What was your last concert?

[Osborn]

Last Thurs at Symphony Hall, Helene Grimaud the CBSO & Andris Nelsons skinned Brahms PC 1 alive! She was absolutely astonishing - scorching power, wonderful lyricism & exchanges with the CBSO but always with an overall sense of an evolving narrative. She was provided with as beautiful and even-toned a piano as you could ever wish to hear. Her clarity of articulation was wondrous. And she had Nelsons who is currently a very hot property, clearly inspirational & the real business.

Earlier Nelsons & the CBSO performed Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 1 which I'd never heard but showcased the orchestra & which I surprisingly enjoyed. Orfeo were present for the second time in a fortnight to record for future release.

The Symphony Hall acoustics are of course fabulous & I'm sure that the transparency & sheer quality of
sound is a major reason why the CBSO's precision is so breathtaking. And maybe encouraged Helene G to take risks & give her Nelsons & us her very best. Wed night was sold out; the Thur matinee I attended was about 95% sold; impressive.

[VodkaDilc]

Last Thurs at Symphony Hall, Helene Grimaud the CBSO & Andris Nelsons skinned Brahms PC 1 alive! She was absolutely astonishing - scorching power, wonderful lyricism & exchanges with the CBSO but always with an overall sense of an evolving narrative. She was provided with as beautiful and even-toned a piano as you could ever wish to hear. Her clarity of articulation was wondrous. And she had Nelsons who is currently a very hot property, clearly inspirational & the real business.

Earlier Nelsons & the CBSO performed Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 1 which I'd never heard but showcased the orchestra & which I surprisingly enjoyed. Orfeo were present for the second time in a fortnight to record for future release.

The Symphony Hall acoustics are of course fabulous & I'm sure that the transparency & sheer quality of
sound is a major reason why the CBSO's precision is so breathtaking. And maybe encouraged Helene G to take risks & give her Nelsons & us her very best. Wed night was sold out; the Thur matinee I attended was about 95% sold; impressive.

I heard the same programme last night. I hadn't realised what a superb orchestra the CBSO has developed into; in particular the woodwind section must be second to none in the UK at present. Hélène Grimaud was astounding. I know we shouldn't be swayed by appearances, but I was astonished to see so youthful a pianist, yet to be aware that she has been around for many years. The programme was suitably coy about her age, but some investigative work when I got home revealed her to be over 40 - clearly it's a healthy profession.
Like Osborn I was new to the symphony, but it is unmistakably Tchaikovsky. I am pleased that a recording might be on the way.

[Osborn]

VodkaDilc - I'm pleased you enjoyed it. I totally agree about the woodwinds - they're good together & took their solos beautifully. Nelsons built up a massive sound at Symphony Hall once percussion & heavy brass let fly - hope he held back a bit at the Sheldonian! The strings are much more slippery, distinctive & better balanced since Nelsons joined. Top quality musicmakers!

[Ferretfancy]

Prokofiev again, at the RFH with Jurowski and the LPO. Last night we heard what might be a candidate for the 'Not good music by good composers' thread elsewhere on these boards. This was Egyptian Nights, a sequence of extracts from the story of Cleopatra, with two narrators, male voice chorus and orchestra,with examples from Shaw, Shakespeare and Pushkin.
Simon Callow gave us all the male roles, including Caesar, Anthony, Enobarbus and the rest, while Miranda Richardson was Cleopatra.

Some great poetry was buried in there somewhere, including 'The barge she sat in' but we also got that awful scene at the Sphinx from Shaw, which must be one of the most toe curling scenes in drama.

As for the music, it mostly served as underscoring for the text, which seemed interminable, and was rarely heard alone. In fact for a considerable time there was no music at all, not much fun, I'm afraid.

After the interval there was a world premiere, the oratorio Ivan the Terrible, in a version devized in 1945 by Levon Atovmyan, a colleague of Prokofiev, which predates the better known version by Stasevich. The story goes that the work was accepted for performance, but cancelled due to Atovmyan becoming seriously ill, and the edition sat in a drawer for more than fifty years. There is no narrator, but contralto and baritone soloists and a very large chorus and orchestra. This was rousing stuff in the mould of Alexander Nevsky, but in the end less memorable. I did prefer it to the rather hectoring Stasevich with its flamboyant Russian narration, which sticks more closely to the story of Eisenstein's famous film.
Fine singing from the soloists, and splendid playing from the LPO. There were plenty of microphones in evidence, so with luck this will appear on an LPO CD.

[french frank]

Last night: Dante Quartet playing Purcell and Britten:

Purcell: Fantasia upon one note and Chacony arr. Britten
Britten: String Quartets 2 & 3

If I understood Krysia Osostowicz correctly, the 12-year-old joining them as violist for the Fantasia was her daughter ...

(I dunno, I come up to London ... Is it always snowing here? )

[aeolium]

Last week, the Takacs Quartet at Cheltenham playing Haydn, Britten and Dvorak quartets. The Haydn and Dvorak were also played in the Wigmore lunchtime concert broadcast on the Monday, but I thought the most moving performance was of the Britten third quartet, especially the Serenissima last movement. The Haydn, though beautifully played, was for me too measured in the finale. It was good to see a packed hall for a chamber music concert on a cold January evening.

[Ferretfancy]

A slightly disappointing ending to the LPO's Prokofiev series at the Royal Festival, which was very nearly a traditional type of programme, with The Classical Symphony, the Violin Concerto No. 2 and the Fifth Symphony. The Classical was a nice performance, on the leisurely side, but I rather like that. Unfortunately, in the concerto Janine Jensen was not at her best, rather lacking in body of sound from where I was sitting, and without enough power to balance well against the rather emphatic orchestration in this beautiful piece. Yannik Nezet-Seguin conducted, but the Fifth Symphony sounded very episodic with a serious lack of sweep, particularly in the slow movement. I couldn't help thinking that Jurowski would have ben more convincing.
All in all, this has been a fascinating series of concerts, giving a chance to hear lesser known works, the earlier concert version of Ivan the Terible was particularly good.

[amateur51]

Last Thursday I went to the Royal Festival Hall, London to hear Kurt Masur and the Philharmonia in Mendelssohn violin concerto (soloist Arabella Steinbacher) and Bruckner symphony no 7.

As he walked on to the platform it was obvious that Maestro Masur has lost a huge amount of weight and he was not happy negotiating the one step on to the platform - staff were on hand to lend assistance. I remember his presence as being slightly bull-like but that is no longer the case. However the Philharmonia had obviously been rehearsed well and they were watching him like a hawk. He has not used a stick for years and now he uses both hands, singly or together. As he warmed up, he bent his knees slightluy and used the top half of his body to indicate rhythmic patterns. The concerto went pretty well & Steinbacher produced both sweet tone and good rhythmic playing when required.

After the interval, the Bruckner was a performance of the sort (to my ears) that Sinopoli used to give - it sounded as though Masur had taken the piece apart & put it back together again and was keen to show all the workings. Climaxes were well-judged and the brass did Bruckner proud as did the woodwind. The timps and strings were pretty good too and it was a stirring performance rather than an over-affectionate one.The scherzo was taken at a cracking lick and the slow movement was not allowed to wallow.

At the end Masur was clearly moved by the audience's extended applause. I'm not sure that I shall have the chance to see him again (he's mid-eighties by this) but I would certainly get a ticket if he has plans to return. I was reminded of the glorious series of concerts that Kurt Sanderling gave with the Philharmonia and Mitsuko Uchida a decade and more ago leading up to Sanderling's retirement from conducting.

[gurnemanz]

We saw Masur a lot in Leipzig in the 70s. He sometimes reminded us of the lugubrious Emil Jannings as the doomed schoolmaster in "The Blue Angel".

http://filmfanatic.org/reviews/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/blue-angel-janning.png

Our last concert was the Hungarian folk musicians Muszikas at the Wiltshire Music Centre in Bradford-on-Avon. A highly entertaining evening, including the gardon, a folk cello treated as a percussion instrument. They played a folk tune and then a Bartok piece which it inspired.

[Bryn]

Last Thursday, an intersting concert given by students at the RCM. On the menu of this tasty little feast were works by Varese, Cowell, Cage and Feldman. Presumably with the aim of protecting the piano,s strings from sweaty fingers, green gloves were woorn when the inside of the instrument was addressed directly. This lead to rather less chilling wails in "The Banshee" than one might hope for. 'Health and Safety' also meant no wandering around during HPSCHD. Instead of the seven harpsichords each having its own raised platform, with them spread around the performance area, as is the convention for performances of the work. They were instead grouped together in a fan formation, which made following the seven keyboard parts even more difficult than usual.

[Beef Oven]

I was there too Simon - did you see his final child-like wave goodbye to us?

Last Thursday I went to the Royal Festival Hall, London to hear Kurt Masur and the Philharmonia in Mendelssohn violin concerto (soloist Arabella Steinbacher) and Bruckner symphony no 7.

As he walked on to the platform it was obvious that Maestro Masur has lost a huge amount of weight and he was not happy negotiating the one step on to the platform - staff were on hand to lend assistance. I remember his presence as being slightly bull-like but that is no longer the case. However the Philharmonia had obviously been rehearsed well and they were watching him like a hawk. He has not used a stick for years and now he uses both hands, singly or together. As he warmed up, he bent his knees slightluy and used the top half of his body to indicate rhythmic patterns. The concerto went pretty well & Steinbacher produced both sweet tone and good rhythmic playing when required.

After the interval, the Bruckner was a performance of the sort (to my ears) that Sinopoli used to give - it sounded as though Masur had taken the piece apart & put it back together again and was keen to show all the workings. Climaxes were well-judged and the brass did Bruckner proud as did the woodwind. The timps and strings were pretty good too and it was a stirring performance rather than an over-affectionate one.The scherzo was taken at a cracking lick and the slow movement was not allowed to wallow.

At the end Masur was clearly moved by the audience's extended applause. I'm not sure that I shall have the chance to see him again (he's mid-eighties by this) but I would certainly get a ticket if he has plans to return. I was reminded of the glorious series of concerts that Kurt Sanderling gave with the Philharmonia and Mitsuko Uchida a decade and more ago leading up to Sanderling's retirement from conducting.

[Beef Oven]

I thought it was a great performance of the 5th. Concerto was tame and the Classical was very tidy (and none the worse for it!).

A slightly disappointing ending to the LPO's Prokofiev series at the Royal Festival, which was very nearly a traditional type of programme, with The Classical Symphony, the Violin Concerto No. 2 and the Fifth Symphony. The Classical was a nice performance, on the leisurely side, but I rather like that. Unfortunately, in the concerto Janine Jensen was not at her best, rather lacking in body of sound from where I was sitting, and without enough power to balance well against the rather emphatic orchestration in this beautiful piece. Yannik Nezet-Seguin conducted, but the Fifth Symphony sounded very episodic with a serious lack of sweep, particularly in the slow movement. I couldn't help thinking that Jurowski would have ben more convincing.
All in all, this has been a fascinating series of concerts, giving a chance to hear lesser known works, the earlier concert version of Ivan the Terible was particularly good.

[amateur51]

I was there too Simon - did you see his final child-like wave goodbye to us?

I found it all rather poignant, Beef Oven. The audience was clearly deeply appreciative of the Bruckner performance and Masur appeared almost not to want to leave us.

I'm not Simon, btw - but my solicitors tell me that I haven't got a case for defamation

[Beef Oven]

Bruckner Expanded and bonus tracks!

On Saturday I was at the RFH for Yannick Nezet Seguin & the London Philharmonic's Bruckner concert; Christus Factus Est, Symphony #9, Te Deum.

Before the start, Yannick addressed the audience from the stage through a mic and explained that the 3 pieces would be played without break and asked us to save our applause 'til the end of the Te Deum in order to add to the 'spiritual' feeling of the whole concert.

I have to say that the performance was wonderful and there was something ineffably right about these 3 works being run together.

He took the the 1st movemnt very slowly, the scherzo was an E-Type Jag and the adagio was very broad indeed.

I never took the business of using the Te Deum as the finale for the 9thy very seriously hitherto - Yannick changed that for me, I think forever!

He stayed behind for a good half hour to talk us about his approach and development as a Bruckner conductor and gave many related insights and anecdotes.

He struck me as really wonderful person and I was pleased to have met him and shook his hand.

I will certainly look out for his concerts from now on.

One last thing though. I have noticed that there appears to be a growing phenomenon at London concerts for several richard-heads to scream 'Bravo!' at the top of their voice a nanosecond after the last note has been played. Obviously these people have little control over their lives otherwise, and suffer from low self-esteem. Although I sympathise for their misfortunes, I have to say it is most annoying for the rest of us. If anyone still reading my whinge knows anybody who is guilty of this, would they mind asking them to desist from this fundamentally childish behaviour; it really spoils things.

P.S. This was a very different conductor from the one that conducted last Wednesday's Prokofiev 1, 5 & violin concerto!

[Beef Oven]

Yes agreed, he didn't want to leave us. I found it very moving. I had not seen him conduct for over 25 years and rather stupidly, I expected him not to have changed very much.

BTW, my name is not really Beef Oven, I made it up. I am just pretending that it is my name while I am in this forum. It's a play on words - Josef Haydn.

I found it all rather poignant, Beef Oven. The audience was clearly deeply appreciative of the Bruckner performance and Masur appeared almost not to want to leave us.

I'm not Simon, btw - but my solicitors tell me that I haven't got a case for defamation