What was your last concert?

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  • bluestateprommer
    Full Member
    • Nov 2010
    • 3007

    Strictly speaking, I'm 2 weeks late (as usual) with this, but I wanted to put this down for the record. In NYC, I saw the Budapest Festival Orchestra for the first time live, with Ivan Fischer, at Avery Fisher Hall. Having enjoyed their performances from The Proms and hearing several CDs, I was very much looking forward to this concert, which had this program:

    DSCH: Selections from "Suite for variety orchestra in eight parts", (a) March, (b) Little polka, (c) Lyric waltz, (d) Dance No. 1
    Bernstein: Serenade, with Liza Ferschtman, violin (pinch-hitting for Janine Jansen)
    Rachmaninoff: Symphony No. 2

    At the very start, when Ivan Fischer walked from stage right/house left on stage, he struck up the orchestra immediately, without giving us time to applaud, diving right into the DSCH "March". We applauded briefly at the start, but then Fischer encouraged rhymthic clapping at suitable points. This immediately sent out vibes of "hey, we're going to have a good time this afternoon". The saxophone players were positioned to the left of the conductor's podium for the DSCH in a cluster, which helped them stand out in their big moments in the waltz. BTW, there was audience applause after each movement, but in this suite, that was eminently forgivable, especially given the degree of conducting ham from Fischer for this opener, which actually fit just fine. This also put me in mind of that "Audience Choice" Prom that they did back in 2011, of which slightly more anon.

    It turned out to be a smart move to put the sax players there, because then all the stage hands had to do for the Bernstein was to remove those stands and chairs, and not have to move anything else. Liza Ferschtman did have the music in front of her, and she and Fischer did have quite a fair bit of eye contact during the performance. I almost wondered if this was LF's first outing with the Bernstein Serenade, but I might be reading too much there. In any event, very fine performance, and excellent string tone, with dollops of percussion.

    I managed to cadge a seat upstairs for the second half, and then it became clearer to me why the orchestra sounded so good in AFH, their intrinsic merits aside, because AFH has historically been a problematic hall acoustically. Fischer put the double basses in a row at the back, with the woodwinds in front of them, and split the brass to be on the same plane as the winds, on each side of them. The horns were house left/stage right, and the trombones, trumpets & tuba were house right/stage left. Thus there was no brass "blare" that tends to be characteristic of American orchestras, which tend to put the brass on risers well towards the back. While I haven't heard the BFO/Fischer CD of Rachmaninoff 2 for comparison, in this context, the performance was very, very fine indeed, well paced, neither unduly rushed in the brisker passages nor overly milking the big tunes in the slow movement. Solid, rich sound, but not overkill in the schmaltz factor.

    After all this, I saw some stands being whipped out on stage and one player strolling to his seat, which obviously telegraphed an encore in the works. The encore turned out to be, of all things, "Blue Tango" of Leroy Anderson. Nicely done as a palate cleanser, with the saxophones from the start standing on the side at those stands that were whipped out after the Rachmaninoff. I remember that both the Anderson and the DSCH selections were on the list of pieces that the Proms audience could choose from that evening.

    So not a bad way to spend a Sunday afternoon in NYC :) .

    Comment

    • gingerjon
      Full Member
      • Sep 2011
      • 165

      Yesterday was 'my' concert - that is, the one I was organising for Core (the charity I work for) and given by the Artesian Quartet at the Royal Academy of Music.

      I'm not one for gushing but for a young group they are astonishingly 'together' and for any group they bring a vibrancy and excitement that I haven't heard for a while. They played Haydn, Schumann, Beethoven and Britten and I don't think I've heard an audience be so unanimous in their approval.

      They are definitely a group of players worth catching if you get the chance.
      The best music is the music that persuades us there is no other music in the world-- Alex Ross

      Comment

      • amateur51

        Originally posted by gingerjon View Post
        Yesterday was 'my' concert - that is, the one I was organising for Core (the charity I work for) and given by the Artesian Quartet at the Royal Academy of Music.

        I'm not one for gushing but for a young group they are astonishingly 'together' and for any group they bring a vibrancy and excitement that I haven't heard for a while. They played Haydn, Schumann, Beethoven and Britten and I don't think I've heard an audience be so unanimous in their approval.

        They are definitely a group of players worth catching if you get the chance.
        Congratulations gingerjon - I'm glad it went well

        How did it go from the fundraising angle?

        Comment

        • gingerjon
          Full Member
          • Sep 2011
          • 165

          Originally posted by amateur51 View Post
          Congratulations gingerjon - I'm glad it went well

          How did it go from the fundraising angle?
          I believe we refer to it as "good for awareness raising and networking".
          The best music is the music that persuades us there is no other music in the world-- Alex Ross

          Comment

          • amateur51

            Originally posted by gingerjon View Post
            I believe we refer to it as "good for awareness raising and networking".
            Exactly that, gingerjon - well done! I hope that the raised awareness leads to fundraising success in the near future

            Comment

            • clive heath

              ......the two of us also enjoyed the "London" Symphony, "Schéhérezade" and "Taras Bulba" concert (see#417) sitting for the first time along the side (Row W) which puts you nearer the action and is good for audience watching. There was a moment in the Ravel when I thought "hang on, those chords..."?? and I recalled that VW had studied with Ravel (his junior). Checking up later it was for some months in 1907/8. There were times in the Janacek when the music seemed in Concerto for Orchestra mode with individual sections or soloists given a spot to shine.

              A week earlier Sir Mark had conducted "Dream of Gerontius" with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and soloists Sarah Connolly (mezzo-soprano), Paul Groves (tenor) & James Rutherford (bass). The choirs were those of the London Philharmonic and of Clare College, Cambridge. As I had sung this work (in the tenors) twice under the baton of Eric Brown ( conductor of Imperial College Choir for many years ) it was long overdue to experience the work from the audience and a marvellous performance it was. The violins were left and right as for the VW a week later and the double-basses were behind the firsts. Anyone who can get a large choir to sing pianissimo is OK by me.

              So today we emerge from the Queens Gallery ( Dürer etc) and the suggestion is made that we go to Westminster Cathedral. What an amazing feast of marble and mosaic this building is! And.. the first thing I see is a "Station of the Cross" which has just got to be by Eric Gill (it was, phew) and the next thing is a panel to Cardinal Newman, a mosaic by the artist Tom Phillips, who has also created a pair of panels to celebrate the centenary of the first London performance (1903) of Elgar's masterpiece which are placed in the adjacent side chapel to that dedicated to St. George which has more reliefs by Eric Gill. I was puzzled by a detail on Station X

              Saint Wilfrid is a vibrant Anglican (Church of England) Church based in the coastal town of Bognor Regis, on the South Coast of the UK.


              namely the pair of dice in the lower right hand corner where the two lowest faces have dots adding up to 10. But I got it later.

              Comment

              • Ferretfancy
                Full Member
                • Nov 2010
                • 3487

                clive heath

                I'm glad you enjoyed the Halle concert, and the Ravel/ RVW connection is certainly there in some of the symphony's scoring. Elder took the scherzo quite swiftly, and perhaps that was why a thought struck me for the first time -had Vaughan Williams heard Petrushka ? He may have seen the Diaghilev ballet, which was premiered in Paris in 1911, a
                return visit to Ravel maybe? No doubt experts here will know.
                I seem to be visiting quite a lot of Russian heroes at the moment, after Taras Bulba we are off to the Barbican on Saturday for a showing of Alexander Nevsky with Prokofiev's score played live, that should be fun !

                Comment

                • Dave2002
                  Full Member
                  • Dec 2010
                  • 18008

                  Originally posted by clive heath View Post
                  I was puzzled by a detail on Station X

                  Saint Wilfrid is a vibrant Anglican (Church of England) Church based in the coastal town of Bognor Regis, on the South Coast of the UK.


                  namely the pair of dice in the lower right hand corner where the two lowest faces have dots adding up to 10. But I got it later.
                  Go on. Give us a clue!

                  Comment

                  • clive heath

                    Matthew Recit 58a

                    Comment

                    • Simon B
                      Full Member
                      • Dec 2010
                      • 779

                      Lots of concerts recently, with Jan/Feb being peak time after the relative wasteland of December (unless the crassmass cheesefest and endless waltzing is your thing).

                      Readers will be relieved that I don't have time to comment much on Adams/LSO on 17/1 (thrilling Harmonielehre, an ideal match with the LSO virtuoso powerhouse style), LPO/Jurowksi R Strauss on 19/1 (widely reviewed in the press - sensational Salome closing scene with Karita Matilla), LPO/Elder Gerontius on 26/1 (again widely positively reviewed - I agree) and the Philharmonia/Salonen Lutoslawski/Ravel (Salonen sure knows how to wind up the end of Daphnis - much better than Rattle's pretty but rather adrenaline-free effort with the BPO at the Proms) on 30/1 mentioned by Ferret above.

                      As it's not likely to have got any coverage in the nationals, my barely coherent musings on RLPO/Petrenko in Liverpool on 16/1 go like this. The main event was Tchaikovsky 6. RLPO/Petrenko don't deliver in Russian rep with quite the regularity of a few seasons ago and so it was here - until the last movement at least. Somehow it was all a little cool and reigned in, brass rather too genteel, the march insufficiently fast and ultimately manic for my taste. I think Gergiev and the LSO at the 2006 Proms may have "spoiled" this piece for me permanently - with a performance of such tension, manic energy, fury and ultimate utter despair that all those that have followed have been a bit of a let down. One common feature was that Petrenko dived straight from the march into the last movement (in which things suddenly came "alive" to a much greater degree - "Russian soul" and other cliches) - if any thing even sooner than Gergiev did to some adverse comment. At least it silences the clappers PDQ...

                      Next up (on Thursday 7/2) is RLPO/Petrenko in the Part Britten Cantus, Turnage's Cello Concerto and Shostakovich 4. That promises to be a barrel of laughs! I have a good feeling about this one though - almost every experience of Petrenko's Shostakovich live (less keen on the Naxos recordings - pretty dodgy sonics IMO) has been pretty intense. Then on Sunday, the Halle/Elder's Meistersinger Act III to bring (hopefully) rather more cheer!

                      Comment

                      • jean
                        Late member
                        • Nov 2010
                        • 7100

                        Originally posted by Simon B View Post
                        Next up (on Thursday 7/2) is RLPO/Petrenko in the Part Britten Cantus, Turnage's Cello Concerto and Shostakovich 4. That promises to be a barrel of laughs! I have a good feeling about this one though - almost every experience of Petrenko's Shostakovich...live...has been pretty intense.
                        And so it was this time, as I hope you agree!

                        The Pärt was effective, the Turnage I'm afraid I found rather boring, but the Shostakovich was electrifying. The concert is being discussed in more detail here.

                        Comment

                        • clive heath

                          Moscow City Ballet

                          Sleeping Beauty this evening at Richmond (and touring: Bath, Crawley, Scunthorpe (don't laugh, I've played Scunthorpe!)).
                          Absolutely staggering colour, movement, style, grace, humour and so much of the choreography working with the music, I found myself being aware that I had a silly grin on my face at the wonder of it all. Having only ever been to about six or so ballets I feel I have yet to learn how to get the best out of the spectacle. For part of it during the solos I tried to watch the whole person rather than flitting from feet to legs to arms to hands. This meant focussing on the torso and letting the periphery do its stuff! Bizarre or what.
                          I was intrigued by the band. About a dozen upper strings, 2 Vc, 1 Db, 2 Cl, 1 ea Fl, Ob, Bs, 2 ea Tpt, Tmb, Cor and 1 perc. Would the original score have been for a normal symphony orchestra? or less and if so how close to what there was this evening? The sound was so clear and (sitting about 10 rows back centrally in the stalls) in excellent stereo. It made me wonder whether the score has been recorded with these modest forces, or even a video

                          Comment

                          • Ferretfancy
                            Full Member
                            • Nov 2010
                            • 3487

                            At the Barbican this evening, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and BBC Chorus conducted by Martyn Brabbins gave us a fascinating performance accompanying a showing of Eisenstein's famous film Alexander Nevsky.
                            This was not actually the cantata that Prokofiev later devised, but a reconstruction of the music for the film. The composer used a chamber orchestra to record the film's original sound track, but sadly the quality is quite abysmal. There are quite long sequences in the film with no music, just dialogue and FX, and tonight the transitions from these to the live performance were beautifully managed using the scoring used for the cantata. We were told that almost all the original music was heard tonight, although there are changes in the order. As an example, we are used to hearing the Battle on the Ice followed by the lead in to the mezzo-soprano's lament, but the battle in the film is longer, and the score is interrupted by dialogue and the sound of fighting

                            I don't think I've ever seen a more packed Barbican platform, or indeed a larger audience here for the BBC SO. The evening was a fascinating triumph, even if the statuesque acting seems rather quaint today. Dialogue was not Eisenstein's forte !

                            A great evening.

                            Comment

                            • Simon B
                              Full Member
                              • Dec 2010
                              • 779

                              Originally posted by jean View Post
                              And so it was this time, as I hope you agree!

                              The Pärt was effective, the Turnage I'm afraid I found rather boring, but the Shostakovich was electrifying. The concert is being discussed in more detail here.
                              In short, yes. Tim Ashley in the Grauniad (http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2013...etrenko-review sums it up well:

                              "Petrenko's performance of Shostakovich's most controversial symphony, meanwhile, ranks among his finest and most uncompromising achievements. Refusing to find so much as a hint of consolation in the work, his brutal interpretation, less overtly Mahlerian than most, swivelled between unspeakable violence and sullen despair. The RLPO played as if their lives depended on it, and the sheer sonic weight of it all was at times overwhelming. Outstanding."

                              Comment

                              • richardfinegold
                                Full Member
                                • Sep 2012
                                • 7651

                                Hopkinson Smith, 2/10/13, Northwestern University (Chicago, Il) played all the Bach Cello Suites on a Theorbo (bass lute).
                                Smith is a sober serious minded fellow who plays very gently and softly.

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