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

[Judith]

Been to a wonderful concert today performed by local orchestra

Leeds Haydn Players

Mendelssohn. Hebrides Overture
Haydn Symphony no 102
Mendelssohn Psalm 42

Conductor Melvyn Tay
Soprano Elizabeth Hardman
Choir Clothworkers Consort of Leeds
Choirmaster Bryan White

It was held in the beautiful Clothworkers Centenary Concert Hall at the School of Music Leeds University.

[Brian]

I love the idea of a "clothworkers consort"!

[TheGSMoeller]

Will be in Chicago next week and will catch a few Grant Park Symphony concerts...

Grant Park Orchestra
Carlos Kalmar, conductor
ZOFO, piano duo

Anna Clyne: This Midnight Hour
Franz Schubert: Symphony No. 8, Unfinished
Carl Vine: Zofomorphosis (World Premiere)


Grant Park Orchestra
Carlos Kalmar, conductor
Simone Lamsma, violin​​​​​​

Erich Wolfgang Korngold: Violin Concerto
Dmitri Shostakovich: Symphony No. 11, The Year 1905

[Brian]

Wow, those look super cool! The idea of a Carl Vine double piano concerto is really really enticing.

[TheGSMoeller]

Wow, those look super cool! The idea of a Carl Vine double piano concerto is really really enticing.

It does! I found this from Vine's website...

"The ZOFO piano duet asked me to compose this work after I had the good fortune to be involved with several of their performance projects. The duet's name is a blended acronym standing for 20 ("ZO") Finger Orchestra ("FO"), as they envisage creating a shifting world of symphonic colour by repeatedly prodding a large wooden box.

Zofomorphosis tests this thesis by planting them in the middle of a real orchestra and seeing how many original sonorities emerge. The music employs related cells of melodic, harmonic and rhythmic motifs that undergo continual metamorphosis through the work.

It comprises three contrasting movements, played without a break. The first is resiliently buoyant, with a dreamy central episode heralding a couplet of short cadenzas. It falls away suddenly to a pensive slow movement enveloping a short interruption of surprising energy. The last movement is an increasingly persistent tarantella, the finale of which is preceded by a substantial unaccompanied cadenza for the soloists.

The music, of course, is dedicated to ZOFO."

Carl Vine, April 2020

[Mirror Image]

Grant Park Orchestra
Carlos Kalmar, conductor
Simone Lamsma, violin​​​​​​

Erich Wolfgang Korngold: Violin Concerto
Dmitri Shostakovich: Symphony No. 11, The Year 1905

Oh, this should be good.

[VonStupp]

I don't think you will be disappointed. 

My sole, minor quibble: my seat turned out to be right next to a squad of 10 extra brass players in the balcony. They were great, but sort of drowned out the other instruments in the final minutes of each movement.

Also, video will be available in July, on the orchestra's website.

--Bruce

One of the sopranos had to drop out on Sunday, so Carolyn Sampson covered both Soprano 1 & 3; not a shred of complaint from me at all.

On a side note, taking a different route to the Twin Cities, I did get to eye the Sinkhole Capital of the USA! 

VS

[ritter]

I did not know what to expect regarding the staging of these two seemingly disparate works, however it proved to be a very memorable evening. The Debussy cantata was performed as ethereally as it should (great playing from the orchestra), the action on stage being appropriately static, divided on two levels like in so many El Greco paintings. This two-plane division of the stage was carried out to Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher, which followed immediately without a break (a great transitorial coup de théâtre). Cotillard was excellent in the role, as was, more or less, everyone else. The staging emphasized the bizarre aspect of the visions. Costumes weren't as uniformly successful, however I was not too close to the stage to be bothered by incongruous details. Musically, both vocally and orchestrally, the score was allowed to unfold organically and was performed with panache, great conviction, enthusiasm and beauty of tone; beauty where required, force where it mattered. In the final cathartic climax, some of Cotillard's lines ("J'ai cassé! J'ai rompu!") were rather inaudible. It did not matter. The burning itself was handled convincingly and the effects used were not distracting. And after several warm rounds of applause, we were let out of the theatre just as the setting sun had set the sky and the clouds on fire.

I attended the performance of the La Damoislle élue / Jeanne d'Arc au Bûcher double bill last Sunday, and it was great to see two works that are perennial favourites of mine fully staged (even if Debussy's cantata is clearly a concert work). Strangely (perhaps to provide some congruity between both works), the subtitles during the soprano's long monologue --the highlight of the piece-- in La Damoiselle referred to the singer's lover as "she" or "her", when in the original Dante Gabriel Rossetti poem (which, truth be said, I find revolting) and the French translation set by Debussy,  the lover's gender is male. Musically things were very good under Juanjo Mena --even if the much-lauded chorus desperately needs a competent French language coach!--, Camilla Tilling was perfectly adequate (but not really memorable) in the Debussy,  and Marion Cotillard was most convincing in the title rôle of Honegger's dramatic oratorio.

I was less taken by the staging, I must confess. Technically very well done (as Tassos says, the burning at the end was convincing, and Alex Ollé managed to give a coherence to both works form a theatrical point of view). What bothers me, though, is Ollé's (and his troupe La Fura dels Baus') aesthetic approach. I'm all for innovative stagings of great works, and this "Mad Max / dystopian" style may have been ground-breaking when it first appeared in the late 70s, but is now worn-out, cliché ridden, and frankly repetitive. I've seen three productions by these people here in Madrid over past decade: Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (the stage was covered with rubbish), The Flying Dutchman (set in Chittagong in Bangladesh --apparently the ship scrapping capital of the world, with all the waste that implies), and now this Jeanne d'Arc. The feísmo (an untranslatable Spanish term, which roighly means "exaltation of ugliness") the Fura group applies to almost everything really doesn't shed any interesting light on Claudel's text; for example, one of the few cheerful sections in the piece, the beginning of the eighth scene ("Le roi qui va-t-à Rheims") in which the North of France meets the South in a celebratory mood, is presented to us with two women being flagellated, and then with the children's' chorus being led onstage in a cage from which they emerge dressed as little soldiers to sing the lovely popular song "Voulez-vous manger des cesses". I'm afraid that if they were performing, I don't know, Gianni Schicchi or L'Heure espagnole, the images onstage would have been quite similar.

But well, I knew what to expect, and despite that am very happy to have seen this marvellous work in the theatre. And it was a pleasure to meet Tassos and have some glasses of sherry wine with him!

[Wanderer]

Strangely (perhaps to provide some congruity between both works), the subtitles during the soprano's long monologue --the highlight of the piece-- in La Damoiselle referred to the singer's lover as "she" or "her", when in the original Dante Gabriel Rossetti poem (which, truth be said, I find revolting) and the French translation set by Debussy,  the lover's gender is male.

I noticed that, too. My impression was that it was changed, as you said, to give further parallels and connection between the works (which scenically and musically flowed into each other), signifying perhaps that in this iteration La Damoiselle élue is France and son amante is Jeanne D'Arc's soul, about to be assumed to the heavens in the ensuing Honegger's work. Furthermore, under this pretension, the staging's feísmo, otherwise not very audacious or groundbreaking, as you noted, bordering on tired cliché (frankly, I was expecting much worse and did not find it too incongruous, sensing it worked inasmuch it highlighted the bizarreness of the visions), I felt it worked on a second level in the trial scene as a characterization against the English and the court that condemned her. It helped a lot that Marion Cotillard was very persuasive in the role, her stage presence bordering on the magnetic. All in all, I thought it was a successful effort by all involved, the most important thing being that the music was excellently, lovingly and excitingly, performed. I'm glad you also enjoyed it!

And it was a pleasure to meet Tassos and have some glasses of sherry wine with him!

It was a pleasure meeting you, Rafael, and I'm glad we were able to make it happen.
À la prochaine! 🍷🍷

[Iota]

Great write-ups Wanderer and ritter, very interesting to read! You've quite whetted my appetite to revisit the marvellous Cotillard performance.

[André]

Bought a ticket to the Orchestre Métropolitain's final concert this season on June 18, Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducting.

Brahms: concerto no 2, with Seong-Jin Cho
Stravinsky: Chant funèbre
Boulanger: D'un matin de printemps
Ravel: La Valse

The concert was quite good. Works were played in the order above. The concerto was Nicholas Angelich's choice, but he died a few months ago and young Corean Seong-Jin Cho replaced him. He has the chops (excellent left-hand line delineation and tone) but I'm not sure he's in total sympathy with Brahms. NS and the orchestra were the clear leaders in this partnership. Big, prolonged ovation which led him to give an encore, Ravel's Pavane pour une infante défunte. Far from being anticlimactic, it's in this piece that Cho immediately established an almost surreal connection with this very elusive sound world. He records exclusively for DGG and I see that he made a Debussy disc on that label. I might buy it. Hope he records some Ravel, too.

The 3 remaining works on the program run under 30 minutes, but they made for a satisfying repast. Stravinsky's Chant funèbre is an early, pre-Firebird work but its sound world is instantly recognizable. The Boulanger is a fine miniatur. La Valse was given a rather noisy treatment. I prefer Dutoit (with the Montreal Symphony, a different orchestra) who used to play the work with classy decadence. Still, as the closing item for the orchestra's season, I think NS's sultry take on the work was a good choice. It's an endlessly fascinating, multi-faceted work and it responds to many approaches.

[Klaze]

Looking forward to the world premiere of Sorabji's Toccata Terza, somehow in my hometown, this sunday!

[Judith]

Yesterday evening went to a wonderful concert performed by local orchestra
Sinfonia of Leeds

performing

Bernstein Overture 'Candide'
Mendelssohn Violin Concerto
Sibelius Symphony no 2

Soloist Lana Trotovsek
Conductors David Greed/Anthony Kraus

This last season we have focused on supporting local orchestras and they have all been wonderful performances.

[bhodges]

Yesterday evening went to a wonderful concert performed by local orchestra
Sinfonia of Leeds

performing

Bernstein Overture 'Candide'
Mendelssohn Violin Concerto
Sibelius Symphony no 2

Soloist Lana Trotovsek
Conductors David Greed/Anthony Kraus

This last season we have focused on supporting local orchestras and they have all been wonderful performances.

That's a nice program. (I just heard the Mendelssohn a few weeks ago in Philadelphia, with a crew of young student players.) And good for you for supporting local orchestras. In the U.S., some haven't been able to survive the pandemic.

--Bruce
Good for you for focu

[Mirror Image]

I attended the performance of the La Damoislle élue / Jeanne d'Arc au Bûcher double bill last Sunday, and it was great to see two works that are perennial favourites of mine fully staged (even if Debussy's cantata is clearly a concert work). Strangely (perhaps to provide some congruity between both works), the subtitles during the soprano's long monologue --the highlight of the piece-- in La Damoiselle referred to the singer's lover as "she" or "her", when in the original Dante Gabriel Rossetti poem (which, truth be said, I find revolting) and the French translation set by Debussy,  the lover's gender is male. Musically things were very good under Juanjo Mena --even if the much-lauded chorus desperately needs a competent French language coach!--, Camilla Tilling was perfectly adequate (but not really memorable) in the Debussy,  and Marion Cotillard was most convincing in the title rôle of Honegger's dramatic oratorio.

I was less taken by the staging, I must confess. Technically very well done (as Tassos says, the burning at the end was convincing, and Alex Ollé managed to give a coherence to both works form a theatrical point of view). What bothers me, though, is Ollé's (and his troupe La Fura dels Baus') aesthetic approach. I'm all for innovative stagings of great works, and this "Mad Max / dystopian" style may have been ground-breaking when it first appeared in the late 70s, but is now worn-out, cliché ridden, and frankly repetitive. I've seen three productions by these people here in Madrid over past decade: Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (the stage was covered with rubbish), The Flying Dutchman (set in Chittagong in Bangladesh --apparently the ship scrapping capital of the world, with all the waste that implies), and now this Jeanne d'Arc. The feísmo (an untranslatable Spanish term, which roighly means "exaltation of ugliness") the Fura group applies to almost everything really doesn't shed any interesting light on Claudel's text; for example, one of the few cheerful sections in the piece, the beginning of the eighth scene ("Le roi qui va-t-à Rheims") in which the North of France meets the South in a celebratory mood, is presented to us with two women being flagellated, and then with the children's' chorus being led onstage in a cage from which they emerge dressed as little soldiers to sing the lovely popular song "Voulez-vous manger des cesses". I'm afraid that if they were performing, I don't know, Gianni Schicchi or L'Heure espagnole, the images onstage would have been quite similar.

But well, I knew what to expect, and despite that am very happy to have seen this marvellous work in the theatre. And it was a pleasure to meet Tassos and have some glasses of sherry wine with him!

The Debussy and Honegger are favorites of mine as well. It's too bad the performance wasn't quite up to snuff. Oh well, where else will you get this kind of double-bill of works? Nowhere near where I live that's for sure! And yes, Marion Cotillard is excellent in Jeanne d'Arc au Bûcher as evidenced by this recording:

[Christo]

Next week, Saturday, Amsterdam Concertgebouw:

Liszt, Second Piano Concerto
Mendelssohn, Symphony No. 4 'Italian' (an old favourite)
Tchaikovsky, Romeo and Juliette

Alexandre Kantorow, piano
Belgian National Orchestra under Hugh Wolff

[bhodges]

Next week, Saturday, Amsterdam Concertgebouw:

Liszt, Second Piano Concerto
Mendelssohn, Symphony No. 4 'Italian' (an old favourite)
Tchaikovsky, Romeo and Juliette

Alexandre Kantorow, piano
Belgian National Orchestra under Hugh Wolff

Wonderful. (But then, hearing anyone play anything in that hall is a treat.)

--Bruce

[Christo]

Wonderful. (But then, hearing anyone play anything in that hall is a treat.)

--Bruce

   When was your last time?

[bhodges]

 
   When was your last time?

Last time I was there was maybe 2005? After an initial visit I fell in love with the hall, and made maybe a dozen trips there over 7-8 years -- just to hear the orchestra. This was mostly during the Chailly years, so there were many fine concerts afoot. Also other groups, like the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, and some chamber music in the smaller recital hall. But in the main hall, pretty much everyone sounds splendid.

--Bruce

[LKB]

Next March, the VPO with Thielmann are due in Berkeley. Two fairly standard programs, but the third is Bruckner's Eighth, and l intend to be there.