What was your last concert?

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
  • Beef Oven!
    Ex-member
    • Sep 2013
    • 18147

    Originally posted by teamsaint View Post
    Liadov, Anatol Konstantinovich (1855-1914)
    Kikimora, Op.63

    Prokofiev, Sergey (1891-1953)
    Violin Concerto no. 1 in D major, Op.19

    Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich (1840-1893)
    Symphony no. 6 in B minor, "Pathétique", Op.74

    St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra

    Leticia Muñoz Moreno
    Violin
    Yuri Temirkanov
    Conductor

    I was at this evening of Russian music at The Anvil Basingstoke on Friday night.

    A pleasant enough evening for the time of year, the streets lights glinting cheekily on the surface of the inner ring road.

    Wasn’t really surewhat to expect from any of the performers, since this was a ticket I had swapped with the venue after rather double booking myself later this month .

    The Liadov was a lovely way to open the concert. I suspect it may have been used in part to settle the audience before the Prokofiev…or perhaps not !!I had heard a few mumblings about “the first half” from folks in the almost capacity turn out before the concert started . If you don’t know the Liadov, it’s a lovely romantic tone poem, which serves well as an overture.
    To the Prokofiev. The soloist Leticia Moreno, is certainly hard to ignore. Her generally stern countenance could hardly have been in greater contrast to her dress, which, just in case JLW is looking in, I will try to describe. A full length bright pink affair, with tiny shoulder straps, and bold black floral outlines. It has a big Flamenco thing going on below the knee at the back and was slit at the front also to the knee. It was very close fitting . Very striking certainly.
    I’m not sure that the piece ever really took off, although it was enjoyable enough. The best moments were when Moreno really let herself go, and threw herself into the music, but it all seemed just a fraction polite to me, almost as if the performers sensed the audiences inhibitions about the music. A decent response at the end, but no encore, and it did, in the end , all feel just a tad perfunctory.

    Of course, the big crowd had really come for the Pathetique. Falling off a log is probably difficult , for this band and conductor, compared to running through this work. It must be in their very marrow, and without any doubt they performed it with a great sense of ease and style. Termikanov has an easy , and easy on the eye style, and must be the master of the tiny hand gesture. With his arms almost always held low down when gesturing to the players, it’s a wonder that most of them can see what it is he requires. All that said, he didn’t seem to have any trouble at all getting the desired responses. Somehow, the orchestra’s ease with the piece seemed to shine through in the March, which was pretty awe inspiring.
    Not a dry eye in the house after a beautiful finale, of course. A really big response from the audience led to encore of " Nimrod".
    Not knowing much about Temikarnov, I was unaware of his more than somewhat dubious views about women conductors. I have been pretty uncompromising on this board in my views on Gergiev, and , FWIW, unless Termikanov comes out with rather different views that those previously expressed, I wouldn’t support one of his concerts again. Consistency is important.if not always easy to achieve.
    No more dissin' Gergiev, ok?



    Comment

    • EdgeleyRob
      Guest
      • Nov 2010
      • 12180

      Nice review ts.

      If you enjoyed the Liadov,try this..

      Comment

      • AjAjAjH
        Full Member
        • Nov 2010
        • 209

        I was at the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester this afternoon:- Berlioz; 'Le Corsair' Overture.
        Bizet; Carmen Selection.
        Shostakovitch; Symphony N0.5
        Halle/Mark Elder.
        As good a performance of the DSCH 5 as you would want to hear and a very good introduction to it and its links with Bizet's 'Carmen' by Mark Elder. Very interesting.

        What does surprise me is that nobody from Manchester has mentioned the wonderful concert last Thursday evening. The Halle/Elder's contribution to Remembrance time.
        Butterworth: 'A Shropshire Lad.'
        Elgar: 'The Spirit of England'
        Bax: 'In Memoriam' (An Irish Rhapsody)
        Sibelius: Symphony No.5.

        The Bax was new to me and deeply moving - written in memory of a friend who was executed after the 1916 Easter rising. According to Mark Elder, this was probably only the 4th time the orchestral version had been played. Anyone out there know the piece?

        As usual the Halle Choir was on magnificent form. **** In the Times.

        Comment

        • bluestateprommer
          Full Member
          • Nov 2010
          • 3008

          Last night @ Carnegie Hall, this concert, reviewed in the NYT here. My first time seeing A-SM (and also LO and RP, for that matter) live, and while the review was mixed, I thought the Previn piece was more enjoyable than the critic made it out to be. Honestly didn't much of the Sebastian Currier work, but if nothing else, it was nice that both Currier and Previn were in the hall. Currier took a bow from the stage, while Previn evidently was in a box seat and apparently took his bow there. I had an obstructed view, so I inferred from the direction that A-SM and LO were looking after that work that Previn was in the hall.

          Comment

          • HighlandDougie
            Full Member
            • Nov 2010
            • 3081

            BBC Symphony Orchestra/James Gaffigan at the Barbican, with Kirill Gerstein as pianist in the Schoenberg Piano Concerto and Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. Gerstein, who must be about 6'4" and therefore towered over Gaffigan (another member of the not-very-tall conductors club), played the Schoenberg like a Mozart concerto - very successfully too, imv. A much better performance than the last one I heard live, which was Emanuel Ax trying to be too flashy. Great piece of music, though, not heard often enough. The RiB rather fell foul of the Barbican acoustic as the brass were simply too loud. The BBC engineers should, though, sort that out when it's broadcast. But Gerstein was again impressive. The concert had started with Bernard Herrmann's brief Psycho: a Narrative (for string orchestra) and ended with Bartok's Miraculous Mandarin, happily in its complete form, less happily without women's chorus. Excellent playing from the orchestra, clear and effective conducting from Gaffigan. One of my favourite pieces of music, again far too little played. The mix of music seemed a bit odd beforehand but nonetheless a very good concert.

            Comment

            • ferneyhoughgeliebte
              Gone fishin'
              • Sep 2011
              • 30163

              The Heath Quartet (as mentioned by ChrisBennell in #942) performing in the King's Hall Ilkley last night, repeating the Haydn Op 64 #6, replacing Beethoven's Op 131 with Op 132 and putting Bartok's Sixth in between.

              They are a splendid group of Musicians with impeccable intonation, near-faultless ensemble, and carefully graded use of vibrato (the First Violin used quite a lot most of the time, the Second Violin and Viola very little, and the 'cellist somewhere in between) which produced a great variety of timbral nuances. And they very clearly enjoy playing together and communicated this enjoyment to the audience (as in Oxford, a full house).

              A highly enjoyable evening - but perhaps a little too polite at times: I prefer a little more "abandon" in these works; too much here was too careful, like making love whilst trying not to disturb the neighbours, an occasional feeling that something important was being shied away from. I prefer a little more al dente in performance. And I felt that structural "narrative" came across as less important than moment-to-moment detail - particularly in the Bartok (a series of stoppy-starty incidents lacking the sense of forward momentum and impulse that the best performances can communicate) and the first two movements of the Beethoven.

              And then ...

              They got to the Heiliger Dankgesang. And the world went away and there was just the Music, superbly played, expertly paced and utterly breathtaking! The Finale, too, demonstrated what I felt had been lacking earlier - intense, impassioned and impudent.

              They are still a young group of people, finding what Music means to them and how they can they can communicate it - now that they have achieved so much, I hope they explore this (for want of a better word) "freer", less predictable side of their craft. They could become a truly formidable ensemble of Musicians.
              [FONT=Comic Sans MS][I][B]Numquam Satis![/B][/I][/FONT]

              Comment

              • Nick Armstrong
                Host
                • Nov 2010
                • 26523

                Great review ferney, many thanks!!

                "intense, impassioned, impudent" -
                "...the isle is full of noises,
                Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
                Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
                Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices..."

                Comment

                • ferneyhoughgeliebte
                  Gone fishin'
                  • Sep 2011
                  • 30163

                  Originally posted by Caliban View Post
                  Great review ferney, many thanks!!

                  "intense, impassioned, impudent" -
                  Þancunda, ealdor as my ancestors used to say!
                  [FONT=Comic Sans MS][I][B]Numquam Satis![/B][/I][/FONT]

                  Comment

                  • amateur51

                    Originally posted by bluestateprommer View Post
                    Last night @ Carnegie Hall, this concert, reviewed in the NYT here. My first time seeing A-SM (and also LO and RP, for that matter) live, and while the review was mixed, I thought the Previn piece was more enjoyable than the critic made it out to be. Honestly didn't much of the Sebastian Currier work, but if nothing else, it was nice that both Currier and Previn were in the hall. Currier took a bow from the stage, while Previn evidently was in a box seat and apparently took his bow there. I had an obstructed view, so I inferred from the direction that A-SM and LO were looking after that work that Previn was in the hall.
                    How were the Franck and Beethoven, bsp? Thanks for the review

                    Comment

                    • amateur51

                      I "came across" the Heath quartet quite by accident - a friend was over from Paris and the Heaths were at Wigmore Hall, playing some Haydn, Beethoven and a Luke Bedford premiere. I was very impressed and I've tried to follow their work ever since

                      Great review ferney

                      Comment

                      • ferneyhoughgeliebte
                        Gone fishin'
                        • Sep 2011
                        • 30163

                        Originally posted by amateur51 View Post
                        I "came across" the Heath quartet quite by accident - a friend was over from Paris and the Heaths were at Wigmore Hall, playing some Haydn, Beethoven and a Luke Bedford premiere. I was very impressed and I've tried to follow their work ever since
                        Oh, yes - and I prefer their approach to the Bartok to those which simply emphasise the "aggressive" side of his work and ignore nuance and reflection. And their performance also revealed unexpected (to me) similarities between Haydn and Bartok. But, just a little more "crunch" ...
                        [FONT=Comic Sans MS][I][B]Numquam Satis![/B][/I][/FONT]

                        Comment

                        • Demetrius
                          Full Member
                          • Sep 2011
                          • 276

                          Two concerts of the MDR Symphony Orchestra, one last Saturday, the other earlier today, which included an early and unsuspected highlight for my season.

                          No 1)

                          Malcolm Forsyth: Atayoskewin
                          Edward Elgar: Cello Concerto
                          Mendelssohn: Scottish Symphony
                          Cond. Lawrence Foster
                          Andreas Brantelid, cello

                          Walked into that one without remembering what pieces would be played, and as I had to walk pretty fast to get into my seat in time, the Forsyth was a bit of a blind audit: Interesting work, especially the second movement, the rather short and repetative theme for the strings might have been a bit boring to play, but I found it effective. Third movement channeled the Glorious Seven.
                          The Elgar was understated, which I liked in the orchestra parts, but the soloist followed suit and remained a bit anonymous in parts. Nonetheless, my first chance to hear any Elgar piece live, and I enjoyed it thoroughly.
                          Mendelssohn I usually like, but after the Cello Concerto in the first half, it seemed ... less substantial a piece of music, perhaps. The Orchestra played well throughout, but I wasn't in the mood for it; Just a case of programming not working for me personally.

                          No 2)

                          Rachmaninov: Isle of the Dead
                          Mussorgsky: Songs and Dances of Death
                          Tüür: Requiem !
                          Cond. Kristjan Järvi

                          Kristjan Järvi is the principle conductor of this orchestra, and has the most full-bodied and energetic conducting style I've ever seen. It's more a improvision dance than anything else. It works, however, and he seemed fully in control of the orchestra. Sadly, I came from an early working shift and was a bit tired; I couldn't really focus on the Mussorgsky songs, my mind drifting away again and again. Rachmaninov seemed solid, though I rather more admired than loved the piece.

                          So, in the interval, I made for the beverages and caffeined myself into working condition again, expecting a difficult time with a contemporary requiem. What I got was a glorious choral piece supported by a diminished orchestra (the brass section had to leave early); Both as a composition and as a performance I actually prefer this over the Verdi requiem by the Gewandhaus this summer. Again, my point of view and understanding of music is necessarily different from someone who has even slightly active musical talents. Maybe the Tüür is less attractive to others; it certainly isn't avantgarde in the stricter (or possibly any) sense.

                          Thankfully, the MDR will broadcast the concert tonight, so anyone who is interested can form his/her own opinion (starting 19:30 CET, so 4 hours from now):


                          Comment

                          • teamsaint
                            Full Member
                            • Nov 2010
                            • 25195

                            thanks for the thoughtful and entertaining (and honest !) review, Dems.

                            I will try to catch some of it, may be the Tuur at least.
                            Sounds like two enjoyable evenings.

                            I never really get on with the Italian, BTW, which may be down to studying it for O level.
                            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

                            • Beef Oven!
                              Ex-member
                              • Sep 2013
                              • 18147

                              Last Sunday afternoon - Emerson Quartet RFH

                              Haydn - Joke
                              Ravel - F
                              Beethoven - Op.130 with GF finale

                              For me, it didn't really get going until the LvB.

                              Comment

                              • Nick Armstrong
                                Host
                                • Nov 2010
                                • 26523

                                Mesmerising Radu Lupu recital in Reading...

                                BRAHMS Variations on an Original Theme Op.21 No.1

                                BEETHOVEN 32 Variations in C minor on an Original Theme WoO.80

                                MOZART Variations on a Minuet by Duport K.573

                                -----

                                SCHUBERT Sonata in G D.894


                                Incredible, limpid, caressing, luminous tone (on a 'house' Steinway from London prepped by chief technician Uli Gerhartz, whom I know and with whom I had an interesting chat at the interval)... not note perfect, some of the tricky corners in the first half were thrown away with a shake of the head... but it didn't matter!

                                The Schubert was - well, I agree with the review below (of the previous run of this programme on Tuesday)

                                And as an encore, the Op.90, D.899 Impromptu No.3 in G flat It had a few people audibly sobbing in the audience...

                                The thing I wasn't prepared for was how Radu Lupu, in contrast to most photos of him, now has snowy white hair and full white beard, and looks UNCANNILY like Brahms... As he came on, stumped round the piano, began playing leaning back on his chair back - and what's more, playing that first piece, by Brahms, which sounds almost improvisatory - it was an effortless leap to think it was Brahms himself playing for us!







                                .

                                The Guardian review:

                                http://www.theguardian.com/music/201...ms-southampton
                                "...the isle is full of noises,
                                Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
                                Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
                                Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices..."

                                Comment

                                Working...
                                X