What concerts are you looking forward to? (Part II)

[(poco) Sforzando]

Very interesting, Andrei. Thanks.

I'm just back home after attending, as announced upthread, a performance  at the Teatro Real here in Madrid of "the greatest work of genius ever achieved by any artist in any field of human endeavour" (Ignacy Jan Paderewski dixit) composed by the "dullest, most boring, pompous, bombastic and overrated composer ever" ( @Florestan dixit  ).

Laurent Pelly's staging was efficient but not memorable and slightly drab, Gerald Finley a superb Sachs, Jongmin Park an imposing Pogner, Leigh Melrose a compelling Beckmesser, and I was very favourably impressed by Tomislav Mužek as Stolzing (he had received generally negative reviews). I found the ladies at a significantly lower level, so I will not name them.

But this was Pablo Heras-Casado's triumph. His conducting was masterful; he squeezed every last drop of the contrapuntal riches of this miraculous score, his pacing was perfect, and the dynamics were very judicious (only on a couple of occasions would the orchestra drown the voices, and the fortissimo rendition of the "Wachet auf!" chorus in Act III was perhaps a bit extreme, but this was clearly an interpretative choice). Really world-class Wagner conducting... 

I know that Paderewski's opinion on Die Meistersinger is an exaggeration, but only slightly so  . What a fabulous work it is, in any event!

I do not agree with Florestan.

[(poco) Sforzando]

I'm starting to look at the video now. Drab is an understatement. What is Walther doing crawling around on his hands and knees on a bare stage? Give me a beautiful Renaissance church full of color and people. Spot-checking, everything seems the same dull tone of grey.

[Brian]

Back to back weekends at the Dallas Symphony! Here's what's coming up Friday:

Andrea Basevi | Four Emily Dickinson Poems*
Prokofiev | Piano Concerto No. 2
Walton | Symphony No. 1

Denis Kozhukhin, piano
Vasily Petrenko, conductor
*with the Dallas Symphony children's chorus

The Basevi work is a world premiere.
This is the second time I'll see Walton 1 in Dallas - Carlos Kalmar conducted it five years ago. Glad this firecracker is entering the American mainstream repertoire.
This is also my first time seeing Petrenko live since visiting Liverpool in 2011 to see him conduct Elgar 2, and before that earlier in the year seeing him do DSCH 11 live in London.

[brewski]

I don't recall EVER hearing the Walton live. Good for Dallas!

Looking forward to this livestream on Friday:

Bach/Webern: Ricercar a 6
Mozart: Piano Concerto in D Major, KV 451
Bruckner: Symphony No. 6
 
Frankfurt Radio Symphony
Martin Helmchen, piano
John Storgårds, conductor

-Bruce