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

[NikF4]

It appears to be a 1908 setting of a poem by Matthew Arnold - so the RVW studies tell us (some online). But indeed I'd never heard anything about it before, will check (don't have the book here) if Michael Kennedy knows more about it.

E.g. here: https://books.google.nl/books?id=HgkHDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA136&lpg=PA136&dq=%22The+future%22+%22Vaughan+Williams%22+%22Matthew+Arnold%22&source=bl&ots=K3zkl7wa7o&sig=ACfU3U1YUKr383a-ZGf1C0BELPETGGA-AQ&hl=nl&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjd89zymK_hAhULuRoKHdghBSEQ6AEwAHoECAgQAQ#v=onepage&q=%22The%20future%22%20%22Vaughan%20Williams%22%20%22Matthew%20Arnold%22&f=false

That's interesting indeed. And it must be cool and exciting for those who are hugely familiar with a composer's work to have something 'new' turn up relatively late in the day.

[Christo]

That's interesting indeed. And it must be cool and exciting for those who are hugely familiar with a composer's work to have something 'new' turn up relatively late in the day.

It is. Though speaking solely for myself, I'm not a huge fan of his pre-1910 compositions generally speaking (the Tallis Fantasia is the main starting point), and suspect that won't change overnight with this discovery. 

[NikF4]

It is. Though speaking solely for myself, I'm not a huge fan of his 1908 compositions generally speaking (the 1910 Tallis Fantasia is the main starting point), and suspect that won't change overnight with this discovery. 

Fair enough. 
I don't know his work anywhere near the way the members of this forum do, but I remember the first time I heard A London Symphony how it stopped me in my tracks. And I think that was written in 1912 or thereabouts? Anyway, I'm looking forward to the whole concert programme. 

[ritter]

The catalogue for the RSNO new concert season arrived just now. This concert is already on my list.

Vaughan Williams: Overture to The Wasps
Vaughan Williams: The Lark Ascending
Stravinsky: The Firebird Suite (1945)
Ravel: Pavane pour une infante défunte
Vaughan Williams: The Future World Premiere

Martin Yates CONDUCTOR
Sharon Roffman VIOLIN
Ilona Domnich SOPRANO
RSNO Chorus
Gregory Batsleer DIRECTOR, RSNO CHORUS

Really cool, NikF! To attend the world premiere of a work (be it early or late) of a composer one admires is an occasion to savour. Congratulations on getting those tickets... 

[NikF4]

Really cool, NikF! To attend the world premiere of a work (be it early or late) of a composer one admires is an occasion to savour. Congratulations on getting those tickets... 

Yeah, absolutely. Cheers.

[ritter]

I'll be visiting my daughter in London this weekend (she's been working as an architect there since last September), and we might attend the concert of the JACK Quartet at the Wigmore Hall on Saturday night. Elliott Carter's 5 SQs are on the program! Actually, I've already seen 4 of them live here in Madrid many years ago, played by the Arditti SQ (the Fifth SQ hadn't yet been composed at the time). On that occasion, it was over two evenings (the Carter SQs were interspersed with some of Bartók's), but this time it would be "all Carter, nothing but Carter", in one go. 

[Judith]

Had a "double whammy" last weekend.

Saturday evening went to see local orchestra "Sinfonia of Leeds".

They performed

Stravinsky
Symphonies of Wind Instruments

Part
Tabula Rasa

Brahms
Symphony No 4

Soloists 
David Greed and Andrew Long

Conductor
Anthony Kraus

Lovely concert that was something a bit different and one of the best interpretations I have heard of the Brahms.  They performed it just how I like it with the right tempo and texture.


Sunday afternoon saw "Leeds Haydn Players"

Performing

Rossini
Overture to Il Signor Bruschino

Haydn
Symphony no 44 in E Minor

Rossini
Introduction, theme and variations for clarinet and orchestra

Schubert
Symphony no 3 in D Major

Soloist
Benjamin Palmer

Conductor
Christopher Pelly

The Rossini Overture was unusual as the orchestra stamped their feet, but I do have a recording where it sounds like maracas.  In saying that, when watching on U Tube, they tapped their instruments so I am wondering what did Rossini intend!!

[Florestan]

Rossini
Overture to Il Signor Bruschino

The Rossini Overture was unusual as the orchestra stamped their feet, but I do have a recording where it sounds like maracas.  In saying that, when watching on U Tube, they tapped their instruments so I am wondering what did Rossini intend!!

AfaIk, in the score Rossini instructed the second violins to tap their bows on the music stands.

Great concerts, especially the second one.

[Judith]

AfaIk, in the score Rossini instructed the second violins to tap their bows on the music stands.

Great concerts, especially the second one.

Thank you. They were both wonderful concerts🎼🎼

[bhodges]

I'll be visiting my daughter in London this weekend (she's been working as an architect there since last September), and we might attend the concert of the JACK Quartet at the Wigmore Hall on Saturday night. Elliott Carter's 5 SQs are on the program! Actually, I've already seen 4 of them live here in Madrid many years ago, played by the Arditti SQ (the Fifth SQ hadn't yet been composed at the time). On that occasion, it was over two evenings (the Carter SQs were interspersed with some of Bartók's), but this time it would be "all Carter, nothing but Carter", in one go. 

Do report if you go! I am seeing that same concert in two weeks here, at the Morgan Library. 

Meanwhile, this weekend: two all-Bartók evenings with Iván Fischer and Budapest Festival Orchestra. Includes blockbusters (Mandarin, the Concerto, Bluebeard) but some rarities, at least here: folk songs for chorus, both with and without orchestra.

--Bruce

[king ubu]

Heard a few wonderful concerts lately:

A piano recital by Béatrice Berrut including the Schumann "concert sans orchestre" and an amazing performance of the b minor sonata by Liszt (Solothurn, March 24)

--

A Liederabend by soprano Rachel Harnisch and Jan Philip Schulze on piano, featuring a programme with groups of songs by Schubert, Mahler and R. Strauss revolving around live, death, and love. After the Schubert "Apparition", the cycle by Crumb - Harnisch has an amazing voice, full control, a wonderful pianissimo which is often used to start phrases, as if coming out of nothing ...  (Zurich, March 25)

--

An outstanding night of baroque music and dance masterminded by choreographer/dancer Mojca Gal under the motto of terpsycore, muse of dance. First part was a ballet-pantomime with music by one Johann Christian Schieferdecker (never heard of him, but it seems I have a recording of one of the three concerti that were used for the suite). Second half was Händel's prologue attached to the third version of his opera "Il Pastor fido" (1734). The music was wonderfully played by the Zürcher Barockorchester (which I hadn't heard before), for the Händel the four dancers (Gal as terpsycore in both parts, quite obviously) and the orchestra were joined by two singers, soprano Aude Freyburger and countertenor Flavio Ferri-Benedetti. The choreography circled in on what is known about baroque dancing (quite different from modern ballet), which needs a whole lot of foot technique, and it seems a much deeper understanding of rhythm (which while I can't judge, makes total sense based on what I saw). An outstanding experience, with fitting stage set-up and all ... (Zurich, April 3)

--

The most recent, and again outstanding, was this (Zurich, April 5):

Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich
Matthias Pintscher Leitung (creative chair)
Leila Josefowicz Violin
Sophia Burgos soprano
Chorsolisten Zürcher Sing-Akademie alto
Martina Gedeck Sprecherin
Zürcher Sing-Akademie
Florian Helgath Einstudierung

CLAUDE DEBUSSY: from ,,Images" for orchestra, no. 3 ,,Rondes de printemps"
MATTHIAS PINTSCHER: Mar'eh, for violin and orchestra
—
CLAUDE DEBUSSY: from ,,Le Martyre de Saint Sébastien"

There was a "prelude", which consisted of a half hour talk with Pintscher. He spoke about his manner of composing, the works to be performed that night etc. Very interesting indeed. Then two students of the University of Arts of Zurich (where Pintscher gave a masterclass that day) performed Debussy's "Six Épigraphes antiques" for piano four-hands. A very nice opening. The concert itself was outstanding. The way Pintscher works with colours and nuances inflects his work as a conductor as well, and Debussy's music came alive in blooming colours indeed. His violin concerto is thrilling I found (it's his second and it's dedicated to Luigi Nono and Julia Fischer, who inspired its composition). Never heard Leila Josefowicz before, both on disc or in concert - she was great, and so was the orchestra, playing in a chamber music like mindset, quick to react and very lively. The same was more than true for the second half, which consisted of about 50 minutes of Debussy's "Le Martyre" (which I'd decided not to listen before hand, but now I will!). Pintscher made a few cuts, including the entire fourth part. In his hands, the whole thing came alive, despite its awfully pathetic text, and notwithstanding its Wagnerian stand-stills and suggestive slow-motion moves ... masterful!

[Florestan]

A piano recital by Béatrice Berrut including the Schumann "concert sans orchestre" and an amazing performance of the b minor sonata by Liszt (Solothurn, March 24)

--

A Liederabend by soprano Rachel Harnisch and Jan Philip Schulze on piano, featuring a programme with groups of songs by Schubert, Mahler and R. Strauss revolving around live, death, and love. After the Schubert "Apparition", the cycle by Crumb - Harnisch has an amazing voice, full control, a wonderful pianissimo which is often used to start phrases, as if coming out of nothing ...  (Zurich, March 25)

--

Wish I were (t)here...

[Wanderer]

Friday 7 June 2019 - Wiener Konzerthaus, Großer Saal


Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy

Konzert für Violine und Orchester e-moll op. 64 (1844)

***

Johannes Brahms

Symphonie Nr. 1 c-moll op. 68 (1876)


Wiener Symphoniker

Leonidas Kavakos, Violine, Dirigent

[ritter]

Do report if you go! I am seeing that same concert in two weeks here, at the Morgan Library. 
....

Well, this was one wonderful concert. I had misread the Wigmore Hall's programming, though: it turns out SQs 5 & 1 were being given at 1:00 pm, then there was a pre-concert lecture at 6:00 pm, and SQs 2, 3 & 4 were performed at 7 pm. My daughter and I decided to attend the lunchtime concert.

Seeing the two "outer" quartets of Carter's extraordinary cycle in the intimate setting of the Wigmore Hall was a treat. The JACK Quartet played with confidence and panache, and with what I think was excellent technical command of these demanding pieces. Perhaps some more suaveness would have been welcome in these sometimes very angular compositions, but in any event these were masterful performances.

Seeing the outer quartets in inverse order made all the sense in the world: SQ No. 5 is IMHO a distillation of the composer's experience over 40 years in the medium, while the bold statement of SQ No. 1 is a more substantial piece. Both works complement each other, and are masterpieces in their own right. The inventiveness, richness of musical material, and mastery of counterpoint, rhythm and harmony are baffling, but the extreme experimentalism of e.g. SQ No. 3 is absent, making these two works rather accessible (my daughter, who did not know Carter's music until now, was delighted).

I see you will be getting al the SQs in one go in New York; I'm sure you'll enjoy this (and do report, please) 

[bhodges]

Well, this was one wonderful concert. I had misread the Wigmore Hall's programming, though: it turns out SQs 5 & 1 were being given at 1:00 pm, then there was a pre-concert lecture at 6:00 pm, and SQs 2, 3 & 4 were performed at 7 pm. My daughter and I decided to attend the lunchtime concert.

Seeing the two "outer" quartets of Carter's extraordinary cycle in the intimate setting of the Wigmore Hall was a treat. The JACK Quartet played with confidence and panache, and with what I think was excellent technical command of these demanding pieces. Perhaps some more suaveness would have been welcome in these sometimes very angular compositions, but in any event these were masterful performances.

Seeing the outer quartets in inverse order made all the sense in the world: SQ No. 5 is IMHO a distillation of the composer's experience over 40 years in the medium, while the bold statement of SQ No. 1 is a more substantial piece. Both works complement each other, and are masterpieces in their own right. The inventiveness, richness of musical material, and mastery of counterpoint, rhythm and harmony are baffling, but the extreme experimentalism of e.g. SQ No. 3 is absent, making these two works rather accessible (my daughter, who did not know Carter's music until now, was delighted).

I see you will be getting al the SQs in one go in New York; I'm sure you'll enjoy this (and do report, please)

Thank you! (But sorry you didn't get to hear the other three.  ) That said, I agree that Nos. 1 and 5 would make a satisfying pairing on their own. I know the 5th a little better: heard the world premiere and thought it was -- like many of his late works -- almost supernaturally light and nimble.

--Bruce

[Obradovic]

Tonight at the Athens Megaron

Giuseppe Verdi
Messa da Requiem

MusicAeterna Choir and Orchestra (all standing-cellos excluded?)
Theodor Currentzis

[Brian]

Tonight!!

Fabio Luisi debut concert as new music director of the Dallas Symphony.

W G Still - Poem
Frank Martin - Concerto for 7 winds, timpani, strings
Beethoven - 7

[bhodges]

Tonight!!

Fabio Luisi debut concert as new music director of the Dallas Symphony.

W G Still - Poem
Frank Martin - Concerto for 7 winds, timpani, strings
Beethoven - 7

That is quite an original program, especially to make a first impression. Have a great time!

--Bruce

[Brian]

That is quite an original program, especially to make a first impression. Have a great time!

--Bruce

I even got to review it! No seat as good as a free media seat

[André]

I even got to review it! No seat as good as a free media seat

Excellent review, Brian ! Brilliant programming IMO. It looks like a lot of musical ground was covered in this concert.