What was your last concert?

[salymap]

I have been tempted for ages to say my last concert was probably at the Queen's Hall,Sir Henry Wood, etc but as I was asked about concerts there I won't. I was not even a teenager when it was bombed in 1940/41.

I think my last concert was in the 1970s or 80s but can't remember what it was. Sorry. London has become further and further away but thank goodness for these MBs and R3, for all its faults.

We do have a good amateur orchestra but haven't seen anything about them recently.

[Nick Armstrong]

What a triffic concert & venue, Caliban - and family involvement too. Any idea from which London church the organ oringinated?

Alain Maréchal has solved the puzzle on the Choir thread about the instrument...

[Zucchini]

I just want to tell you a charming story about the meeting of Andris Nelsons & the CBSO with Mitsuko Uchida some days ago. They played: Webern: 6 Pieces / Mozart: PC 17 /Messiaen: Exotic Birds / Scriabin: Poem of Ecstasy

Unfortunately I couldn't attend either performance so joined the rehearsal. Mitsuko had already delighted everyone at the CBSO Centre and did the same with the orchestra and Andris who she had never met. There seemed to be a bond and mutual understanding between them within minutes.

I'm told that at each performance she took a seat in the audience when not playing. And CBSO players not required when she was playing also joined the audience.

After her final ovation on the second night she returned to the platform and presented small bouquets of flowers to each section leader. Lovely

[amateur51]

Last Tuesday I attended a concert at London's Cadogan Hall given by Moscow State Symphony Orchestra conducted by Pavel Kogan, the conductor son of Leonid Kogan & Elizabeth Gilels. It was the second of three concerts to include the final three Tchaikovsky symphonies plus other orchestral works. I was sitting with some friends in the left-hand Gallery sitting over the orchestra with a great view of the maestro ( I was directly in line with him).

I was always rather a fan of the Soviet-style Russian orchestral sound with fruity woodwind and wobbly brass and it was clear from the start of Francesca da Rimini that those days were long gone, though I must say that the orchestral sound was very distinguished, just less distinctive. Pavel Kogan conducts sans baton and has what initially looks like a hand technique more like someone carding a skein of wool. The orchestra however clearly understood his gestures and the overture brought a roar of approval from the two-thirds full hall.

The soloist in the Rococo variations was Nina Kotova. and in truth I was not in a good position to hear her in good balance with the orchestra. She seemed a bit tight at the top end but played with a charm that was reciprocated in the orchestra. Smiles all round and she played JS Bach (prelude from solo suite no 3 I think) as an encore.

After the interval everything cranked up a gear in terms of passion and commitment for Tchaikovsky symphony no 5. Kogan's gestures and style had grown on me & I was spotting familiar gestures from Svetlanov ( putting the shot gesture at the timps & brass), Rozhdestvensky, Temirkanov and even Gergiev occasionally. The orchestra playing was wonderful (especially that close up) and the interplay between woodwind and brass in the slow movement was outstanding. By the final movement we were willing them all over the edge of the cliff and they damn' near went over - it was tremendously exciting and I was on the edge of my seat, everyone around me bobbing their heads, etc.

The audience once again roared its approval and delight and Kogan seemed genuinely moved by their reception. He even looked up at our section of the gallery, such was the noise we were making

Bt it was not over - a bassoonist making a late entrance while the orchestra was receiving its ovation alerted us to the possibility of an encore, but what an encore! It was introduced by Kogan as "Khatchaturian Waltz" and once again the orchestra was fully inside the idiom, breathing fresh life into a piece that might have been dismissed as a 'warhorse/lollipop'. And again the audience gave vent to our appreciation and once again we were rewarded, this time with Johann Strauss II's 'Memories of Covent Garden' By this everyone was having a great time but that was to be it!

There is one more concert left in this short series, featuring Tchaikovsky violin concerto and sympnony no 6 and I would heartily recommend it if your like Tchaikovsky played with passion and panache

http://www.cadoganhall.com/tour-dates/zurich-international-concert-series-2012-13

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

just home from this

a compelling set of performances of pieces for violin & piano; the first half was stupendous, the opening Janacek a revelation .... we sat in stunned silence for minutes at the end of the Prokofiev, truly awesome playing from Ann Bolt [Piano] and Martin Cropper [Violin]

i would not want to overstate this, but sometimes one is beyond luck or fortune in hearing a performance such as this

[rauschwerk]

Four concerts last week at the Music in the Round Festival in the Sheffield Crucible Studio. Not having been to a concert there for some years, I was struck anew by the extraordinary intimacy of this space.

On Monday evening (members of Ensemble 360 with Peter Cropper) we had a piano trio by Sterndale Bennett of which I expected a good deal but got very little. Then the Schumann Piano Quartet which is a fine piece and was well performed. If only I didn't keep wishing I were hearing the Quintet instead! After the interval, Mendelssohn's first string quintet which Peter (who played second viola) rightly described as one of the secret masterpieces of chamber music. This was, for me, the highlight of the evening.

On Tuesday at lunchtime we had two Chopin Nocturnes, music with a Scottish flavour by Judith Weir and James Macmillan and finally the first of Mendelssohn's two piano trios. This can seem a weak piece in the wrong hands, but it received a wonderful performance which was received with great enthusiasm.

That same evening we had a programme entitled 'Master and Pupil': music by Stanford, Ireland and Bridge (the second and third being pupils of the first), and finally Britten (a pupil of both the previous two). An Ireland Phantasy Trio was pleasant but forgettable, whilst the Bridge piano quintet received a performance of great passion. Prof. Jeremy Dibble (who had given a pre-concert talk) applauded so hard I thought his hands might fall off. The odd thing abut Bridge's music is that, once the applause has subsided, I can hardly ever recall any of the tunes. After the interval, a horn quintet by Stanford which the horn player described as genuine chamber music, not a chamber concerto. I thought it an above average piece and it kept my attention throughout. Then a first rate performance of the third quartet of Britten. I have heard this a few times (only once live) but this was the first performance which made me feel I understood the piece. The final movement was really haunting.

On Wednesday evening a complete change: the Avison Ensemble with sonatas, suites and trios by Purcell, Locke, Handel, Geminiani, Avison, Veracini and others. One highlight was a rather loopy sonata by Veracini with mad display passages which didn't really fit into the rest of the piece. Pavlo Besnosiuk, having described this as a 'cold shower for violinists' went on to play it brilliantly.

For performer of the week my vote goes to Tim Horton (piano) who will surely one day inherit the mantle of Ian Brown. Playing on a lidless Steinway, he never once embarrassed the string players, yet his playing was never merely self-effacing.

I only wished I could have stayed another day to hear John Mark Ainsley!

[verismissimo]

Coming up on Sunday afternoon:

Alissa Firsova plays Beethoven, Brahms and Rachmaninov
King’s Sutton Parish Church
Sunday 26 May at 3:00pm
A welcome return to King’s Sutton for the outstanding young pianist, Alissa Firsova. She has been coming to play for us since she was a teenager and has grown to become one of the finest pianists of her generation – a “rising young star” said the Oxford Times.
This time she will perform Beethoven’s last Piano Sonata (in C minor Op 111), Brahms’s 6 Pieces Op 118 and Rachmaninov preludes.
Come and join us for some wonderful music-making (and for tea and cakes).

[Mahler's3rd]

WNO's Lohengrin at The Millennium Centre on Sunday afternoon

[Wensleydale Blue]

I was in Grinton Church last night to listen to the young Polish 'Royal Quartet' play Haydn, Lutowslawski and Beethoven (132). Lots of east European vibrato and very spirited playing in lovely surroundings. No bats this year though

Apparently they get their name from the Tyre manufacturer - I kid you not

[teamsaint]

sounds like a good week up at Sheffield, Rauschy .

As for Wensleydale Blue's night out, well I am firmly of the opinion that far too many classical music groups, from orchestras to string quartets, have really boring names, so even sponsorship might help. !

[Wensleydale Blue]

Not sponsorship - seems like they saw the name in an advertisement and went for it

[teamsaint]

Not sponsorship - seems like they saw the name in an advertisement and went for it

well more fool them !! (especially being on the road a fair bit !!)
I did think that was what you meant, but either way, ensemble names are SO boring and predictable. You would think quartets especially would want to stand out from the crowd !! Unfortunately the lot you saw don't seem to me to have chosen a distinctive name especially, but what do I know?!
sounds like a cracking programme and a nice night out , WB.

[hmvman]

Last Saturday evening the Yorkshire Bach Choir in St Micael-le-Belfrey in York. Duruflé Four Motets on Gregorian Themes and the Mass by Frank Martin. I didn't know either of these works before and enjoyed them very much. The second part of the concert was Fauré Cantique de Jean Racine and the Requiem. All very well sung indeed.

On Thursday to St Martin-le-Grand in York for a lunchtime recital on the little gem of an organ there. The organist was John Bradbury and the music was by Purcell, Stanley, Pescetti, Flor Peeters, MacDowall and Behnke. The lunchtime organ recitals in the city are one of the musical highlights of the summer for me. Details of recitals in York (and lots of other places) here: www.organrecitals.com

[scottycelt]

Unsure if this counts but Friday's Boulez/Bruckner concert by way of the Berlin Phil Digital Concert Hall! What a marvellous facility this is, especially when viewed on a large TV screen with good sound through headphones, when you can soak up all the hall atmosphere. You get the best view(s) in the house, and all for 9.90 Eur!

I thoroughly enjoyed a selection of Boulez's orchestrated Notations ... 'a work in progress', apparently ... and this made a refreshing change from the seemingly standard practice of preceding Bruckner with Mozart. Messiaen's influence in the work seemed clear to me, with some marvellous percussion.

Apart from a heavily audible and damned infuriating "door squeak" right after the great climax in the Bruckner 7 Adagio this was as near-perfect a rendition of the symphony as I've ever heard live, and I've heard quite a few, believe me. Rattle brought passion to the work as well as grandeur and it deservedly won a standing ovation from some in the audience. The conductor's style is not to everyone's taste maybe, but the sometimes exaggerated signals and facial expressions somehow seemed genuine here. Rattle knows (and obviously loves) this work, and No 9, as well as any conductor, though I do wish we could see him conduct some of the other symphonies, especially Nos 5 & 8. Still, in the true tradition of Bruckner conductors, maybe he is saving his best till last!

Britten's War Requiem is next on the Rattle agenda at the Philharmonie on the 15th June and I, for one, won't miss it ...

[Demetrius]

As a sort of farewell to this season,

Ottmar Gerster: Overture "Enoch Arden"
Benjamin Britten: 4 Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes

Vaughan Williams: Sea Symphony

Jenaer Philharmonie


Quite a concert, Sea Symphony meant that at one point for every 3 listeners there was one performer on the stage Gerster seems to be a German composer with local history they dug up, fun piece really, but I imediately forgot everything about it; won't try to dig it up as a recording. Britten was brilliant, as was the Sea Symphony, though the soloists had to try a bit hard to keep up. But I'm still not completely sure about the Symphony as a whole; bits I like a lot. It's certainly a piece that gains a lot by listening to it live, sadly I don't think I will get another chance to do that any time soon.

The plans for next season by several local orchestras have been published, and along with quite a lot of Americans the Britten Birthday seems to ensure some bits of British music hereabouts.
Just a few:
Barber Adagio for Strings
Britten Cello Symphony, Peter Grimes (full Opera)
Copland Appalachian Spring
Schuman New England Tryptych
Harris Violin Concerto
Holst Sextet
Unnamed Pieces (short chamberworks/arrangements for brassband) by York Bowen, Frank Bridge, Benjamin Dale, John Dowland, William Byrd, Thomas Tallis

Bernstein, bits of "On the Town" and "Fancy Free"
Holst Planets
John Williams Star Wars Suite

+ Britten Noye´s Fludde in a few weeks, in accordance with the weather at the moment.

Not too bad for sleepy German backwoods towns like Jena or Gera