What was your last concert?

[bluestateprommer]

It's more like my last 3 concerts, since I just caught 3 in one day here in Santa Fe. In order:

1. Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, 12 noon matinee:

Magnus Lindberg:
(a) Acequia Madre (world premiere, commissioned by the Festival), for clarinet and piano (Chen Halevi, clarinet; Magnus Lindberg, piano)
(b) Trio for Clarinet, Cello and Piano (Chen Halevi, clarinet; Anssi Karttunen, cello; Magnus Lindberg, piano)

Schubert: String Quartet No. 15 (Miro Quartet)

Note on this concert: apparently Lindberg put the finishing touches on the world premiere work at 1:30 AM earlier today (i.e. overnight early Thursday). There was no title for the work in the program at the time of printing.

2. Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, 6 PM concert

Barber: String Quartet, op. 11 (Miro Quartet)
Beethoven: Violin Sonata No. 2 in A, op. 12 (Ida Kavafian, violin; Kirill Gerstein, piano)
Knussen: Ophelia's Last Dance (Kirill Gerstein, piano)
Bartok: Contrasts (Ida Kavafian, violin; Chen Halevi, clarinet; Kirill Gerstein, piano)

Note on this concert: Gerstein used iPads at the piano for all the works he played. This makes the 2nd pianist I've seen who's used an iPad, the first being Jeffrey Kahane in Vancouver this past May.

3. Santa Fe Desert Chorale (a 5 minute walk from the Chamber Music Festival venue, thank goodness), "From Bach to the Beatles":

Traditional Norwegian: "Amen Jesus Han Skall Rade"
Giovanni Gabrieli: "Jubilate Deo"
Schutz: "Jauchzet dem Herren"
J.S. Bach: "Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied", BWV 225 - "Lobet den Herrn"
Schnittke: Three Sacred Hymns
Rautavaara: Vigilia, "Sticheron to the Mother of God" and "First Katisma"
Bradley Ellingboe: "Dappled Things" (2nd performance; world premiere was last week)

Mason Bates: "Observer in the Magellanic Cloud"
Mia Makaroff: "Butterfly"
Dolly Parton: "Light of a Clear Blue Morning"
Paul McCartney: (a) "Blackbird", (b) "When I'm Sixty-Four" (with some added words; not sure who gets the blame there)
George Harrison: "Here Comes The Sun"

Just a reminder for anyone who might look askance at the last part of the Desert Chorale's program, I am writing this from America.

[teamsaint]

Blimey, we don't get out much, round here(me included). July the last contribution.
Anyway, by way of reviving the thread, i saw Southampton Uni Orchestra last night. Sibelius Violin Concerto, and stravinsky symphony in E Flat. The Stravinsky I didn't know, surprisingly enjoyable, and the third movement is wonderful.
The Sibelius...well whats not to love. I am no expert on fiddlers, but the soloist, a teacher at the uni, had the audience spellbound.

[hmvman]

Just got back from a marvellous concert by our local (amateur) orchestra the Academy of St Olaves conducted by Alan George. Vivaldi Bassoon Concerto in E minor, Brahms St Antoni Variations and Beethoven Symphony No. 3. It was a nimble, energetic performance of the 'Eroica' with some faster than expected tempi, especially in the second movement. Alan George was putting into practice his thoughts regarding Beethoven's tempo markings and, by and large, I think it worked.

[Dave2002]

Concert at Sarratt tonight by the Haffner Ensemble. This included Mozart's E flat Quintet for piano and wind, and Poulenc's Sextet, which was given a virtuoso performance by all participants. There was also Roussel's Op 6 Divertissement, which was new to me, and three pieces by Bozza.

[Dave2002]

Concert at Sarratt tonight by the Haffner Ensemble. This included Mozart's E flat Quintet for piano and wind, and Poulenc's Sextet, which was given a virtuoso performance by all participants. There was also Roussel's Op 6 Divertissement, which was new to me, and three pieces by Bozza. The Poulenc was gripping from start to finish.

[Roslynmuse]

Roussel Divertissement is a great piece!

It always surprises me that there are so few pieces for the piano plus wind quintet combination; apart from the Poulenc and Roussel, there's a Sextet by Ludwig Thuille but I can't think of anything else off the top of my head. Ditto for the combination of flute, clarinet and piano - pieces by Maurice Emmanuel, Saint-Saens and Florent Schmitt (even that one should, IIIRC, be performed with harpsichord), but beyond that not a lot, or at least not much whose scores and parts are easily accessible.

[Bryn]

Roussel Divertissement is a great piece!

It always surprises me that there are so few pieces for the piano plus wind quintet combination; apart from the Poulenc and Roussel, there's a Sextet by Ludwig Thuille but I can't think of anything else off the top of my head. Ditto for the combination of flute, clarinet and piano - pieces by Maurice Emmanuel, Saint-Saens and Florent Schmitt (even that one should, IIIRC, be performed with harpsichord), but beyond that not a lot, or at least not much whose scores and parts are easily accessible.

There's Wallingford Riegger's Concerto for Piano and Wind Quintet of 1953.

[Roslynmuse]

There's Wallingford Riegger's Concerto for Piano and Wind Quintet of 1953.

Thanks for that! I'll look out for it.

[rauschwerk]

Blimey, we don't get out much, round here(me included). July the last contribution.

That reminds me: 3 or 4 weeks ago I went to a concert at Hadleigh - the last of a series marking the 25th anniversary of the Suffolk Villages Festival. Psalmody and the Essex Baroque Orchestra directed by Peter Holman. In the first half we had Blow's Venus and Adonis. That was ok but I kept wishing it had been written by Purcell instead. Highlights of the second half were a concerto by John Stanley and Charles Dibdin's entertaning little operatic scene The Brickdust Man - Giles Davies very characterful here. Long may this festival survive! There are some appetising things in the winter 2012-13 series.

Next week, something completely different: Shostakovich 4 at the Barbican. I can hardly wait!

[Dave2002]

Roussel Divertissement is a great piece!

It always surprises me that there are so few pieces for the piano plus wind quintet combination; apart from the Poulenc and Roussel, there's a Sextet by Ludwig Thuille but I can't think of anything else off the top of my head. Ditto for the combination of flute, clarinet and piano - pieces by Maurice Emmanuel, Saint-Saens and Florent Schmitt (even that one should, IIIRC, be performed with harpsichord), but beyond that not a lot, or at least not much whose scores and parts are easily accessible.

Hans Huber wrote quintets and sextets for piano and wind instruments. Different from Poulenc's style, but pleasant to listen to, and there's enough "going on", so interesting - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Quintette-Se...554725&sr=1-19

[Old Grumpy]

Voces8

Splendid concert last night as part of the Hexham Abbey Festival of Music and Arts. Nice mixture of ancient and modern. Fine singing and engaging presentation style.

OG

[rauschwerk]

The BBCSO kicked off their very interesting season at the Barbican last night. Jukka-Pekka Saraste conducted and the soloist was Alice Coote.

We began with a new piece: Bohortha by Michael Zev Gordon. This was seven short pieces for orchestra played uninterrupted. I liked this a lot - so much so that I could easily have sat through it a second time - and it was played with plenty of assurance. Then Alice Coote sang Mahler's Ruckert songs. She does not have a big voice but was rarely overpowered. She did Ich bin der Welt last (there being no set order for these songs) and wisely, for the final minutes were quite spellbinding.

After the interval we had Shostakovich's 4th symphony. The performance, if not technically immaculate, was extremely gripping. I have known this piece for 50 years but this was the first time I heard it live and I was struck anew by how extraordinary it is, especially the finale. The first player to get individual acknowledgment at the end was trombonist Helen Vollam, and quite right too. I had not realised before that Shostakovich uses a Rite of Spring sized orchestra here, with two timpanists and seven other percussionists, quintuple woodwind (some amazing sonorities were conjured up last night) and eight horns.

It was notable that quite a few listeners (member of the Alice Coote fan club?) did not stay for this terrific piece.

[jayne lee wilson]

Yes, very fine DSCH 4 - but I was unwell, and prefer not to give it a critical appraisal - excellent sound on HD-hi from the Barbican anyway. Did no-else bother? Sorry, but the quotation-laden Zev Gordon didn't convince... (Stravinsky Apollo, Berg Violin, Mahler LvdE and 5th... it was quite a game...)

BUT - I did get to the Philharmonic Hall for the RLPO in Sibelius 1st Symphony on Saturday, conducted with glorious power and precision by Pietari Inkinen (He of the Naxos NZ Sibelius cycle)
The marvellous orchestral response ranged from Tchaikovskian warmth to the steely glint of Northern lights, and when the great finale theme arose for the second time - I just WENT. Overwhelming. I hope Inkinen returns.
Before the interval we had Brahms D minor Piano Concerto with Barry Douglas, as grand and as poetic as they come - and benefiting from 6 doublebasses, rather than the two that Petrenko had used with Haefliger last May - misconceived HIPS, definitely not enough.

On Thursday we had Dvorak 7 and the Cello Concerto with Brunello, floppy-haired Michael Nesterowicz conducting. 7th terrific (notwithstanding restless trio of students in the seats below us - did they have fleas or something?); orchestra outshining the soloist, and throwing off a Carnival with nonchalant brilliance. What an orchestra, and we're back for DSCH 10 next week! (Petrenko at last.)

[jayne lee wilson]

Pity this thread is falling by the wayside, but I've just been to the last of 3 RLPO concerts in 12 days, a great sequence which, following on from the above concluded tonight with - yes, that award-winner again, DSCH 10, as brilliant, tragic and defiantly positive as they've ever played it. Palpable warmth between conductor - hand literally on his heart at the end - and audience...

Part one gave us the Brahms 2nd Piano Concerto with Achucarro, glintingly clear and majestic, notwithstanding some disjunction between conductor and soloist - the latter taking his time to dwell upon incidental beauties, Petrenko clearly inclined to drive forward urgently (strongly defined and sonorous too, with 6 double basses again...)
Fascinating to hear, and to watch conductor and orchestra having to attend VERY carefully, to those passages where Achucarro went his own way - allowing the grand old man time to admire the scenery before getting back on the richly upholstered orchestral coach.

Still a shame about those coughs - the type that become curiously infectious during quiet passages; not to mention a generous scattering of distant and middle-distant mobiles... a, er, gentleman below me appeared to be surreptitiously filming the concert, as his ladyfriend - unique among the audience - fanned herself vigorously (and not in time with the music!) using the borrowed programme of her saintly neighbour. Spotting an equally favourable unoccupied seat across the aisle I slid over there for the DSCH 10 (silently thanking the Chairman for choosing the one above, also at the last minute!)

Concertgoing has its imponderables!

[Osborn]

CBSO / Andris Nelsons & Baiba Skride at Warwick Arts Centre

Stravinsky: Scherzo a la russe
Brahms: Violin Concerto
Rachmaninov: Symphonic Dances

The programme note quotes Le Figaro 2012:
"We've been saying for several years now that Andris Nelsons, the 33 year old Latvian conductor, is a genius. What Nelsons has accomplished with his [CBSO] musicians is plain and simply astounding"

Items 1 & 3 got the full Nelsons treatment, breathtaking virtuosity, velocity & huge dynamic range.

Gorgeous, elegant, eloquent Brahms VC from Andris' compatriat, Baiba Skride. The interplay between her shimmering violin (actually Gidon Kremer's) and the CBSO woodwood was perfection. She is absolutely mesmerising. The sound she produces is fabulous. Loved it.

At the end it took four attempts by Andris to get the orchestra to stop applauding him & get on their feet; each time he asked the leader (Laurence Jackson) shook his head vigorously! Smiles all round.

It was a great relief a couple of months ago to be told that Andris had extended his contract.