What was your last concert?

[hackneyvi]

Thank you, David. I came to know Eroica by an ancient Music for Pleasure lp of the Berlin Philharmonic from 1962, conducted, I think, by Karl Bohm. It's the 'authentic' version for me and I've not listened to many other versions much or with much enthusiasm. But the BBC Symphony performed it with cracks of meteoric energy.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/may/03/bbcso-volkov-review

The Guardian's reviewer describes the performance as 'invigorating' and it's just the word to describe my own response.

[Dave2002]

Eroicas:

Try Bernstein's NYPO version. Might have the directness you're looking for, and perhaps one of the early Klemperer recordings would too.

One I like is Hogwood's though some might find it too brutal. Mellower versions include a splendid one with Barbirolli. Thierry Fischer did a lovely BBC performance years ago - had me spell bound - but there's not a commercial recording. I picked up JEG's version in the complete set a few weeks ago for not much more than a tenner, but I'm guessing that's too refined.

[arancie33]

Too long ago - Mahler 1 from Antonio Pappano and the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia at Symphony Hall. Lots of encores and I can't remember any of them, being slightly overwhelmed by the Mahler. Next up, The Penguin Cafe Orchestra in Brum Town Hall.

[Simon B]

Last few were:

Verdi Requiem in Leeds on the 21st - BBCPO/Leeds and Sheffield Philharmonic Choruses plus soloists, cond David Hill:

Perfectly competent (with excellent, confident, choral work, as is nearly always the case for concerts involving either of the two big Leeds choruses) but a bit lacking in drama and emotion with some rather uninvolving orchestral playing. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood...

RLPO/Petrenko Mahler 7 in Liverpool on the 26th:

Marketing hyperbole don't usually cut much ice with me, but this combination proved once more to be something special. I've been consistently surprised to like Petrenko's Mahler a lot - unlike most of the glut turned out by Gergiev, Nelsons, Elder, Noseda etc etc over the last year or two. Purists might take exception to some of his interpretative decisions, but almost without exception it has sounded to me like he had an overarching "plan" and within that a clear and consistent idea of what he wanted to do with each bar/phrase/whatever. This is in contrast with many of the above named who often sounded like they were feeling (or in Gergiev's case, thrashing!) their way through it. Mind you, my personal "worst Mahler of the year" award goes to Lorin Maazel and the Philharmonia for a Mahler 6 at the RFH a few weeks ago which was like listening to paint dry, to me at any rate. "I was glad when it was finally over" is about the best thing I can find to say about that...

WNO's Turandot in Cardiff on Saturday:

I've seen this production many (probably half a dozen or more) times over something like 10-15 years. I've never been that keen on the staging itself (though in the grand scheme of opera productions it's ok), but I'm not sure I'd much prefer a Zeffirelli-style alternative with everything 3 foot deep in Chinoiserie bling either. Anyway, the music is the point as far as I'm concerned, for the orchestra as much as the singing. This was the best I've heard the WNO orchestra play this fabulous score. In previous runs at the old New Theatre there was a tendency to hold back and suppress the big moments (understandable if you were in the pit and valued your hearing I suppose) but this really fizzed. The singing was a bit variable (chorus fantasic as usual though) - I struggled to hear the (otherwise beautifully sung) Calaf at times, and Turandot's intonation was occasionally uncomfortable to my (possibly defective) ears. However, Rebecca Evans was totally convincing as Liù, stealing the show in the process.

Coming up next - LSO/Jarvi Bernstein Candide:

Really looking forward to the rare chance of a concert performance of Bernstein's Candide at the Barbican on the coming Sunday. The plot (insofar as there is one, or is really intended to be one) may have been the downfall of the original version, but the score is packed with memorable and in some cases rather moving (yes, ok maybe a touch sentimental) numbers.

I realise that confessing to tastes which encompass Puccini and Bernstein is probably considered a character defect in some quarters, but never mind!

[Chris Newman]

This evening I went to Salisbury Playhouse where as part of Salisbury Festival The Armonico Consort with their Musical Director Christopher Monks presented "Monteverdi's Flying Circus" a dramatised account of the last few years of the very long life of that composer. The English part of the libretto was by Kit Hesketh-Harvey and moved back and forth between Monteverdi's frustration with people in power, the loss of his wife, and his eldest son's arrest by the Inquisition. There were many amusing machinations afoot in Venetian society. The music mostly from Orfeo, Ulysses, the Vespers of 1610 and Madrigals was often used to suggest the way that life's buffets may have given inspiration to Monteverdi most emotional music. Sometimes Hesketh-Harvey rewrote the words entirely to provide musical dialogue to his story-line. At other times he left the original Italian in famous numbers to either speak for itself or cleverly would put what was normally a duet into two different conversations, so one son is telling his dying father how much he loves him and the other son is being smoothed over by an official. All but three of the cast were singers: Anthony Pedley was the cantankerous ancient composer, Michael Burgess his long suffering servant, Ercole, and Spanish Juggler Jose Triguero played a mime chorus/spirit/guardian angel, deus-ex-machina and various heavily cloaked servants: it was a virtuoso role requiring a total awareness of every member of the cast and audience in his reactive skills, not to mention providing the circus element. All three were on stage almost for the entire show. The singers were mostly young and well-suited to baroque music. Rebecca Moon, Anna Sandstrom, Philip Jones (countertenor), Gordon Adams, John Furlong and Alex Ashworth played multiple roles. The last, a professor at the RAM, clearly had the most settled and mature voice.

Apart from being an enjoyable way of hearing some of Monteverdi's best moments, the show is informative and much leavened with very earthy humour. I recommend it.

[Chris Newman]

Last night I heard what I think was the best rendering of Die Schone Mullerin I can expect to hear. I have previously heard live : Ian Bostridge, DFD, Peter Schreier and some young singers making brave stabs at it and have many recordings so Mark Padmore and Paul Lewis had a lot to live up to including their own recording. In Wilton's Italianate Church, near Salisbury, the twenty Schubert songs were the first half of a thirty one song recital. How their interpretation has grown since last year's recording. The colouring in Padmore's heady voice comes in a thousand shades whilst the dark anger and sense of loss have deepened immensely. As in the recording Lewis and Padmore rush at nothing and every note is given time to tell its story which it does. They may take longer than many other performers but probe deeper than all others I have heard and with no affectation whatsoever: no barking or whining. Padmore's vocal control is phenomenal and he and Lewis work together immaculately. This was a masterclass in Schubert singing.

Not content with that Padmore had two more song cycles and three folk songs all arranged by Alec Roth and an RVW encore. In the second half Padmore was joined by Mexican Guitarist, Morgan Szymanski, who began with an evocative virtuoso piece for solo guitar entitled The Unicorn in the Garden by Roth. The two song cycles were both of verses written by Vikram Seth. Seth and Roth are both locals and often work together. Chinese Gardens had an oriental flavour both in words and dry humour whilst the Three Night Songs receiving their premiere were wistful yet disturbing. Roth's voice is very listenable whilst his individuality succeeds in avoiding making the combination of tenor and guitar sound like Britten, Tippett or Walton.

My last important image of the evening was the sight of Vikram Seth speeding back to Salisbury on his push-bike: bless him!

[DracoM]

Terrific concert in Barnard Castle given by the Skampa Str Qt in the Swaledale Festival.

Centrepiece was Shostakovich no 3 given a sensational performance full of subtlety, nuance, humour and drama, disipline and utter conviction.

IMO, nothing quite beats the sheer physicality of a committed string quartet in full cry in front of a rapt audience.

[Pianorak]

. . . My last important image of the evening was the sight of Vikram Seth speeding back to Salisbury on his push-bike: bless him!

Some years ago at the Brighton Festival watching a Romanian company perform "Hamlet" I was sitting next to V. Seth who, before the start of the performance, was quietly humming a Schubert song - forget which.

[LeMartinPecheur]

Tonight in Truro Cathedral:

Ravel String Quartet (Cavaleri 4tet),
Mendelssohn Octet (Finzi and Cavaleri 4tets), then
FOUR string 4tets (Medici, Finzi, Cavaleri and 'Fifth Quadrant') plus Tibetan temple bowl in Tavener's Towards Silence.

Intriguing, but don't think I'll be buying the CD.

The Ravel and Mendelssohn were very enjoyable despite the very reverberant acoustic.

[Richard Tarleton]

Two interesting concerts in St David's Cathedral this week - on Monday the Hilliard Ensemble and Jan Garbarek doing this, and last night Red Priest doing this. The former remained in character throughout - 75 minutes of unbroken music, the latter showed a rare talent for amusing and unpatronising engagement with the audience. Don't think I'd want to live with either on CD but great shows.

The only snag in St D's C is being prayed over at the start of every concert whether you like it or not. The only response possible is to fold your arms and glare. The rubric read out by the presiding cleric is that the festival is "born out of a worshipping community" and God is thanked for the gift of music, the performers are blessed (does anyone canvas their views beforehand) etc.. I go because it's where the concert is, and put up with the excruciatingly uncomfortable pews.

[french frank]

Just back from Stephen Hough's recital at St Geo's.

After Beethoven Op 27/2, Janáček Sonata 1.X.1905 and Scriabin Sonata 5, we had a break before Scriabin 4 and the Liszt B minor. After that he seemed eager to play an encore: La fille aux cheveux de lin seems as if he was saying 'thank goodness I can relax a bit' ... Terrific performance.

[hackneyvi]

The Brodsky string quartet at Wigmore Hall. A disappointment. The audience hooted at the end but I kept seeming to hear duff notes from the younger violinist during the Ravel.

I went for the Bartok 1st and came away, as previously, mystified at the missing song and dance. All I heard was a man sawing himself to flimsiness. I wish I could hear the music in this quartet.

Some pleasant Spanish flotsam at the start and end.

[Norfolk Born]

This afternoon at a local church:
Weber - Trio Op. 63
Fauré - Elegie
Poulenc - Flute Sonata
Gaubert - 3 Aquarelles
Martinu - Flute Trio

[aeolium]

Not a concert, but an opera - the WNO production of Cosi fan Tutte at Cardiff. Lovely to listen to, with the orchestra on good form as usual and some good singing especially from Robin Tritschler as Ferrando. The production - set in a kind of seaside Butlins - was hideously vulgar, with much unnecessary gimmickry and tat. No opera spectator should ever be forced to watch a man singing in shorts for much of the performance (and no singer should have to sing in shorts)

[french frank]

Upcoming - on Friday: Brendel's protégé, Kit Armstrong playing an interweaving of Bach and Liszt. Has anyone heard him play?

JS Bach (arr Liszt): Phantasie & Fugue in G minor BWV 542
JS Bach (arr Liszt): Variations on 'Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen'
JS Bach: 4 Preludes & Fugues from The Well Tempered Clavier Book I
JS Bach: Four Duets BWV 802-805
Liszt: Étude d'exécution transcendante No 10 in F minor
Liszt: St Francis preaching to the Birds from Two Legends
JS Bach: Chromatic Phantasy & Fugue in D minor BWV 903