What was your last concert?

[Simon B]

( concert grand, harpsichord, and something that looked like a regular upright piano, but made a non standard sound, not sure what it was).

It was a celeste - some of the unusual pf sounds were due to the player being instructed to pluck or strike the strings of the pf directly rather than using the keyboard.

I really enjoyed the first 10 minutes of the Kancheli, was there at 18 minutes, but lost interest soon after. It’s too long for the amount of music it contains. Lovely sound-world, very unusual but not for 35 minutes.

Definitely agree with this - especially as it was 40+ minutes. To my (cloth) ears, the dimensions of the piece seemed to exceed the capacity of its material by about 50%. Fairly uninteresting use of a large percussion section too - 7 players mostly doing nothing except once every 10 minutes all playing "blocked" in near unison outbursts for a few seconds... Martinu said more with greater impact in 8 minutes after the interval.

To my (again, cloth) ears the RVW 9 suffered a bit at times from Jurowski's unwavering tendency to brisk objectivity in everything - more being made of the moments of mysterious evocation would allow the visionary quality of the piece to speak more powerfully. That said there was plenty of involvement and those sections which lend themselves to being hard driven (demented cat saxophony) definitely came off. The most remarkable moments of the piece come at the very end imv - and here the monumental crescendi tailing off into harps swirling into the inky void were a strikingly stark and non-comforting vision. Cumulative impact does perhaps sum it up over all...

With this programme of three relatively little known pieces, a limited attendance (even allowing for it being clearly bolstered by a large contingent of Kancheli's family and supporters in the stalls) was regrettably inevitable even in London. There have occasionally been concerts of similarly unusual repertoire in Manchester where the orchestra appeared to outnumber the audience, so the RFH was rammed by comparison. The LPO seem to continue to risk several events a year like this - presumably offset via the reliable income stream from Glyndebourne and other more regular concerts. 17/18 includes Enescu's Oedipe, and Joseph Marx's Eine Herbstsymphonie plus other rarities melded into otherwise more crowd-pulling programmes. Those of us who seek out such things should be grateful that the LPO can find and is willing to risk the funds to still put them on.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Further thanks to Simon B

[teamsaint]

thanks for clearing up what the keyboard was, and how the sounds were produced, SB.

I suppose one point about the attendance is that in a hall for 2000 ( Barbican,) or 1400 ( Anvil) it wouldn't look half so sparse as in the 2900 capacity RFH.

I do wonder about ticket price policy though. Wednesday's concert was never going to sell out fast, but it is usually the mid price tickets that sell least well, so some more persuasive ticketing ( anywhere in the rear stalls for £12 maybe?) might well help attendance, if not perhaps income.

[Beef Oven!]

It was a celeste - some of the unusual pf sounds were due to the player being instructed to pluck or strike the strings of the pf directly rather than using the keyboard.



Definitely agree with this - especially as it was 40+ minutes. To my (cloth) ears, the dimensions of the piece seemed to exceed the capacity of its material by about 50%. Fairly uninteresting use of a large percussion section too - 7 players mostly doing nothing except once every 10 minutes all playing "blocked" in near unison outbursts for a few seconds... Martinu said more with greater impact in 8 minutes after the interval.

To my (again, cloth) ears the RVW 9 suffered a bit at times from Jurowski's unwavering tendency to brisk objectivity in everything - more being made of the moments of mysterious evocation would allow the visionary quality of the piece to speak more powerfully. That said there was plenty of involvement and those sections which lend themselves to being hard driven (demented cat saxophony) definitely came off. The most remarkable moments of the piece come at the very end imv - and here the monumental crescendi tailing off into harps swirling into the inky void were a strikingly stark and non-comforting vision. Cumulative impact does perhaps sum it up over all...

With this programme of three relatively little known pieces, a limited attendance (even allowing for it being clearly bolstered by a large contingent of Kancheli's family and supporters in the stalls) was regrettably inevitable even in London. There have occasionally been concerts of similarly unusual repertoire in Manchester where the orchestra appeared to outnumber the audience, so the RFH was rammed by comparison. The LPO seem to continue to risk several events a year like this - presumably offset via the reliable income stream from Glyndebourne and other more regular concerts. 17/18 includes Enescu's Oedipe, and Joseph Marx's Eine Herbstsymphonie plus other rarities melded into otherwise more crowd-pulling programmes. Those of us who seek out such things should be grateful that the LPO can find and is willing to risk the funds to still put them on.

40 mins I thought my 35 mins estimate was generous!

I think you’re absolutely right about Jurowski underplaying the 'mysterious evocation' in the RVW. But strangely, that really contributed to my enjoyment of the piece - more 'matter of fact'. I kinda preferred it that way. Perhaps I’m not much of a visionary!

And thanks for explaining how the celeste was utilised - it didn’t sound to my ears like a celeste, now I know why.

[Simon B]

And thanks for explaining how the celeste was utilised - it didn’t sound to my ears like a celeste, now I know why.

Just to clarify my unclear clarification I meant the pianist was doing that to the piano. Plucking/striking/fettling the strings of a celeste is a very advanced technique as it doesn't have any .

[Beef Oven!]

Just to clarify my unclear clarification I meant the pianist was doing that to the piano. Plucking/striking/fettling the strings of a celeste is a very advanced technique as it doesn't have any .

[EdgeleyRob]

Thanks Simon B and BeefO for those interesting reviews

[jayne lee wilson]

I guess the paradox with Kancheli, as with many works of “spiritual minimalism” is - the works appear to be written for the concert context - but don’t really belong, or sit awkwardly there. They don’t state and develop or even vary much within that western-european tradition of symphonic usage. They are circular and repetitive, intended to induce - not trance especially, but stillness or reflection - often, reflection upon pain, the intense pain of personal and cultural devastation. Such works defy the applied symphonic attention of the classical concertgoer. And in Kancheli’s case, often shockingly so: the stillness is sometimes shattered by unprepared and unpredictable orchestral eruption.


You can’t really judge them in concert, with some other symphony alongside, although - Jurowski may have seen the epilogial VW 9th as a parallel to the Kancheli which, composed in 1988-90, can be heard as an epilogue to the 7 symphonies whose construction is equally determined by repetition, dynamic extremes, unpredictable gigantic climax, a static emotional intensity of a kind perhaps only understood by those who have suffered mental or physical trauma, war and deprivation, life under a Totalitarian Governmental System.

The length of such pieces - by Kancheli, or Pärt, or Gubaidulina, or Gorecki - is not a teleologically-determined, symphonic-developmental phenomena. There is no essential relation between “material” and timespan. It is more akin to the weather, to the storm or to the rain, it will end when the “message ends”, put across by the almost-helpless intent of its creator, so - it ends when the internal weather changes, the unwritten laws of inspiration or imagination.

***

Of the piece itself - Mourned by the Wind - the title is all you need, but - it is dependent, as ever, on your individual circumstance: perhaps ideally heard in the cold blue light of a frosty dawn, alone, cold and unwilling….
desperate for nature’s balm of elusive sleep….
…and with the uniquely individual sound of its dedicatee - Yuri Bashmet, whose viola seems essential to its voice and vision. The viola is always “the voice of the poet” in Kancheli’s oeuvre.
“Liturgy”. The title is there for a reason. Symphonic epilogue perhaps: not a symphony. Not even a Kancheli Symphony.

Some years ago David Fanning commented that the work could induce overwhelming tearfulness, the perception of individual and collectively oppressed pain or - just a sense of interminably protracted utterance, stasis, meaningless repetition… it depends utterly on the individual listener’s circumstance. Perhaps a need for its offerings, or a willingness to let go; to submit.

So try to face it yourself, alone; away from concert halls or programming…you may have a chance to hear where it came from and what it it may be ‘about”…. the music exists as an emanation of a spiritus loci, the experience of a culture, a public and personal autobiography. It might be a mistake to listen to it in the company of any other - music, or person.

***
The best of Kancheli - musicologically - may be his Symphonies 4-6, the “core of his output", though such terms seem all but irrelevant - and the Life Without Christmas orchestral/vocal prayer-sequence, including the most inspired and concentrated of his viola-obsessive works, abii ni viderem… ("I turned away so as not to see")
Very luckily I can name one perfect encapsulation of his voice, spirit, the range of his orchestral style: the ECM disc of à la Duduki and Trauerfarbenes Land. The place to start, maybe even the place to finish, whether after wider exploration of his extreme sonic landscapes, or not….

"Out of music comes silence, and sometimes silence itself turns into music. It is my dream to achieve silence of this kind".
-Giya Kancheli.

[Beef Oven!]

Very interesting and instructive post Jayne, thanks. The context for Kancheli’s music that you describe makes sense and sheds some light on it - if I’d had read your post before the concert, I may have got beyond 18 minutes.

Like many people, I can tick some of those emotional boxes that life’s traumas brings, but I don’t respond to music in the way you describe, and probably never will. My loss, I suppose.

[teamsaint]

Very interesting and instructive post Jayne, thanks. The context for Kancheli’s music that you describe makes sense and sheds some light on it - if I’d had read your post before the concert, I may have got beyond 18 minutes.

Like many people, I can tick some of those emotional boxes that life’s traumas brings, but I don’t respond to music in the way you describe, and probably never will. My loss, I suppose.

Yes, very interesting and helpful post. Thanks Jayne.

there are a couple of good value downloads of some of the symphonies, which might help develop familiarity, although there is plenty to hear online.

[EdgeleyRob]

This afternoon's live broadcast for Radio 3 from Media City in Salford

BBC Philharmonic
Ben Gernon conductor
Alexandra Wood violin

Foulds - Le Cabaret Overture
Lovely light music opener,nicely done

Bridge - Summer
A bit lacklustre or routine IMO

Walton - Violin Concerto
Orchestral playing was very fine,the soloist a bit hit and miss.
Sounded a bit out of tune at times,especially in quieter moments,yet didn't sound so bad when I listened again this evening

Arnold - Electra
Barnstorming finish,worth the entrance money,oh I forgot,it was free

Nice moment when it was announced the young Mr Gernon has been appointed principal guest conductor of the orchestra.
Overheard some of the musicians singing his praises afterwards too

[Nick Armstrong]

worth the entrance money,oh I forgot,it was free

Thanks for the reminder!!

Both of your good fortune, and that I want to catch the Foulds and the Arnold

[Beef Oven!]

This afternoon's live broadcast for Radio 3 from Media City in Salford

BBC Philharmonic
Ben Gernon conductor
Alexandra Wood violin

Foulds - Le Cabaret Overture
Lovely light music opener,nicely done

Bridge - Summer
A bit lacklustre or routine IMO

Walton - Violin Concerto
Orchestral playing was very fine,the soloist a bit hit and miss.
Sounded a bit out of tune at times,especially in quieter moments,yet didn't sound so bad when I listened again this evening

Arnold - Electra
Barnstorming finish,worth the entrance money,oh I forgot,it was free

Nice moment when it was announced the young Mr Gernon has been appointed principal guest conductor of the orchestra.
Overheard some of the musicians singing his praises afterwards too

A good afternoon. Don’t forget, your licence fee isn’t free.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Opera North Quintet; Clothworkers Centenary Concert Hall, University of Leeds; Fri 3/2/17

David Greed, Katherine New (Violins), David Aspin (Viola), Jessica Burroughs ('cello), Colin Honour (Clarinet).

A free lunchtime concert consisting of Haydn's String Quartet Op 76 #5, and Brahms' Clarinet Quintet Op 115. Quite simply the finest chamber Music making that I have heard in many years - the twists and turns of tenderness and exuberance perfectly communicated between the players and to the audience. A full house, with an exemplary mix of ages and ethnicities in the audience who made their enthusiastic appreciation very clear at the end of both works. Life-affirming, heart-warming, and brain-stimulating - wonderful!

[Richard Barrett]

Colin Honour (Clarinet)

That would presumably be the same Colin Honour who gave the UK premiere of Ferneyhough's La Chûte d'Icare with Ensemble Exposé in 1988. Excellent player indeed.