Segerstam/Bruckner 8 - Barbican, 28.2.15

[Alison]

He was on In Tune on Friday, & interesting.

(Note for Rafferty phobes - he wasn't presenting it, nor was SK. It was Ian Skelly)

Yes, I was delighted to find it was Skellers and for once didn't switch off on my car journey home.

[Simon B]

This thread has reminded me of this: http://www.grahamnasby.com/misc/musi...otations.shtml

Leif Segerstam apparently sees himself as "The kaleidescopic flexator on the podium". It probably all went wrong due to a misunderstanding over whether or not he was "fluxating in eight".

Probably a recipe for...unconventional... Bruckner. Or anything else for that matter.

[Flosshilde]

Yes, I was delighted to find it was Skellers and for once didn't switch off on my car journey home.

I know he had to take over at short notice, but I didn't think he had the light touch & relaxed approach of SR. Just shows how skilled a job it is, & that not everyone cane do it

[Nick Armstrong]

Of course it all depends on when they have their tea.

The thought occurred to me too, as I was having a tea when i wrote my post around midnight!

[Prommer]

Have just checked: Bychkov's interpretation of Bruckner 8 came in at about 79 mins last month in Italy. So the fact that he 'withdrew' two or three weeks before Saturday's concert with the BBCSO, in favour of the BFG, effectively added another 25 minutes to the evening!

I would love to know if the withdrawal of Bychkov had anything to do with editions. Or just a recurrence of his back trouble. Or a desire to let Finland's stick equivalent of JohnTom a turn around the paddock.

[Flay]

the BFG

Recording it now so I may ponder it at great leisure...

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Blimey! I bet he's never invited to events on Lindisfarne!

[Karafan]

Has anyone else noticed you never see Segerstam and Brian Blessed together in the same room? Just saying......

[Prommer]

I know what he was trying to do, and it must be very tempting with these structures to try to ensure that so much more is actually heard of the work by adopting slower tempi, like Goodall in Wagner, but this did not wholly come off. But it was a brave and bold adventure so more power to his bushy, bushy beard.

I do, though, think the announcer back at base sounded a little prissy (and disapproving) in declaring that 'it was the kind of interpretation one should hear at least once...' He then realised how critical that sounded and mumbled 'or maybe more'.

Do you think he was shocked by such extravagant length? The dear boy should get out more! Conservative, quite literally. Or was he just reflecting the schedulers' tut-tutting? There was also the inevitable reference to Celi.

[Bryn]

Has anyone else noticed you never see Segerstam and Brian Blessed together in the same room? Just saying......

Oh that's because both would not fit in a single room.

[Prommer]

Oh that's because both would not fit in a single room.

Did Leif turn around at the end and shout: "Anton's alive!!!!"

[Prommer]

Henceforth to be known to the conducting cognoscenti as 'Brief Leif'

[P. G. Tipps]

I know what he was trying to do, and it must be very tempting with these structures to try to ensure that so much more is actually heard of the work by adopting slower tempi, like Goodall in Wagner, but this did not wholly come off. But it was a brave and bold adventure so more power to his bushy, bushy beard.

I do, though, think the announcer back at base sounded a little prissy (and disapproving) in declaring that 'it was the kind of interpretation one should hear at least once...' He then realised how critical that sounded and mumbled 'or maybe more'.

Do you think he was shocked by such extravagant length? The dear boy should get out more! Conservative, quite literally. Or was he just reflecting the schedulers' tut-tutting? There was also the inevitable reference to Celi.

Nah, the announcer was absolutely right, IMO.

A slow reading of the 8th is not a 'bold adventure' as you appear to believe. The comparisons with Celibidache were inevitable and, indeed, Karajan tried something similar on disk over half-a--century ago. Fortunately he (Karajan) became more 'conservative' in later years and discovered the real Bruckner!

I'm becoming more and more convinced that the ugly Brahms lookalike may have been the real thing resurrected for the occasion simply to spite his old rival...

[Beef Oven!]

Nah, the announcer was absolutely right, IMO.

A slow reading of the 8th is not a 'bold adventure' as you appear to believe. The comparisons with Celibidache were inevitable and, indeed, Karajan tried something similar on disk over half-a--century ago. Fortunately he (Karajan) became more 'conservative' in later years and discovered the real Bruckner!

I'm becoming more and more convinced that the ugly Brahms lookalike may have been the real thing resurrected for the occasion simply to spite his old rival...

K's 1955 B8 is the dog's danglies.
Lay off the Leif! Judging by your avatar, you're no oil painting yourself.

[Prommer]

I meant conservative as of time in the context of tempo!

Where does anyone who chooses a chimp for a pic get off calling Brahms lookalikes 'ugly'? Here's a PG Tipp: Tetley tea bags make tea...

These days, merely to take a piece that slowly is frankly an act of concentrated rebellion, almost anarchism (hence the maiden aunt reactions of those at Broadcasting House), knowing it will drive the hipsters even further round the S bend than they already are. The merest comment from Colin Davis used to do the trick but in his absence let us be thankful for Brian Segerstam. Or Leif Enhancer as we should know him!

(Even if this wasn't the best performance.)