What was your last concert?

[Nachtigall]

RFH, Philharmonia/Tugan Sokhiev on Thursday 31 March, with Sergey Khachatryan as the outstanding soloist in Shostakovich's First Violin Concerto, awakening memories of his Proms performance of the same work in 2005. A resounding ovation brought an encore of the Bach Chaconne – intense, moving, and full of the subtlest dynamics. You could have heard a pin drop.

Met him afterwards – a charming, modest young man.

[StephenO]

Stephen Hough playing Beethoven (Moonlight Sonata), Janacek, Scriabin and Liszt (B minor Sonata) at Malvern, with Nocturnes by Paderewski and Chopin for encores. Despite one rather obvious mistake in the Moonlight it was the usual high quality of playing we expect from Stephen Hough. Given what a modest, self-effacing man he is, the sheer power and emotion of his playing, particularly in the Liszt, were breathtaking. I hadn't heard either of the Scriabin pieces (Sonatas 4 and 5) before. Hough played them with an incredibly ethereal lightness of touch, yet somehow managed to make parts of No 4 sound almost like a piano rag!

And I loved the fact that he spoke to the audience - literally as well as through the music. I wish more musicians would do that. It adds so much to the concert experience.

[alywin]

Mitsuku Uchida gave a fine performance of Beethoven's 3rd Piano Concerto tonight, with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Mariss Jansons. This was followed by a stunning performance of Ein Heldenleben, with particularly distinguished solo violin playing by the leader, Anton Borachovsky. It was one of those special evenings at the Royal Festival Hall, when everything went well, and the concert had a rapturous reception.
There were microphones on the platform, so I hope that it might be broadcast soon.
I walked across to Embankment station with the music still ringing in my head!

Hi. Just signed up here to say yes, it was absolutely stunning, even listened to "the wrong way round" from the choir stalls (and I by no means share Jansons' enthusiasm for Ein Heldenleben - HOW many times has he brought it to London this century?!), and I think they announced it was being broadcast on R3 on April 7th.

[french frank]

and I think they announced it was being broadcast on R3 on April 7th.

Yup, bingo!

[Bryn]

Xenakis - Eonta, Kottos, Phlegra and La légende d'Eer at the QEH on Saturday evening. I was very tired and that might have had am impact on my lack of any great enthusiasm for the performances. They did not seem 'bad', just not particularly special. Frankly I might well have been better off listening to La légende d'Eer at home, by spinning the Mode DVD. At least I the music would have had the chance of being accompanied by Bruno Rastoin's film material, rather than the boringly empty red-lit stage of the QEH.

I rather wish I had gone to the David Hackbridge Johnson concert given by Maiko Mori and Chisato Kusunoki at the Schott Recital Room instead, but having booked for the Xenakis back in November ... .

[Richard Tarleton]

Last night at the Brangwyn Hall in Swansea - the BBC NOW playing their socks off in Shostakovich 5 - tremendous performance, recorded for future transmission on Afternoon on 3. Fine soloists in all departments - I'd perhaps pick out the first flute Ahran Kim for special mention but all were superb. We were sitting near the front on the left so had the full benefit of Catherine Roe Williams giving the Brangwyn Hall Steinway a good workout. Also on the programme were Elgar In the South and Schumann cello concerto with Alban Gerhardt, who played a little piece by Rostropovich as an encore. Conductor Thierry Fischer. all round.

[aeolium]

I'm grateful I had the chance to go to Steven Osborne's recital in Cheltenham last Thursday of the last three Schubert piano sonatas. It's a programme that is always an immense technical and interpretative challenge for the pianist but it's very rewarding for the listener to hear the three sonatas together and the similarities and differences between them.

Right from the start it was clear that Osborne's interpretation was going to emphasise the dramatic content of the sonatas, Schubert as an heir to (and contemporary of) Beethoven. Osborne's tempi throughout were well judged, slightly on the fast side particularly in the A major sonata - definitely not a Richterian interpretation. The balance was good so that detail was very transparent, and he did not linger lovingly over phrases as some pianists do; perhaps modelling himself on those tragic Shakespearean heroes in Yeats' poem who 'do not break up their lines to weep'. The first movement expositions of all three sonatas were repeated (he's obviously a supporter of Andras Schiff who has argued for that in the B flat sonata, and not Brendel who opposes it). He brought real fire to those passages of sudden and unexpected passion such as the central section of the A major slow movement, and in the last movement of the B flat.

Though I am not one for trying to read programmes or stories into abstract musical works, I cannot listen to these works without imagining a narrative underpinning the music, as if they are songs without words. Perhaps it is a narrative of 'death and transfiguration': the last movement of the C minor being a sort of Erlkönig death-ride, the slow movement of the A major a tale of life ebbing away, the serene theme of the B flat first movement counterpointed by the dark shadow of the trill in the bass. Perhaps I should just forget it and listen to the music

It was a wonderful evening, and a shame that R3 was not there to record it for broadcast.

[Bryn]

Last late afternoon and early evening at the Schott Spring Piano Series organised by Jonathan Powell, The brilliant young pianist Mark Viner in a mixed recital of Beethoven, Thalberg, Chopin, Méreaux and Alkan. All the items were played from memory and were offered in performances of the highest quality. Keep an eye and ear out for this phenomenal pianist.

[LeMartinPecheur]

St Endellion Easter Festival started this afternoon with choral vespers, Mozart's Vesperae Solemnes de Confessore K339 - beefy rather than elegant, but never mind. Then:

Beethoven Pathetique sonata
Prokofiev Sonata for 2 violins
Dvorak Piano Quintet (No 2 if you're clever enough to know he actually wrote a pair of them; apparently we only got the 2nd because he couldn't find the MS of the first when he planned to revise it with a new performance in view).

Beforehand, a trip to the Bodmin & Wenford Railway to see a T9 simmering next to an LSWR well-tank, a GWR 64xx pannier running with auto-trailer, and a 55xx small Prairie.

After the concert, home in time for Match of the Day.

How could a boy pack more perfection into 10 hrs??

[LeMartinPecheur]

Another trip to St Endellion for a stunning Dido and Aeneas. Watch out for the Dido, Sarah Fox - she's a great prospect.

Before it, Mozart Sinfonia Concertante K364 with soloists Andrew Watkinson and Garfield Jackson of the Endellion 4tet - a wonderful performance of a wonderful work.

And before that, Walton Sonata for Strings. Not in the same class as the other performances (or works): this scored a mere Good on both counts.

On Tues night we had Gershwin 3 Preludes (clt/pf), Elgar Violin Sonata, and Walton Facade.

Is there anywhere other than St Endellion that you'd get such wonderfully mixed programmes in one concert??

[EdgeleyRob]

Went to my first concert in years last night / Halle Orchestra at the Bridgewater Hall:

Liszt Les préludes / Schumann Piano Concerto /Brahms Symphony No.3

Cristian Mandeal conductor / Jean-Bernard Pommier piano

preceded by a 3 course meal in the Charles Halle room and a pre concert performance of Brahms clarinet trio (all courtesy of a belated christmas present to me and my wife from our daughter)

Wonderful.

[amateur51]

I'm grateful I had the chance to go to Steven Osborne's recital in Cheltenham last Thursday of the last three Schubert piano sonatas. It's a programme that is always an immense technical and interpretative challenge for the pianist but it's very rewarding for the listener to hear the three sonatas together and the similarities and differences between them.

Right from the start it was clear that Osborne's interpretation was going to emphasise the dramatic content of the sonatas, Schubert as an heir to (and contemporary of) Beethoven. Osborne's tempi throughout were well judged, slightly on the fast side particularly in the A major sonata - definitely not a Richterian interpretation. The balance was good so that detail was very transparent, and he did not linger lovingly over phrases as some pianists do; perhaps modelling himself on those tragic Shakespearean heroes in Yeats' poem who 'do not break up their lines to weep'. The first movement expositions of all three sonatas were repeated (he's obviously a supporter of Andras Schiff who has argued for that in the B flat sonata, and not Brendel who opposes it). He brought real fire to those passages of sudden and unexpected passion such as the central section of the A major slow movement, and in the last movement of the B flat.

Though I am not one for trying to read programmes or stories into abstract musical works, I cannot listen to these works without imagining a narrative underpinning the music, as if they are songs without words. Perhaps it is a narrative of 'death and transfiguration': the last movement of the C minor being a sort of Erlkönig death-ride, the slow movement of the A major a tale of life ebbing away, the serene theme of the B flat first movement counterpointed by the dark shadow of the trill in the bass. Perhaps I should just forget it and listen to the music

It was a wonderful evening, and a shame that R3 was not there to record it for broadcast.

Many thanks for this review aeolium - sounds to have been a wonderful concert

[Richard Tarleton]

Still on pianists - I went to a recital by Llyr Williams the other night, at a small but lovely venue. Liszt Bénédiction de Dieu, Beethoven Op 110, and Mussorgsky Pictures, which he's recorded.

I can't get on with his playing at all - I've heard him live only once before and came away then, as this time, feeling puzzled, frustrated, and this time irritated by the standing ovation which erupted after the "Great Gate of Kiev" and wondering if it was me or him (and everyone else) that was the problem. He seems to garner great reviews, and is building an international career. The Liszt piece has been a favourite of mine since I heard Brendel play it nearly 40 years ago (Brendel in "The Veil of Order" says he's no longer convinced by it, but there we are). Williams basically banged his way through it. No hint of Brendel's "pentatonic bliss" (I played the record at home later, also the Stephen Osborne version for comparison). The Beethoven - great sense of architecture, but again he just seemed to play in a very narrow (loud) dynamic range, and to have a very percussive touch. Pictures was much as I by that stage expected

Has anyone else heard him live, and what do they think?

[Curalach]

I have heard him live and am sorry to say that I have exactly the same reaction to his music-making as you do. I say "sorry" because Williams gets almost reverential reviews, so it must be me that just doesn't get it.
I thought initially that my irritation at his platform manner and performance mannerisms was clouding my judgement but, having listened to broadcasts and recordings, I remain unconvinced by his playing which, for me, gets in the way of the music.

[Nachtigall]

I wonder if any other forum members were present at the National Youth Orchestra concert at the RFH yesterday afternoon? There was an interesting new work by Judith Weir, but what shook me was the absolute mastery of Mahler 10 shown by those youngsters under Vasily Petrenko's expert guidance. Of course there were one or two minor fluffs, but the performance was one of the best I've heard of this symphony, utterly coherent and persuasive, with the Scherzos benefitting from being taken at a really cracking pace (apparently no technical hardship for the NYO) and the first and final Adagios demonstrating a subtlety and emotional penetration that one wouldn't necessarily expect from a bunch of adolescents. Thank goodness for the NYO - and also, incidentally, for Vasily Petrenko!