What was your last concert?

[Beef Oven!]

They don't make em like that any more !!

Thank goodness!!

[teamsaint]

Thank goodness!!

well at least you could take the battery out, AND replace it with Duracells !!

[Ferretfancy]

An excellent concert at the Barbican this evening, with the BBC SO on good form. The first item was Poulenc's Figure humaine (1943 ) for unaccompanied chorus.

I knew the name of this piece, but had not heard it before. It is a setting of poems by Poulenc's friend Paul Eluard ending in praise of Liberty. Tonight's performance by the BBC Singers echoed the premiere given by the BBC Chorus on 25th March 1945. I found it fascinating but rather too constantly loud for my taste. The chorus stood in a shallow arc in two rows across the front of the stage, good for detail but rather oppressive in the stalls.

More Poulenc next, the delightful Concerto for Two Pianos ( 1932 ) with David Kadouch and Guillaume Vincent as soloists and Marc Minkowsky conducting. This was riveting both in style and execution with wonderfully integrated playing between the pianists. The pianos were quite closely miked for this performance, and I did wonder how effective this would sound on air, balance was excellent in the hall.

Next came a slightly slow but beautiful performance of Ravel's Ma Mere L'Oye, the complete ballet, not the suite. This found the BBC SO at their very best, what orchestral magic there is in this piece

The evening concluded with Roussel's Third Symphony, which I had not heard live. I have recordings by Janowski, Bernstein and Ansermet, but have never really come to terms with this music until now. Perhaps the aggression in the first movement acted as a deterrent on disc. In any event I doubt if I will hear a better performance for some time. It was quite obvious that Minkowski and the BBC SO like each other and the result was an evening of fascinating music making.

Tonight's live broadcast will be available on IPlayer for seven days, catch it if you can.

[Rolmill]

Concert at a local church this evening, with a rather enterprising programme: Stravinsky's piano duet version of Rite of Spring (Jong-Gyung Park and Anthony Zerpa-Falcon), followed by Quartet for the End of Time (Thomas Bowes, Tim Lines, Tim Gill, Eleanor Alberga). The Stravinsky was fascinating - quite a different experience, less colourful than the full orchestra but lots of harmony and detail that I haven't noticed before. The Messiaen was (as expected) magical and moving, with a particularly ethereal rendition of the Vocalise and some wonderfully intense solos. A marvellous evening.

[teamsaint]

Great link teamsaints - cheers! (they played that number at the gig).

Earlier today:

Free Lunchtime Concert @ Royal Festival Hall -

Berio, Folk Songs
Miles Davis, 1964 Concert
Riley's In C

Ensembles from Trinity Laban Conservatoire Of Music and Dance


Free Evening Concert @ Royal Festival Hall - Ornette Coleman Free Jazz Revisited Musicians ibid, directed by Chris Batchelor.


Not free (in fact quite expensive at £45 plus £1.75 booking fee) concert @ Royal Festival Hall

Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestra, Marin Alsop & Swingle singers:

Guarnieri - Symphony #4

Bernstein - Symphonic Dances From West Side Story

Berio - Sinfonia

Stonking concert, Marin Alsop is my new hero (heroine?)

review from the FT .

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/795e01d8-3fbb-11e3-8882-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2j3WiRdwH

[amateur51]

An excellent concert at the Barbican this evening, with the BBC SO on good form. The first item was Poulenc's Figure humaine (1943 ) for unaccompanied chorus.

I knew the name of this piece, but had not heard it before. It is a setting of poems by Poulenc's friend Paul Eluard ending in praise of Liberty. Tonight's performance by the BBC Singers echoed the premiere given by the BBC Chorus on 25th March 1945. I found it fascinating but rather too constantly loud for my taste. The chorus stood in a shallow arc in two rows across the front of the stage, good for detail but rather oppressive in the stalls.

More Poulenc next, the delightful Concerto for Two Pianos ( 1932 ) with David Kadouch and Guillaume Vincent as soloists and Marc Minkowsky conducting. This was riveting both in style and execution with wonderfully integrated playing between the pianists. The pianos were quite closely miked for this performance, and I did wonder how effective this would sound on air, balance was excellent in the hall.

Next came a slightly slow but beautiful performance of Ravel's Ma Mere L'Oye, the complete ballet, not the suite. This found the BBC SO at their very best, what orchestral magic there is in this piece

The evening concluded with Roussel's Third Symphony, which I had not heard live. I have recordings by Janowski, Bernstein and Ansermet, but have never really come to terms with this music until now. Perhaps the aggression in the first movement acted as a deterrent on disc. In any event I doubt if I will hear a better performance for some time. It was quite obvious that Minkowski and the BBC SO like each other and the result was an evening of fascinating music making.

Tonight's live broadcast will be available on IPlayer for seven days, catch it if you can.

A great report, Ferret - many thanks

[Mahler's3rd]

Viktoria Mullova at Bristol St Georges with an all Bach Concerto programme, it was fabulous

[Thropplenoggin]

Brahms: Violin Concerto op. 77, Symphony No. 4 - Gewandhausorchester Leipzig/Chailly

The opening movement of the Violin Concerto achieved escape velocity, so much so that nothing else that followed could match it. I could have left at that point and felt happy that my money was well spent. Last night Kavakos touched the hem of His garment. The seemingly laconic Greek with his rockstar/Jesus curtains moved from incendiary runs to the tenderest wisps of sound - the audiorium putty in his hands, hanging on every rapturous note. His final cadenza was ingenious, especially how it wound its way back into the orchestra to return to the opening theme (is this right, Ed?).

The synchronicity with Chailly and the superb orchestra showed that egos had been left outside, that each respected the other to play their part. The result was moments of raw power, mystery, transcendence, all in that first movement.

There are two moments that give me goosebumps here. One reminds me of that key change (in Beethoven's VC around the 12' mark (here at 12'51-2) and lasts about a minute, when he channels the Higher Realm, offering us a glimpse behind the curtain into the Platonic Realm of Ideal Forms. Otherworldly, it bespeaks the Arcane, the Esoteric. I find this same 'realm' in Bach's adagio from Brandenburg Concerto No. 1, which always brings to mind an unformed image of an ancient sacred fresco with a bronze cast (my one moment of synesthesia) - a picture imbued with ineffable Mystery. This similar moment in Brahms's VC appears twice. Here - 7'48 - 7'59. Kavakos nailed this. Mysterium tremendens was achieved.

The second is a moment of Consolation. A note that seems to offer this consoling quality. This one here from 21'07-10. Again, I believe it to be chromatic i.e. belonging to another key. I'm sure our musicological boffins will say what it is. Kavakos drew out this note with such a beautiful, melifluous, keening tone (his notes in the upper registers were ever thus last night)...it was almost unbearably beautiful.

Floating somewhere near Betelgeuse, I was in no hurry to return to Earth. A sort of stupefaction held sway momentarily. Time stopped. Alas, the between-movement cough-fest ensued. How could the Second Movement not suffer in comparison? It did. And the Spirit of the Dance of the third movement, too, although thrillingly played.

The 4th was finely played - not spell-binding - though the first oboeist, clarinetist and flautist all deserve credit for their contributions. Does anyone love the 4th as much as Symphonies 1 (post-Beethoven thunder), 2 and 3 (so lyrical)? Last night it sounded like a precursor of Mahler's later works and the 20th Century - I mean more 'post-Romantic' or 'modern' than Late Romantic. Slightly unhinged, and, at moments, very dark.

To sum up and put it very crudely: they peaked too soon, but, Oh, what a peak that was!

---

I look forward to hearing what other Forumites in attendance made of it all..

[teamsaint]

Thanks for the great review,@Noggo. Sounds like a fine night out indeed.

In some ways, i think we should add a star rating system to these reviews, to cover the basics, such as audience behaviour, conductors dress sense, quality of house red, audience numbers, that sort of thing.

Reviews such as yours and so many others on here always leave me wishing i could hear the concert.

[Sir Velo]

Brahms: Violin Concerto op. 77, Symphony No. 4 - Gewandhausorchester Leipzig/Chailly

The opening movement of the Violin Concerto achieved escape velocity, so much so that nothing else that followed could match it. I could have left at that point and felt happy that my money was well spent. Last night Kavakos touched the hem of His garment. The seemingly laconic Greek with his rockstar/Jesus curtains moved from incendiary runs to the tenderest wisps of sound - the audiorium putty in his hands, hanging on every rapturous note. His final cadenza was ingenious, especially how it wound its way back into the orchestra to return to the opening theme (is this right, Ed?).

The synchronicity with Chailly and the superb orchestra showed that egos had been left outside, that each respected the other to play their part. The result was moments of raw power, mystery, transcendence, all in that first movement.

There are two moments that give me goosebumps here. One reminds me of that key change (in Beethoven's VC around the 12' mark (here at 12'51-2) and lasts about a minute, when he channels the Higher Realm, offering us a glimpse behind the curtain into the Platonic Realm of Ideal Forms. Otherworldly, it bespeaks the Arcane, the Esoteric. I find this same 'realm' in Bach's adagio from Brandenburg Concerto No. 1, which always brings to mind an unformed image of an ancient sacred fresco with a bronze cast (my one moment of synesthesia) - a picture imbued with ineffable Mystery. This similar moment in Brahms's VC appears twice. Here - 7'48 - 7'59. Kavakos nailed this. Mysterium tremendens was achieved.

The second is a moment of Consolation. A note that seems to offer this consoling quality. This one here from 21'07-10. Again, I believe it to be chromatic i.e. belonging to another key. I'm sure our musicological boffins will say what it is. Kavakos drew out this note with such a beautiful, melifluous, keening tone (his notes in the upper registers were ever thus last night)...it was almost unbearably beautiful.

Floating somewhere near Betelgeuse, I was in no hurry to return to Earth. A sort of stupefaction held sway momentarily. Time stopped. Alas, the between-movement cough-fest ensued. How could the Second Movement not suffer in comparison? It did. And the Spirit of the Dance of the third movement, too, although thrillingly played.

The 4th was finely played - not spell-binding - though the first oboeist, clarinetist and flautist all deserve credit for their contributions. Does anyone love the 4th as much as Symphonies 1 (post-Beethoven thunder), 2 and 3 (so lyrical)? Last night it sounded like a precursor of Mahler's later works and the 20th Century - I mean more 'post-Romantic' or 'modern' than Late Romantic. Slightly unhinged, and, at moments, very dark.

To sum up and put it very crudely: they peaked too soon, but, Oh, what a peak that was!

..

You enjoyed it I take it Throps?

Personally, I would rank the fourth as primus inter pares: granite-like; inexorable; deeply tragic with not a hint of consolation as the maelstrom engulfs the listener.

[HighlandDougie]

I thought that the Violin Concerto needed a bit of time to settle down (or maybe, like Dave - see elsewhere - it was just that I was feeling rather below par - I have to own up to contributing to that cough-fest as sinusitis and air conditioning are not a happy mixture - and sitting in the wings of the stalls produced some odd acoustical idiosyncracies) but, when it did, Leonidas Kavakos worked his usual magic on the music. The first movement cadenza was, simply, beautifully played and imagined - and, for me, completely eclipsed the last 'live' performance of this concerto which I'd heard (Anne-Sophie Mutter). I think Thropps's, "time stopped" rather sums it up. The communication among soloist, conductor and orchestra was elsewhere a joy to hear.

The Fourth Symphony (a work I love) was - no surprises here - pretty much identical with the CD, although acoustically decidedly inferior. Chailly has taken this symphony, re-thought it and the result is (and was last night) to take it back to what it must have sounded like when first performed. For me, a joy to hear. Although the LGO were no better than the usual occupants of the Barbican in terms of their playing skills (excellent woodwind, so-so brass), their sound has an overall patina (if that doesn't sound too pseudy) which is a great match for Brahms's music. And the Hungarian Dance No 10 as an encore was, well, a treat.

Chailly cites Weingartner as an influence (see http://www.amazon.co.uk/Brahms-Symph...es+weingartner). Big footsteps in which to tread but, on the evidence of this concert and of the CDs, a justifiable claim to make. And Kavakos (whom I've now heard in the flesh at least six times in anything from Hartmann to Beethoven) is a great violinist - an Arthur Grumiaux for our times if I can lapse into old fart mode.

The only downside to the evening was having to rush off at the end, thereby missing the opportunity to meet the celebrated Thropplenoggin who, I'm delighted to see from the above, clearly enjoyed his first excursion to the Barbican Hall.

[Thropplenoggin]

I thought that the Violin Concerto needed a bit of time to settle down (or maybe, like Dave - see elsewhere - it was just that I was feeling rather below par - I have to own up to contributing to that cough-fest as sinusitis and air conditioning are not a happy mixture - and sitting in the wings of the stalls produced some odd acoustical idiosyncracies) but, when it did, Leonidas Kavakos worked his usual magic on the music. The first movement cadenza was, simply, beautifully played and imagined - and, for me, completely eclipsed the last 'live' performance of this concerto which I'd heard (Anne-Sophie Mutter). I think Thropps's, "time stopped" rather sums it up. The communication among soloist, conductor and orchestra was elsewhere a joy to hear.

The Fourth Symphony (a work I love) was - no surprises here - pretty much identical with the CD, although acoustically decidedly inferior. Chailly has taken this symphony, re-thought it and the result is (and was last night) to take it back to what it must have sounded like when first performed. For me, a joy to hear. Although the LGO were no better than the usual occupants of the Barbican in terms of their playing skills (excellent woodwind, so-so brass), their sound has an overall patina (if that doesn't sound too pseudy) which is a great match for Brahms's music. And the Hungarian Dance No 10 as an encore was, well, a treat.

Chailly cites Weingartner as an influence (see http://www.amazon.co.uk/Brahms-Symph...es+weingartner). Big footsteps in which to tread but, on the evidence of this concert and of the CDs, a justifiable claim to make. And Kavakos (whom I've now heard in the flesh at least six times in anything from Hartmann to Beethoven) is a great violinist - an Arthur Grumiaux for our times if I can lapse into old fart mode.

The only downside to the evening was having to rush off at the end, thereby missing the opportunity to meet the celebrated Thropplenoggin who, I'm delighted to see from the above, clearly enjoyed his first excursion to the Barbican Hall.

A wonderful read, HD. Great to have your insights, especially regarding Kavakos, who was an unknown entity me. Sorry to hear you were under the weather, but glad you enjoyed the performances nonetheless. I'm sure our paths will cross sooner rather than later, perhaps even at the same venue for the Bruckner in 2014?

As for the venue, I know what you mean about the patchy sound - some instruments seem to vanish and others (the brass) were foregrounded where we were sat, on the left side of the circle facing the stage. Getting into the Barbican felt akin to Sisyphus with his rock, esp. as Mme. Thropplenoggin was towing a suitcase and laptop bag, which I gallantly carried up and down all those endless stairs. I imagine it was easier getting out of Alcatraz than into the Barbican. And what a surreal building! Its interior is reminiscent of the Escher print, 'Relativity' (see below); I saw one senior citizen come a cropper on the stairs within the building, and that was going up them

Hope you feel better soon, HD.

--

Sir Velo: well put. The 'maelstrom' of the finale was really hammered home by Chailly and LGO - the trombones seemed to rend the very air asunder. It was all very Corinithians 1 15:52: 'In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.' Except that they were trombones.

[Beef Oven!]

Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji - Piano Symphony #6. Jonathan Powell, piano. UK Premiere.

Jacqueline Du Pre Music Building, St Hilda's College, Oxford University. 3.00pm Saturday 2nd November 2013.

An astonishing work and an astounding performance.

A solo piano piece in three parts.

The first part is a continuous movement consisting of a prologue and epilogue.

The second part is a massive passacaglia, preceded by four short movements, and followed by three slightly longer ones.

The final part is a series of fugues and interludes framed by a pair of slow movements.

An hour and forty minutes in the first movement, just under 2 hours in the second and an hour twenty in the third.

The time flew by! I looked at my watch in the second movement, thinking that half an hour had passed, and was shocked to realise the movement had been going for one hour and twenty five minutes!! Was it the musician, the work or both?

It was one of the best and most captivating gigs that I have ever attended.

Hopefully Alistair will be providing a more erudite summary in due course.

[Nick Armstrong]

It was all very Corinithians 1 15:52: 'In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.' Except that they were trombones.

Which is of course dead (ahem) right in German where the standard biblical text refers to "der letzten Posaune" - the last trombone - doubling the relevance of your observation! ... And your text was of course used in the 6th movement of JB's 'German Requiem'

"... in einem Augenblick,
zu der Zeit der letzten Posaune.
Denn es wird die Posaune schallen,
und die Toten werden auferstehen
unverweslich
und wir werden verwandelt werden."





Enjoying the latest reviews v much, T-Nog and Beef-O

[teamsaint]

yes, great review of an interesting from Beefy, sounds like he had a great time.

So many of these reviews make me wish I could have been there.