What was your last concert?

[Ferretfancy]

A superb concert at the Royal Festival Hall last night.

SCHUBERT Symphony No. 8 'Unfinisahed'

BRITTEN Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings

SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No. 5

The Philharmonia were in top form with Petrenko conducting. The programme began with a dramatic and moving performance of the Unfinished, with some daring pianissimo playing, Vasily is not afraid of tapering away some passages to near silence. I was halfway back in the front stalls, and needed to really concentrate, which is no bad thing.

The evening's highlight for me was the Britten Serenade, with Mark Padmore and Katy Woolley, who has recently been appointed as first horn with the orchestra.Even the most fearsome passages Britten had devised didn't trouble her. This was superb playing.
Mark Padmore gave us a wonderfully varied reading, very dramatic when required, but wonderfully expressive in the hushed passages. He has a bolder tenor voice than other exponents, Bostridge for example, and this strength makes the music really tell.I don't think I've ever heard a better performance of the Lyke Wake Dirge, it was frighteningly real.

After the interval came the Shostakovich. I have had reservations in the past about Petrenko's RLPO recordings, it's as if some subtle element is missing, and to some extent I felt the same last night. I should say straight away that this was wonderful playing which quite rightly got a standing ovation from some members of the audience. I think that what I have missed is a sense of menace.
Petrenko is a 39 year old man who naturally did not experience the threats against the arts in the Soviet era. To me the older generation of musicians always felt this,, and it shows in the work of musicians like Rhozdestvensky and Mavrinsky, and understood by non Russian conductors like Haitink. What we seem to be getting now is a more objective approach which underplays any subtext in the music. It's refreshing, but something has gone in the process. Who knows? I expect that Petrenko will develop over the years. He's a splendid musician, and last night's performance was certainly quite something!

[Dave2002]

The evening's highlight for me was the Britten Serenade, with Mark Padmore and Katy Woolley, who has recently been appointed as first horn with the orchestra.Even the most fearsome passages Britten had devised didn't trouble her. This was superb playing.
Mark Padmore gave us a wonderfully varied reading, very dramatic when required, but wonderfully expressive in the hushed passages. He has a bolder tenor voice than other exponents, Bostridge for example, and this strength makes the music really tell.I don't think I've ever heard a better performance of the Lyke Wake Dirge, it was frighteningly real.

Mark Padmore is amazing. I heard him in a chamber concert a year or two back doing On Wenlock Edge, and other pieces. His voice is powerful, and the emotional range he evokes is stunning. I had previously been to other concerts where, for various reasons he had been unable to perform - but hearing him can be a near incredible experience. Other people had told me he was good, but I wasn't expecting what I heard at all.

PS: Just found this, which may be relevant and of interest - http://sacconi.com/commission/

[MrGongGong]

PS: Just found this, which may be relevant and of interest - http://sacconi.com/commission/

The Sacconi's are worth going to see if you get the chance

[Dave2002]

The Sacconi's are worth going to see if you get the chance

Very much so, and if anyone has time next weekend to go to their festival in Folkestone I'd recommend that.

[teamsaint]

A superb concert at the Royal Festival Hall last night.

SCHUBERT Symphony No. 8 'Unfinisahed'

BRITTEN Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings

SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No. 5

The Philharmonia were in top form with Petrenko conducting. The programme began with a dramatic and moving performance of the Unfinished, with some daring pianissimo playing, Vasily is not afraid of tapering away some passages to near silence. I was halfway back in the front stalls, and needed to really concentrate, which is no bad thing.

The evening's highlight for me was the Britten Serenade, with Mark Padmore and Katy Woolley, who has recently been appointed as first horn with the orchestra.Even the most fearsome passages Britten had devised didn't trouble her. This was superb playing.
Mark Padmore gave us a wonderfully varied reading, very dramatic when required, but wonderfully expressive in the hushed passages. He has a bolder tenor voice than other exponents, Bostridge for example, and this strength makes the music really tell.I don't think I've ever heard a better performance of the Lyke Wake Dirge, it was frighteningly real.

After the interval came the Shostakovich. I have had reservations in the past about Petrenko's RLPO recordings, it's as if some subtle element is missing, and to some extent I felt the same last night. I should say straight away that this was wonderful playing which quite rightly got a standing ovation from some members of the audience. I think that what I have missed is a sense of menace.
Petrenko is a 39 year old man who naturally did not experience the threats against the arts in the Soviet era. To me the older generation of musicians always felt this,, and it shows in the work of musicians like Rhozdestvensky and Mavrinsky, and understood by non Russian conductors like Haitink. What we seem to be getting now is a more objective approach which underplays any subtext in the music. It's refreshing, but something has gone in the process. Who knows? I expect that Petrenko will develop over the years. He's a splendid musician, and last night's performance was certainly quite something!

Thanks for that excellent report FF.
Very interesting thoughts about Petrenko.
Makes me wish I had been there.

[Richard Tarleton]

Last night in the Oak Hall at Rhosygilwen, near Cardigan: the St Petersburg Quartet, whom I last saw about 10 years ago in Swansea, playing Prokoviev 1, Tchaikovsky 2 and Five Miniatures on Jewish Folk Tunes by Sulkhan Tsintsadze (1990), a short klezmer-ish starter.

The St Ps are in their 30th year, having started life as the Leningrad Conservatoire String Quartet, and still have 2 of the original lineup (leader and cello). Since 2010 they have been resident at, er. Wichita State University in Kansas, and since 2014 have had their first non-Russian player, the 2nd violin. In the top photo on the link they are goofing around with the wrong instruments.

A fine concert in intimate surroundings, they sounded fabulous in the Oak Hall's warm acoustic. I already have their complete Shostakovich quartets on Hyperion, but snapped up their complete Prok and Tchaik quartets at the concert.

Rhosygilwen is a great asset for us here in the wild west, Natalie Clein (a regular) is playing 3 Bach cello suites in June, and Tim Hugh and friends are returning in August - their programme to include Shostakovich 8th string quartet.

[MrGongGong]

Sacconi enthusiasts might like this

http://www.spitalfieldsmusic.org.uk/whats-on/summer-festival-2015/heartfelt/

At the wonderful Spitalfields Festival ............ what's not to Love?

[Nick Armstrong]

One of the handful of 'best ever concerts in my life' - yesterday afternoon, Festival Hall:

Jean Sibelius: Nightride and Sunrise
Sergey Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No.3

Jean Sibelius: Symphony No.5 in E flat

Philharmonia Orchestra
Vladimir Ashkenazy conductor
Daniil Trifonov piano

Ashkenazy's Sibelius vivid, sonorous, thrilling - the Symphony would have been treat enough.... but the concerto performance....

Not sure I have the words. A few spring to mind... incandescent... exhilarating... extraordinary... unbelievable. He really is a pianist in a million. The look of surprised delight on Trifonov's face during many passages later in the piece suggested even he couldn't quite believe what was going on. The ultra-attentive Ashkenazy and top-form Philharmonia were spot on accompanists. If ever a performance was 'on fire' this was it. The first movement made sense as never before, for me; and the last movement ... well. Maybe ferney or Beef O! who were also present can supply some words.

I thought the Sunwook Kim performance on the radio earlier this month was electrifying, and feared disappointment yesterday after that - but no, this took it to yet a different level again.

Literally phenomenal.

[vinteuil]

... I think he quite liked it.

[Beef Oven!]

One of the handful of 'best ever concerts in my life' - yesterday afternoon, Festival Hall:

Jean Sibelius: Nightride and Sunrise
Sergey Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No.3

Jean Sibelius: Symphony No.5 in E flat

Philharmonia Orchestra
Vladimir Ashkenazy conductor
Daniil Trifonov piano

Ashkenazy's Sibelius vivid, sonorous, thrilling - the Symphony would have been treat enough.... but the concerto performance....

Not sure I have the words. A few spring to mind... incandescent... exhilarating... extraordinary... unbelievable. He really is a pianist in a million. The look of surprised delight on Trifonov's face during many passages later in the piece suggested even he couldn't quite believe what was going on. The ultra-attentive Ashkenazy and top-form Philharmonia were spot on accompanists. If ever a performance was 'on fire' this was it. The first movement made sense as never before, for me; and the last movement ... well. Maybe ferney or Beef O! who were also present can supply some words.

I thought the Sunwook Kim performance on the radio earlier this month was electrifying, and feared disappointment yesterday after that - but no, this took it to yet a different level again.

Literally phenomenal.

Indeed, one of the best concerts that I have been to, ever. I'm afraid I don't really have the words either (let's hope ferney does!)

During the interval, you said that in regard to the piano concerto, it was one of the best performances of anything you'd seen. That's no exaggeration, and something I'd completely go along with.

Trifonov was an utter sensation, no other way of putting it. And so dramatic and animated, real 'old-school' stuff. Is he in his early 20s? And it was not just you ferney and I that were awestruck, the entire audience were in rapture.

And we still had Ashkenazy's technicolor, spectacular Sibelius 5 to come! And for me, that was the best Sibelius 5 I've ever witnessed.

There's lots of ways of doing Sibelius and Ashkenazy's bold, vivid technicolour way hit the spot for me. I've gone full circle. Started out with Ashkenazy in the beginning, been through the cool Scandinavians and everything else, and now I'm a born again Ashkenazian!!

He is absurdly athletic on the podium and precise precise in his direction. The orchestra's love for him was palpable.

The Philharmonia were astonishing. Such fortes, such power and precision. Everything was in my view perfect; strings, woodwinds brass and drums!

Rounded off with a sumptuous supper in the Skylon restaurant, an afternoon/evening I shall never forget.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Indeed, one of the best concerts that I have been to, ever. I'm afraid I don't really have the words either (let's hope ferney does!)

During the interval, you said that in regard to the piano concerto, it was one of the best performances of anything you'd seen. That's no exaggeration, and something I'd completely go along with.

Trifonov was an utter sensation, no other way of putting it. And so dramatic and animated, real 'old-school' stuff. Is he in his early 20s? And it was not just you ferney and I that were awestruck, the entire audience were in rapture.

And we still had Ashkenazy's technicolor, spectacular Sibelius 5 to come! And for me, that was the best Sibelius 5 I've ever witnessed.

There's lots of ways of doing Sibelius and Ashkenazy's bold, vivid technicolour way hit the spot for me. I've gone full circle. Started out with Ashkenazy in the beginning, been through the cool Scandinavians and everything else, and now I'm a born again Ashkenazian!!

He is absurdly athletic on the podium and precise precise in his direction. The orchestra's love for him was palpable.

The Philharmonia were astonishing. Such fortes, such power and precision. Everything was in my view perfect; strings, woodwinds brass and drums!

Rounded off with a sumptuous supper in the Skylon restaurant, an afternoon/evening I shall never forget.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

24 hours on, my spirits are still fizzing from this concert: Cali has summed up Trifonov's sensational and totally Musical contribution - a joy to hear and behold. The communication between orchestra, conductor and soloist was ideal - at one point when Trifonov had just moved from a filigree passage to one in which fistfuls of chords were delivered with impeccable Musicianship, I noticed one of the viola players catching the eye of a violinist and they both gave huge grins of appreciation. And the delight on Trifonov's face when listening to the orchestra - this wasn't just a virtuoso shunted in to deliver the solo part; this was a real performance between Musicians. (And that "thumbs up" from Ashkenazy to the first Trumpet after a tricky passage - just l)

And the two Sibelius works - tempi perfectly judged, balance immaculate (such orchestral colour - something I often overlook to my shame when I think of Sibelius): the power of these works in these performances was a total intellectual, psychological and sensual phenomenon: there was not another orchestra or conductor I would rather have heard in these works than those we had yesterday afternoon. Another "born-again Ashkenazian" here!

Y'know when we complain about R3 announcers going over the top with their hyperbolic excesses at often merely decent performances? This was one of those events (yes, in my "top five" concerts, too) when hyperbole is inadequate!

[vinteuil]

... I think he liked it too.

[Beef Oven!]

24 hours on, my spirits are still fizzing from this concert: Cali has summed up Trifonov's sensational and totally Musical contribution - a joy to hear and behold. The communication between orchestra, conductor and soloist was ideal - at one point when Trifonov had just moved from a filigree passage to one in which fistfuls of chords were delivered with impeccable Musicianship, I noticed one of the viola players catching the eye of a violinist and they both gave huge grins of appreciation. And the delight on Trifonov's face when listening to the orchestra - this wasn't just a virtuoso shunted in to deliver the solo part; this was a real performance between Musicians. (And that "thumbs up" from Ashkenazy to the first Trumpet after a tricky passage - just l)

And the two Sibelius works - tempi perfectly judged, balance immaculate (such orchestral colour - something I often overlook to my shame when I think of Sibelius): the power of these works in these performances was a total intellectual, psychological and sensual phenomenon: there was not another orchestra or conductor I would rather have heard in these works than those we had yesterday afternoon. Another "born-again Ashkenazian" here!

Y'know when we complain about R3 announcers going over the top with their hyperbolic excesses at often merely decent performances? This was one of those events (yes, in my "top five" concerts, too) when hyperbole is inadequate!

Perfect summary

[teamsaint]

So glad that you three had such a great time.
One of the blessings of modern life is the extraordinary quality of our performing musicians. you pop along to hear the LPO play some DSCH, and its sheer magic, the Philharmonia seem to top that in Mahler, and then apparently out do themselves in Sibelius.

If this was good, I can't wait to hear them after a couple of weeks extra practice in the second Symphony at The Anvil.
Thanks for your reviews guys. All brilliant.

( incidentally, I have seen Vlad conduct quite a few times over the last couple of years, and he never disappoints, in my experience.)