, but at what was [I think!] the final chord of the Ysaye, Ruth Palmer's bow fell apart - the completely intact hair coming away from the tip of her bow!

[Richard Tarleton]

The Rhosygilwen Proms - in this fine venue on the Pembrokeshire-Ceredigion border. Two nights of chamber music (we can't manage the third, tonight) by Tim Hugh of the LSO and friends, aka the New London Virtuosi - Andrew Marriner, David Worswick (an LSO first violin), Katerina Nazarova (violin), Ann Beilby (viola) and Alissa Firsova (piano). Tim Hugh hails from hereabouts, it appears, and indeed the musicians had spent Wednesday afternoon out in a boat watching dolphins in Cardigan Bay.

Night 1 - Brahms clarinet trio, an arrangement of Liszt's Mazeppa for 2 violins by David Worswick, and an excellent performance of the Shostakovich piano quintet. They played the scherzo again as an encore.
Night 2 - Rachmaninov cello sonata, the Handel-Halvorsen duo for violin and cello, and a magical rendition of the Mozart clarinet quintet.

Yesterday afternoon I went along to nearly 3 hours of masterclass in which Tim Hugh, David Worswick and Alissa Firsova coached some young (and a trio of not so young) local musicians. Most instructive and entertaining, especially David W taking a student around some of the corners in Ravel's Tzigane.

[DublinJimbo]

Netherlands Youth Orchestra in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. Frank Braley was soloist in Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, and the conductor was Etienne Siebens. The programme began with Steve Reich's Three movements (he was composer-in-residence with the orchestra for their summer camp), and the New World occupied the second half. The Dvorak was the highlight.

This was my first time in the Concertgebouw. I was surprised by the shape of the hall, which gives the impression of being wider than it is long. I quickly realised that this is because of the size of the platform and the relatively large amount of seating behind it. The acoustics lived up to everything I'd heard about them. Now all I have to do is hear the Concertgebouw Orchestra there.

[pastoralguy]

Concertgebouw orchestra. Daniel Gatti. Mahler 9. Usher Hall. Edinburgh Festival. Bloody good!