Prom 73 (6.9.12): Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra – Beethoven & Bruckner

[amateur51]

"co Pleteky"!

Sheer genius!

Seconded - a one-off!

[Prommer]

A very good evening... Haitink had the tempo just right in the scherzo. The good VPO turned up tonight: Rainer Kuechl was the concert master. I detected very few flubs, and the strings sang out and for once were properly balanced with the brass, which is important to the texture at key moments when they are often drowned out.

Still only two women on show, at the back of the violas and violins respectively. Don't think they ruined the sound... I walked past a vast chorus room which bore the (in the circumstances) rather amusing sign: 'the Ladies of the Vienna Philharmonic'. I could only imagine the chaps were squeezed Marx Brothers like into an identical room somewhere else, unable to breathe let alone bend over to tie their shoelaces...

[Lizabel]

But at least we applauded when the two women appeared (and were nicely acknowledged). Will the VPO ever come in to the 21st century? Stunning concert, though ...

[Alison]

Sorry, but not a patch on mark elder and the Halle in bruckner

[Prommer]

But at least we applauded when the two women appeared (and were nicely acknowledged). Will the VPO ever come in to the 21st century? ...

It shouldn't, or not just for the sake of it... Anyway, in some ways the sound tonight was incredibly rugged and well balanced for the VPO, in fact not their traditional 'sound' of cliche at all... Surely though this cannot relate to gender?

[Bryn]

Sorry, but not a patch on mark elder and the Halle in bruckner

Alison, can you really be writing this about a performance conducted by your beloved Bernard?

[Tapiola]

in some ways the sound tonight was incredibly rugged and well balanced for the VPO, in fact not their traditional 'sound' of cliche at all

Prommer,

I am pleased you said this; listening at home I got a similar impression but thought it was my imagination.

[Alison]

Alison, can you really be writing this about a performance conducted by your beloved Bernard?

Someone always says something stupid after a concert like tonight's. Just wanted to get in first . . .

[pastoralguy]

We were watching Bernstein's 'Mass' on BBC 4 so we recorded the Vienna Phil. concert.

Looking forward to hearing it tomorrow.

[Nick Armstrong]

Back from the hall. The Bruckner was just extraordinary. Power and transparency, grandeur and delicacy - astonishing harmonies of opposites, completely riveting. The dark, layered splendour of the brass still resonating in my ears. More anon.

[Barbirollians]

Someone always says something stupid after a concert like tonight's. Just wanted to get in first . . .

I thought someone must have hacked your account .

It struck me as very fine indeed - burnished gold playing and a very Wagnerian account of the piece. VPO and Haitink fitted like a glove .

I enjoyed the Beethoven 4 just as much. Perahia and Haitink really let themselves go .

[DracoM]

On radio IMO it felt a bit constipated - great lumpen wodges of carefully balanced sound. 'Transparent'? Hmm. Really?
And I kept thinking this is the VPO, some of the finest string and brass players in the world, so why am I thinking 'this is just static declamation without dynamism'?
OK, so maybe you just had to be there in the presence?

[Bryn]

Someone always says something stupid after a concert like tonight's. Just wanted to get in first . . .

You had me worried. I did not listen tonight as I want to hear it via the HD Sound offering and I can't rely on the live stream not suddenly stopping. I will try and catch it via the iPlayer's 'Listen Again' function, but will not be able to listen until Sunday evening at the earliest. Dave Smith's 10th Piano Concert at Schott Music takes priority until then.

http://www.schott-music.co.uk/shopnav/events/

I'd love to get to the Saturday concert by Luke Berryman too, but that looks much more difficult to make, due to work commitments.

[Simon B]

I can only speak as I find, so (tin hat duly donned)...

If the Beethoven had been any more refined or restrained it would have disappeared entirely. All very transparent and so forth, but so self-effacing as to barely be there. Sorry, but, well, no. (Caveat - RAH acoustics may have accentuated this, maybe it'd be ok in a small hall or was on the radio).

The Bruckner was a different matter. As you'd expect with Haitink, the sense of natural flow was there, no jarring gear shifts, and a structural arc extending from first note to last. Not badly played either!

For all that (and no, this isn't my own attempt at joining in with the sarcasm above) I preferred Nezet-Seguin and the LPO earlier this year. Heresy, but there it is. Young man's Bruckner may be a bit paradoxical, but still...

Nice to see BH looking in such good health. He's got several years younger in the last few years!

[Bryn]

Ah, it's already up on the iPlayer, so I might just be able to listen on the journey to Schott Music tomorrow afternoon.