Originally posted by teamsaint
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Liadov, Anatol Konstantinovich (1855-1914)
Kikimora, Op.63
Prokofiev, Sergey (1891-1953)
Violin Concerto no. 1 in D major, Op.19
Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich (1840-1893)
Symphony no. 6 in B minor, "Pathétique", Op.74
St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra
Leticia Muñoz Moreno
Violin
Yuri Temirkanov
Conductor
I was at this evening of Russian music at The Anvil Basingstoke on Friday night.
A pleasant enough evening for the time of year, the streets lights glinting cheekily on the surface of the inner ring road.
Wasn’t really surewhat to expect from any of the performers, since this was a ticket I had swapped with the venue after rather double booking myself later this month .
The Liadov was a lovely way to open the concert. I suspect it may have been used in part to settle the audience before the Prokofiev…or perhaps not !!I had heard a few mumblings about “the first half” from folks in the almost capacity turn out before the concert started . If you don’t know the Liadov, it’s a lovely romantic tone poem, which serves well as an overture.
To the Prokofiev. The soloist Leticia Moreno, is certainly hard to ignore. Her generally stern countenance could hardly have been in greater contrast to her dress, which, just in case JLW is looking in, I will try to describe. A full length bright pink affair, with tiny shoulder straps, and bold black floral outlines. It has a big Flamenco thing going on below the knee at the back and was slit at the front also to the knee. It was very close fitting . Very striking certainly.
I’m not sure that the piece ever really took off, although it was enjoyable enough. The best moments were when Moreno really let herself go, and threw herself into the music, but it all seemed just a fraction polite to me, almost as if the performers sensed the audiences inhibitions about the music. A decent response at the end, but no encore, and it did, in the end , all feel just a tad perfunctory.
Of course, the big crowd had really come for the Pathetique. Falling off a log is probably difficult , for this band and conductor, compared to running through this work. It must be in their very marrow, and without any doubt they performed it with a great sense of ease and style. Termikanov has an easy , and easy on the eye style, and must be the master of the tiny hand gesture. With his arms almost always held low down when gesturing to the players, it’s a wonder that most of them can see what it is he requires. All that said, he didn’t seem to have any trouble at all getting the desired responses. Somehow, the orchestra’s ease with the piece seemed to shine through in the March, which was pretty awe inspiring.
Not a dry eye in the house after a beautiful finale, of course. A really big response from the audience led to encore of " Nimrod".
Not knowing much about Temikarnov, I was unaware of his more than somewhat dubious views about women conductors. I have been pretty uncompromising on this board in my views on Gergiev, and , FWIW, unless Termikanov comes out with rather different views that those previously expressed, I wouldn’t support one of his concerts again. Consistency is important.if not always easy to achieve.
Kikimora, Op.63
Prokofiev, Sergey (1891-1953)
Violin Concerto no. 1 in D major, Op.19
Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich (1840-1893)
Symphony no. 6 in B minor, "Pathétique", Op.74
St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra
Leticia Muñoz Moreno
Violin
Yuri Temirkanov
Conductor
I was at this evening of Russian music at The Anvil Basingstoke on Friday night.
A pleasant enough evening for the time of year, the streets lights glinting cheekily on the surface of the inner ring road.
Wasn’t really surewhat to expect from any of the performers, since this was a ticket I had swapped with the venue after rather double booking myself later this month .
The Liadov was a lovely way to open the concert. I suspect it may have been used in part to settle the audience before the Prokofiev…or perhaps not !!I had heard a few mumblings about “the first half” from folks in the almost capacity turn out before the concert started . If you don’t know the Liadov, it’s a lovely romantic tone poem, which serves well as an overture.
To the Prokofiev. The soloist Leticia Moreno, is certainly hard to ignore. Her generally stern countenance could hardly have been in greater contrast to her dress, which, just in case JLW is looking in, I will try to describe. A full length bright pink affair, with tiny shoulder straps, and bold black floral outlines. It has a big Flamenco thing going on below the knee at the back and was slit at the front also to the knee. It was very close fitting . Very striking certainly.
I’m not sure that the piece ever really took off, although it was enjoyable enough. The best moments were when Moreno really let herself go, and threw herself into the music, but it all seemed just a fraction polite to me, almost as if the performers sensed the audiences inhibitions about the music. A decent response at the end, but no encore, and it did, in the end , all feel just a tad perfunctory.
Of course, the big crowd had really come for the Pathetique. Falling off a log is probably difficult , for this band and conductor, compared to running through this work. It must be in their very marrow, and without any doubt they performed it with a great sense of ease and style. Termikanov has an easy , and easy on the eye style, and must be the master of the tiny hand gesture. With his arms almost always held low down when gesturing to the players, it’s a wonder that most of them can see what it is he requires. All that said, he didn’t seem to have any trouble at all getting the desired responses. Somehow, the orchestra’s ease with the piece seemed to shine through in the March, which was pretty awe inspiring.
Not a dry eye in the house after a beautiful finale, of course. A really big response from the audience led to encore of " Nimrod".
Not knowing much about Temikarnov, I was unaware of his more than somewhat dubious views about women conductors. I have been pretty uncompromising on this board in my views on Gergiev, and , FWIW, unless Termikanov comes out with rather different views that those previously expressed, I wouldn’t support one of his concerts again. Consistency is important.if not always easy to achieve.
It had a few people audibly sobbing in the audience...
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