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

[bhodges]

And next week, check out this program by the Talea Ensemble, a group new to me:

Fausto Romitelli: Domeniche alla perferia dell'impero ** (1996, 2000) for flute, clarinet, violin and cello
Brian Ferneyhough: Unity Capsule (1973-76) for flute
Bernard Rands: Scherzi (1974) for clarinet, violin, cello and piano
Perluigi Billone: Mani "De Leonardis" ** (2004) for automobile springs and glass 
Philippe Hurel: Per Luigi (1994) for flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano

** US premiere

--Bruce

[Sergeant Rock]

Perluigi Billone: Mani "De Leonardis" ** (2004) for automobile springs and glass 
--Bruce

Bruce, try to find out the brand of auto springs. I want to know if they used foreign or domestic. Are they supporting our troubled auto industry? 

Sarge

[secondwind]

And next week, check out this program by the Talea Ensemble, a group new to me:

Fausto Romitelli: Domeniche alla perferia dell'impero ** (1996, 2000) for flute, clarinet, violin and cello
Brian Ferneyhough: Unity Capsule (1973-76) for flute
Bernard Rands: Scherzi (1974) for clarinet, violin, cello and piano
Perluigi Billone: Mani "De Leonardis" ** (2004) for automobile springs and glass 
Philippe Hurel: Per Luigi (1994) for flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano



** US premiere

--Bruce

It looks like an interesting program.  Will you give us a review?

[bhodges]

Bruce, try to find out the brand of auto springs. I want to know if they used foreign or domestic. Are they supporting our troubled auto industry? 

Sarge

  Happy to inquire (and I bet the performer, Alex Lipowski, would probably give you an answer). 

It looks like an interesting program.  Will you give us a review?

Sure!  I'm planning to write it up...

--Bruce

[Renfield]

I am not looking forward to it, but I just attended a concert by the RSNO, with the younger of the Järvi brothers, Christjan, conducting.


The programme was Dvorák's Scherzo capriccioso, Schwertsik's Divertimento Macchiato for Trumpet and Orchestra (the soloist being the apparently very famous, and certainly incredibly skilled Håkan Hardenberger - the composer was also present), and Bruckner's 6th Symphony.

The Dvorák was pleasant filler. The new piece was interesting, though somewhat suspect; almost literally! It sounded slightly like the beginning of a nervous breakdown, and the composer gave a similar impression, in person! However, the execution was superb.


And the Bruckner was f-an-t-a-s-t-i-c. The fact that the RSNO can play Bruckner, and that the conductor (who has recently done a very highly acclaimed Bernstein Mass, and appears to have contemporary musical leanings in general) wasn't bad was given...

But the fact that he could so confidently sustain a supremely cogent performance of such a 'problem case' as Bruckner's 6th, while at the same moment providing perhaps the most convincing reading of the work I've heard along with Otto Klemperer's, was not!

The RSNO strings played with minimal vibrato (!), and the first movement's tempi were as initially odd as they were ultimately completely convincing, structurally. And, I'll repeat it, the man can sustain orchestral intensity, even in the loudest and most-likely-to-spin-out-of-control passages (whether in terms of phrasing or orchestral balance) like very few conductors I can think of; probably the key for pulling the 6th off like that. Not to mention he found a way to miraculously counter the RSNO's one real flaw (IMO), the rigidity of their phrasing.


Bottom line:

Christjan Järvi, to put it in internet parlance, delivers. I'll be keeping an eye on his work, and would recommend the same.

[bhodges]

I am not looking forward to it, but I just attended a concert by the RSNO, with the younger of the Järvi brothers, Christjan, conducting.


The programme was Dvorák's Scherzo capriccioso, Schwertsik's Divertimento Macchiato for Trumpet and Orchestra (the soloist being the apparently very famous, and certainly incredibly skilled Håkan Hardenberger - the composer was also present), and Bruckner's 6th Symphony.

The Dvorák was pleasant filler. The new piece was interesting, though somewhat suspect; almost literally! It sounded slightly like the beginning of a nervous breakdown, and the composer gave a similar impression, in person! However, the execution was superb.


And the Bruckner was f-an-t-a-s-t-i-c. The fact that the RSNO can play Bruckner, and that the conductor (who has recently done a very highly acclaimed Bernstein Mass, and appears to have contemporary musical leanings in general) wasn't bad was given...

But the fact that he could so confidently sustain a supremely cogent performance of such a 'problem case' as Bruckner's 6th, while at the same moment providing perhaps the most convincing reading of the work I've heard along with Otto Klemperer's, was not!

The RSNO strings played with minimal vibrato (!), and the first movement's tempi were as initially odd as they were ultimately completely convincing, structurally. And, I'll repeat it, the man can sustain orchestral intensity, even in the loudest and most-likely-to-spin-out-of-control passages (whether in terms of phrasing or orchestral balance) like very few conductors I can think of; probably the key for pulling the 6th off like that. Not to mention he found a way to miraculously counter the RSNO's one real flaw (IMO), the rigidity of their phrasing.


Bottom line:

Christjan Järvi, to put it in internet parlance, delivers. I'll be keeping an eye on his work, and would recommend the same.

Thanks for your write-up!  Great-sounding program, and you know it's special when the Bruckner 6th is probably the most familiar work of the three.  And I've not yet heard Christjan Järvi, but obviously he shares the family predilection for unfamiliar repertoire.

--Bruce

[Renfield]

Thanks for your write-up!  Great-sounding program, and you know it's special when the Bruckner 6th is probably the most familiar work of the three.  And I've not yet heard Christjan Järvi, but obviously he shares the family predilection for unfamiliar repertoire.

--Bruce

Actually, I think I might've undersold the Dvorák: it was certainly one of his most 'intensely charming' compositions I've heard.


Re Kristjan Järvi, whose name I managed to slightly mangle, above: hasn't he founded some sort of contemporary ensemble, to boot?

Edit: Yes, he has - and in your haunts, Bruce!

[Brian]

Bad news, ladies and gentlemen!

I just asked my parents about a concert they attended a few weeks ago featuring Dvorak's Sixth Symphony. The response was startling: my father said that he couldn't tell what the main themes were and had a hard time following the piece, and my mom said that she had enjoyed the piece more than Dad did, but that "it wasn't very melodic." Immediately afterward, I advised them to catch the Sibelius Violin Concerto program coming up and was met with astonished looks and the remark, "I thought Sibelius' music was rather...astringent." And that's not even mentioning the explaining I had to do after I casually remarked on my enjoyment of Nielsen...

Help! 

[Sergeant Rock]

Bad news, ladies and gentlemen!

I just asked my parents about a concert they attended a few weeks ago featuring Dvorak's Sixth Symphony. The response was startling: my father said that he couldn't tell what the main themes were and had a hard time following the piece, and my mom said that she had enjoyed the piece more than Dad did, but that "it wasn't very melodic." Immediately afterward, I advised them to catch the Sibelius Violin Concerto program coming up and was met with astonished looks and the remark, "I thought Sibelius' music was rather...astringent." And that's not even mentioning the explaining I had to do after I casually remarked on my enjoyment of Nielsen...

Help! 

Parents are strange creatures. Not very melodic? Dvorak???    I have a vivid recollection of playing the first movement of Brahms Fourth (Karajan 1963) for my mother only to hear her scream to turn off that god-awful sound! I thought then, and still do, that that opening is one of the most beautiful sounds in all god's creation. Her response was deeply disturbing to me. Still can't figure it out.

When I was dating the future Mrs. Rock, I gave her a Brahms Fourth. Upon first hearing, she swooned in ecstasy. It was at that moment I knew she was the woman for me 

About Sibelius: it's strange how his reputation has fallen. In the U.S. in the 30s and 40s, he was as popular in our concert halls as Beethoven!

Sarge

[The new erato]

http://www.kammermusikkfest.no/?gruppe=2785

I am going to the Rislør festival og Chamber Music this year (which I tend to do every second year). Lots of Beethoven this year from the likes of Andsnes, Vertavo, Nebolsin, Mørk, Stotijn....

[ChamberNut]

Bad news, ladies and gentlemen!

I just asked my parents about a concert they attended a few weeks ago featuring Dvorak's Sixth Symphony. The response was startling: my father said that he couldn't tell what the main themes were and had a hard time following the piece, and my mom said that she had enjoyed the piece more than Dad did, but that "it wasn't very melodic." Immediately afterward, I advised them to catch the Sibelius Violin Concerto program coming up and was met with astonished looks and the remark, "I thought Sibelius' music was rather...astringent." And that's not even mentioning the explaining I had to do after I casually remarked on my enjoyment of Nielsen...

Help! 

They just simply do not like what they do not recognize or understand.  You must strap them to chairs, securely fasten their heads and eyelids so they cannot close them and play Dvorak and Sibelius' music as they watch a large video screen of flowers, beautiful fields, lakes, valleys and gardens, etc. 

[Florestan]

Gentlemen, is it mandatory that Brian's parents like Dvorak or Sibelius? I personally see no problem whatsoever. 

[Sergeant Rock]

Gentlemen, is it mandatory that Brian's parents like Dvorak or Sibelius? I personally see no problem whatsoever. 

Not mandatory, no. But their response is puzzling: strange criticism of the music.

Sarge

[Florestan]

Not mandatory, no. But their response is puzzling: strange criticism of the music.

True. But I think even Mozart would be un-melodic to someone whose thoughts wander astray to God knows what when being exposed for the first time to, say, his 4th violin concerto.

[Brian]

When I was dating the future Mrs. Rock, I gave her a Brahms Fourth. Upon first hearing, she swooned in ecstasy. It was at that moment I knew she was the woman for me 

That sounds like the measure I should use in the future!    Thanks for (perhaps inadvertently) suggesting it.

And it is indeed the criticism that puzzles me ... how conservative a listener must you be to think Dvorak didn't write themes? I can certainly get not liking Sibelius (though my mom's view of Grieg as a modernist is a little weird), but seriously!

[Lilas Pastia]

These things happen. My wife can't stand it when a solo cello disc plays: "you KNOW how I hate the trombone!" or when it's an organ disc "do you have to force us to go to Mass?". I won't even mention how she reacts to the harpsichord   .

[Novi]

That sounds like the measure I should use in the future!    Thanks for (perhaps inadvertently) suggesting it.

And it is indeed the criticism that puzzles me ... how conservative a listener must you be to think Dvorak didn't write themes? I can certainly get not liking Sibelius (though my mom's view of Grieg as a modernist is a little weird), but seriously!

I once talked to someone who said that his in-laws considered anything after Buxtehude too modern .

[karlhenning]

Terrify them with Henning, I say!

[bhodges]

And next week, check out this program by the Talea Ensemble, a group new to me:

Fausto Romitelli: Domeniche alla perferia dell'impero ** (1996, 2000) for flute, clarinet, violin and cello
Brian Ferneyhough: Unity Capsule (1973-76) for flute
Bernard Rands: Scherzi (1974) for clarinet, violin, cello and piano
Perluigi Billone: Mani "De Leonardis" ** (2004) for automobile springs and glass 
Philippe Hurel: Per Luigi (1994) for flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano

** US premiere

--Bruce

Fascinating concert, with about 25 of us there in an overheated theater.  (The temperature here was an unseasonable 90 degrees, and most places haven't turned on their air conditioning yet.)  Longer review in the works, but in short:

Romitelli was quite a discovery, and might have been my favorite on the program, along with the Hurel that ended it.  Rands's piece was fun but perhaps a mite long, and the Ferneyhough was typically complex, with the flutist bringing out the score mounted on huge pieces of foam board, like three large drawings. 

The Billone was fun: the coil springs were alternately stroked and tapped, sometimes very loudly, with a glass bowl off to one side that got (lightly) struck as well.  The sound of the coils is unusual--almost electronic.  Before the concert, the player described going to automobile junkyards in search of just the right ones, which were then cut to size, presumably for pitch reasons. 

--Bruce

[jlaurson]

Concerts to look forward too in & around Washington DC:

http://www.weta.org/fmblog/?p=529