Your ideal concert

[The Mad Hatter]

Yes. I think, given the option, he would prefer the expressive opportunities of the piano over the tinny harpsichord. Consider that Bach was one of the greatest choral composers of all times. Surely he would appreciate an instrument more capable of "singing" a line than one that merely mechanically plucks.

Actually, he got a chance to play one of the early ones, and didn't like it at all.

[val]

A concert in family:

SCHUBERT: Fantasia for violin and piano  / Adolf Busch, Rudolf Serkin

BRAHMS: First piano Quartet opus 25 / members of the Busch Quartet, Serkin

SCHUBERT: Piano Trio nº 2 / Adolf and Hermann Busch, Serkin


A more formal concert:

SCHUBERT: Quintet in C major  / Juilliard Quartet, Greenhouse

BEETHOVEN: Quartet opus 130 (original version) /  Juilliard Quartet

Or a Symphonic Concert

The Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Eugen Jochum

BRAHMS:  2nd piano Concerto  / with Emil Gilels

BRUCKNER:  8th Symphony

[marvinbrown]

Actually, he got a chance to play one of the early ones, and didn't like it at all.

  Interesting I did not know that. I always feel that the piano has a ROMANTIC feel to it, perhaps that was the reason Bach did not like it. 

  marvin

[MishaK]

Actually, he got a chance to play one of the early ones, and didn't like it at all.

Note highlighted passage. The early ones stank.

[The Mad Hatter]

Note highlighted passage. The early ones stank.

Well, Beethoven didn't like it either. *shrug*

[MishaK]

Well, Beethoven didn't like it either. *shrug*

What are you saying? That beethoven preferred the harpsichord or that he disliked the early pianos? He most certainly loved the Erard he had towards the end of his life.

[The Mad Hatter]

What are you saying? That beethoven preferred the harpsichord or that he disliked the early pianos? He most certainly loved the Erard he had towards the end of his life.

That he disliked early pianos. I'm open to correction on this, though.

[MishaK]

That he disliked early pianos. I'm open to correction on this, though.

He probably did. As I said, the early ones stank. The Erard for which he wrote the Hammerklavier sonata is a different matter though.

[The Mad Hatter]

He probably did. As I said, the early ones stank. The Erard for which he wrote the Hammerklavier sonata is a different matter though.

But I mean...(sorry to drag this so far off topic) he was deaf by then anyway - what did it matter?

[BachQ]

The Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Eugen Jochum

BRAHMS:  2nd piano Concerto  / with Emil Gilels

BRUCKNER:  8th Symphony

Just about as good as it gets . . . . . . . 

[quintett op.57]

Brahms PC2
Bruckner 5
Beethoven Kreutzer sonata
Britten VC
Haydn "the fifths"
Handel concerto grosso op.6 n°7
Liszt's sonata
Shosta 10
Schnittke cello sonata
Schubert string quintet
Nielsen 3
Ravel Concerto in G
Stravinsky Sy in three mvts
Strauss Ein Heldenleben
Berlioz Romeo & Juliet
Schumann 3 romances
Bach 3rd partita for violin
Pettersson 7
Kodaly cello sonata
.....

Intermissions?  lunch, dinner and maybe bedtime

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Brahms Violin Sonatas; Hilary Hahn, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli

Quality image, that!

Though Michelangeli and chamber would seem strange bedfellows, at least on disc. Not sure about the concert hall.

Don't know why his aversion to the form but there seems to be zero that's documented.

Did he perform much chamber?

[Symphonien]

Brahms PC2
Bruckner 5
Beethoven Kreutzer sonata
Britten VC
Haydn "the fifths"
Handel concerto grosso op.6 n°7
Liszt's sonata
Shosta 10
Schnittke cello sonata
Schubert string quintet
Nielsen 3
Ravel Concerto in G
Stravinsky Sy in three mvts
Strauss Ein Heldenleben
Berlioz Romeo & Juliet
Schumann 3 romances
Bach 3rd partita for violin
Pettersson 7
Kodaly cello sonata
.....

Intermissions?  lunch, dinner and maybe bedtime

Good luck finding musicians to play all that in one concert...

[Siedler]

Actually, he got a chance to play one of the early ones, and didn't like it at all.

Neither do I (if you mean fortepiano). It's certainly worse than any tinny harpsichord.

[Symphonien]

Neither do I (if you mean fortepiano). It's certainly worse than any tinny harpsichord.

I would be inclined to agree there and I'm not at all surprised Bach wasn't impressed with the early pianos. But if he had seen the modern piano, I am sure a composer like him would have been fascinated with the possibilities that it presented.

[Bunny]

I have very wide tastes in music, and generally an ideal concert will have selections of music I love and loads of encores.  Too often the program is short and there are no encores at all, and it really is a shame.

[bhodges]

I have very wide tastes in music, and generally an ideal concert will have selections of music I love and loads of encores.  Too often the program is short and there are no encores at all, and it really is a shame.

I love encores, too, and wish more orchestral programs would include them.  (Recitals often do.)  Valery Gergiev and the Kirov are the only group I know offhand, that regularly does them in their concerts here.  Most memorable: a year or so ago, after concerts with two or three encores each, Gergiev quieted the crowd and said, "I am sorry to disappoint you, but tonight we have just one encore," and then launched into the last 15 minutes of The Firebird.  We were certainly extremely, extremely disappointed.   

--Bruce

[MishaK]

I love encores, too, and wish more orchestral programs would include them.  (Recitals often do.)  Valery Gergiev and the Kirov are the only group I know offhand, that regularly does them in their concerts here.  Most memorable: a year or so ago, after concerts with two or three encores each, Gergiev quieted the crowd and said, "I am sorry to disappoint you, but tonight we have just one encore," and then launched into the last 15 minutes of The Firebird.  We were certainly extremely, extremely disappointed.   

Me, too! I love encores. They are often the best part of the program. I remember an excellent Barenboim recital at Carnegie a number of years back where he played good, but for his standard not exceptional Beethoven in the first half, and absolutely stunning Debussy in the second half. There were gasps throughout the audience (no coughs!) after very prelude. But for the thirteen (!) encores that followed, he was completely unleashed. I have never heard him play with such virtusity and inspiration. You should try to catch Hilary Hahn more often. She almost always plays an encore even when she's playing with orchestra. Two weeks ago at her CSO performance she played a stunning solo violin transcription of the Erlkönig.

[bhodges]

But for the thirteen (!) encores that followed, he was completely unleashed. I have never heard him play with such virtusity and inspiration.

  That must be some kind of record.  I've been at say, vocal recitals where singers do five or six encores, but never anyone getting into the double digits.  What an experience that must have been!

And PS, I love Hilary Hahn, and yes, she is very good about adding a little extra something when she performs.  A few years ago when she did the Shostakovich Violin Concerto No. 1, she came out after and did a little bit of a Bach partita.  It may sound like an odd encore but it worked very well. 

--Bruce

[ChamberNut]

Ideal chamber music concert, hmmm:

Franck - Violin Sonata (Kremer, violin; Argerich, piano)

Brahms - Piano Quartet in C minor, Op. 60 (Ax - piano, Ma - cello, Stern - violin, Laredo - viola)

Beethoven - String Quartet # 13 in B flat major, Op. 130 (including Gross Fugue) (Quartetto Italiano)

Venue - My home 


Ideal Orchestral Concert:

Brahms - Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor

Sawallisch - conducting
Berlin Philharmonic
Brahms - piano 

Bruckner - Symphony No. 8 in C minor

Jochum
Staatskapelle Dresden, in Berlin.