What was your last concert?

[Beef Oven]

Carmina Burana last night, amateur performance in Mitchum, Surrey, St Barnabas Church.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

Christ Church Oxford The College Orchestra

Beethoven Coriolan Overture
Mendelssohn Violin Concerto
Stravinsky Pulcinella Suite

Lecture by Prof. Jonathan Cross on the Pulcinella Suite beforehand .... nothing is what it seems ... explored the discovery by IS of the music of the XVIII Century and his 'love' for it ... Prof Cross will be on Music Matters this coming Saturday talking about the Rake's Progress with Tom Service

The College Orchestra was in especially fine fettle last night; from the opening of the Coriolan we knew we were in for a fine evening .... and since college orchestras can be scratch in more than one sense last night was a tribute both to the players and the rehearsal work they must have put in under the baton of Mr Green

It was however the Mendelssohn that took the breath away. Savitri Grier was the soloist; a star in the making. Such control and precision of expression and just everything. A moving and impressive performance. She will be giving this Concerto at the Albert Hall this May - i'd go if you can .... [her father Francis had a piece in the Evensong earlier that afternoon]

An altogether rather special evening.

[aeolium]

Mosaïques Quartet at Malvern, playing Haydn op 20 no 3 and op 76 no 2 and Mozart K464. I did not know the G minor quartet op 20 no 3 as well as other quartets in that set and it came across very powerfully on the period instruments with an unsettling astringency. Haydn's writing in this key seems to have been quite different in his earlier works (e.g. the symphony no 39) from that in his later: the 'Rider' quartet is more in G major than minor, and the 'Hen' symphony does not stay in G minor long. The slow movement of op 20 no 3 is very lyrical with almost a conversation between first violin and cello. The D minor 'Fifths' quartet and the Mozart quartet which Beethoven so admired were beautifully played, but it was the first work that left the strongest impression.

[Paul Sherratt]

Alasdair Roberts at The Lexington, Islington.
Here he is in the shed

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7etEIyy4Z4

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

Calefax the Dutch reeds quintet playing arrangements of Rossi Toccatas; Debussy Estampes; Shostakovitch Preludes and Fugues and the Goldberg Variations .... twice blessed the calefax Quintet had run a kids workshop fro about 100 schoolchildren this afternoon and then gave their Music in The Round programme this evening ...
it does not get better than these guys ... exquisite playing with passages of transcendent bliss ... stunning

[Beef Oven]

UFO last night in Cambridge.

[Paul Sherratt]

Beef,
UFO, have they added a 'tit-fer player to their line-up ?

[rauschwerk]

Lat night: Hadleigh Choral Society conducted by Chris Phelps. Main work: Mozart's Mass in C minor with a superb quartet of soloists. Soprano Stephanie Corley delivered an exquisite account of the Incarnatus (really living the music, not just making a beautiful sound), excellently supported by the orchestral woodwind principals.

[Osborn]

The CBSO returned to Symphony Hall last Fri (30/3) after a triumphant, & arduous tour of Europe, having given 13 concerts in 16 days in 11 cities, Jonas Kaufmann and Rudolf Buchbinder were their stellar soloists.

Friday’s sold out concert was promoted as "Sibelius gets the Nelsons treatment".but after 10 European concerts Andris had urgently flown home to Riga to be with his family. Michael Seal the CBSO’s Associate Conductor, who had been playing the same works under Andris in the second violins, completed the tour & conducted on Friday.

Right from the start of the Tristan Prelude & Liebestod it was clear that everyone was giving 100% & Michael Seal was going to get everything he could possibly ask for. We were all feeling some concern for Andris who is adored here The playing by all sections was superlative, perfectly balanced & judged.

The young Russian pianist Anna Vinnitskaya delivered a brilliant, fresh & beautifully thought out performance of Beethoven 4. The piano radiated sunshine in a brisk 1st mov; in the 2nd her smiles suggested that she was teasing & flirting with the orchestra; in the 3rd her exquisite legato & articulation reminded me of the incomparable Maria Pires (that’s high praise from me!). She’s well worth hearing.

The CBSO then gave an awesome account of Sibelius 2; the pacing was perfectly judged,& amongst a wealth memorable detail the upper strings fizzed with dazzling precision & the magnificent brass unleashed such power that we might have been in Chicago. Smiles all round at the end & warm applause from the players towards Michael Seal.

There was an excellent free pre-concert talk by Stephen Johnson in Hall 5 & very excitingly Andris will keep the promise “Sibelius gets the Nelsons treatment” & has invited everyone to a free special open rehearsal & performance of the work later in the year.

[Osborn]

The CBSO returned to Symphony Hall last Fri... after 10 European concerts Andris [Nelsons] had urgently flown home to Riga to be with his family. Michael Seal the CBSO’s Associate Conductor, who had been playing the same works under Andris in the second violins, completed the tour...

Michael Seal's blog is a good read & tells it as it happened - 3 concerts in 3 days the first at 90mins notice, the support from his soloist, Rudolf Buchbinder, a hug from Jonas Kaufmann that meant so much, learning works he had never conducted on the CBSO coach, finding Andris' scores annotated. in Latvian, the brilliance & determination of the orchestra. Not for the fainthearted.

http://flippingbatons.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/tour-i-will-never-forget.html

[gurnemanz]

Parsifal "a la Russe" at the Barbican last night with Gergiev and Mariinsky forces. I liked it. It was a sprightly performance with an impressive orchestral contribution. Yuri Vorobiev was marvellous as my namesake, Gurnemanz, and Amfortas suffered very effectively. Parsifal, himself, was OK but not that exciting. I enjoyed the flowermaidens (so to speak) and Kundry was stunning and quite frightening.

[Rolmill]

National Children's Chamber Orchestra at West Road Concert Hall. Cambridge yesterday afternoon. Biased, doting parent loved it inevitably. (Attempted) objective listener also enjoyed it very much: sparkling Mozart Impresario overture; well-honed, detailed performance of Arnold's Serenade for Small Orchestra (not heard it before - plenty of very well-played wind solo contributions); lilting, indulgent Elgar Bavarian Dances.

Second half was given by the National Children's Wind Orchestra - also very impressive, including Grainger's Ye Banks and Braes o' Bonny Doon from memory with the orchestra spread all round the hall (including the upper Balcony)!

I'm always startled at the depth of young talent that remains out there, despite the lack of music at so many schools. Reasonably well-spread geographically as well, though a concentration of students from the South and Midlands was probably inevitable, given the location of the concert and that the preceding residential course was held within 10 miles of the M25.

Many congratulations to the course tutors and the two conductors for the afternoon. We weren't able to stay for the later National Youth Chamber/Wind Orchestras equivalent concert, but I have no doubt it was just as good.

[Bryn]

Ilan Voilkov and Friends (Kings Place. last night). Three sets:

Improvisation by Mines (Yael Barolsky, Ram Gabay and Volkov)

Morton Feldman: Two Pieces for Two Pianos (1954); Two Pianos (1957); improvisation (John Tilbury and Maya Dunietz)

Christian Wolff: Stones (Yael Barolsky, Steve Beresford, John Butcher, Daniel Spicer, Gino Robair, Maya Dunietz, Ram Gabay, Kaffe Matthews, Dylan Nyoukis, Eddie Prevost, John Tilbury, Patrick Farmer, Ilan Volkov and Friends).

I was not quite prepared for just how far into 'extended techniques' Ilan Volkov ventured in his violin playing. A very fine evening.

[Beef Oven]

flying dutchman, eno, saturday 28th april.

[DublinJimbo]

3rd-last concert in the 2011/12 season of the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland.

Rautavaara: Incantations (Percussion Concerto)
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 8

Colin Currie (percussion soloist)
Hannu Lintu (conductor)

A wonderful evening. I'm a big fan of Hannu Lintu, currently chief guest conductor of the NSOI, and he didn't let me down tonight. The orchestral playing was magnificent throughout, to the extent that I thought the performance of the Rautavaara superior to the recording I have (there's a magical moment towards the end of the second movement where the solo horn enters and is followed by other wind soloists — the passage was carried off to perfection).

Colin Currie was wonderfully athletic, most notably at the point where he had carried a long phrase seamlessly from the lowest register of the marimba to the highest of the adjacent xylophone. Most significantly, though, he and the orchestra brilliantly realised the composer's emphasis on melodic line. The concerto was new to two friends of mine who were also there. They both enthused about the work and both bought a CD recording afterwards.

The performance of the symphony was magnificent, with orchestra and conductor excelling themselves. Attendance was disappointingly small, but we made up for our numbers by the volume of our enthusiastic response.