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

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

I am very much looking forward to the next concert in Melbourne of world premieres given by the wonderful Plexus ensemble, this time featuring new compositions by Australian composers including Stefan Cassomenos (the pianist of the ensemble), Gordon Kerry and myself. The soprano Merlyn Quaife is a guest artist with the usual lineup of clarinet, violin and piano. It's on the 9th of February if there is anyone in this part of the world who could come along too!

Just confirming that I can get a recording of this. Super excited, rehearsals are coming up soon!

Also, there will be quite a bit of Russian music in the upcoming free concerts the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra are giving. Might go along and watch it!

[NikF]

I am very much looking forward to the next concert in Melbourne of world premieres given by the wonderful Plexus ensemble, this time featuring new compositions by Australian composers including Stefan Cassomenos (the pianist of the ensemble), Gordon Kerry and myself.

Just confirming that I can get a recording of this. Super excited, rehearsals are coming up soon!

That's most likely the coolest thing I'll read all week. Congrats. Good stuff, man.

[Brian]

In case Todd feels like a New York trip next year:

Thursday, March 1, 2018 | 7:30 PM
Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, NYC

SCHUMANN Andante and Variations in B-flat Major, Op. 46
MAURO LANZA New Work for Two Pianos (NY Premiere, co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall)
SCHUBERT Fantasie in F Minor for Piano Four Hands, D. 940
RACHMANINOFF Suite No. 1 for Two Pianos
RACHMANINOFF Suite No. 2 for Two Pianos

Daniil Trifonov, Piano
Sergei Babayan, Piano


October 28, 2017, sees Trifonov playing his own piano concerto at Carnegie with Mariinsky and Gergiev (who add Don Juan and Prokofiev 6).

[André]

My planned trip to Cologne next month (Trifonov playing Rach 3) will not materialize, I'm afraid. Too many visits, too little time 

[Todd]

In case Todd feels like a New York trip next year:

Thursday, March 1, 2018 | 7:30 PM
Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, NYC

SCHUMANN Andante and Variations in B-flat Major, Op. 46
MAURO LANZA New Work for Two Pianos (NY Premiere, co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall)
SCHUBERT Fantasie in F Minor for Piano Four Hands, D. 940
RACHMANINOFF Suite No. 1 for Two Pianos
RACHMANINOFF Suite No. 2 for Two Pianos

Daniil Trifonov, Piano
Sergei Babayan, Piano

Tempting.  My conundrum is that Beatrice et Benedict is being put on around the same time out west.  Too much travel in too short a period of time to do both.  Decisions.

[NikF]

http://www.rsno.org.uk/sibelius-family-grants-permission-to-rsno-musicians/

Michael Daugherty: Diamond in the Rough
Sibelius: Piano Quartet in D minor
R. Strauss: Piano Quartet in C minor

I'm taking a violin playing redhead to this as our first date.   

[Brian]

Tempting.  My conundrum is that Beatrice et Benedict is being put on around the same time out west.  Too much travel in too short a period of time to do both.  Decisions.

It appears that Trifonov and Babayan perform together every few months - they did Princeton in October and London before that. The only reliable place for Babayan concert dates seems to be his Facebook page, which posts concerts a week before. Dude needs better PR.

He has been taking the Goldbergs on tour, including a Vera Gornostaeva memorial concert in Russia.

[Todd]

It appears that Trifonov and Babayan perform together every few months - they did Princeton in October and London before that. The only reliable place for Babayan concert dates seems to be his Facebook page, which posts concerts a week before. Dude needs better PR.

He also needs a recording contract.

Good to know about Trifonov and Babayan performing together regularly.  I'm sure I'll be able to see Trifonov at some point, and I really want to, but Babayan is more obscure and may be harder to see on his own.

[Todd]

Carlos Kalmar is a very bad man.  The Oregon Symphony released its 2017/18 season schedule, and I have never seen such a diverse mix of works.  Three world premieres, two of them commissions, are scheduled, along with works by composers I've never heard of.  In addition to the below concerts of great interest, there will be one with Detlev Glanert's Concertgeblaas (?), a Yuja Wang special concert, and the season closer of Mahler 7.  Kalmar ends each season with a Mahler symphony.  A friend of mine and I saw Mahler 7 in 2007, and there were some notable flubs in the brass, but Kalmar has whipped the band into shape, so I may have to hear it again.  A person could go broke next season.

Concerts of interest (soloist/info in parentheses):

Beethoven: Egmont Overture
Takemitsu: Twill by Twilight
R. Strauss: Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks
Joan Tower: Fanfare for the Uncommon Women No. 1
Copland: Lincoln Portrait (George Takai as speaker!)
Liszt: Les Preludes


Beethoven: Violin Concerto (Augustin Hadelich)
Gould: Stringmusic
Balakirev/Casella: Islamey


Angela da Ponte: The Rising Sea
Saint-Saëns: Cello Concerto No. 1
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5


Mark-Anthony Turnage: Symphonic Movements (World premiere)
Barber: Piano Concerto (Garrick Ohlsson)
Schubert (arr. Gülke): Andante from Symphony No. 10
Mozart: Symphony No. 41, "Jupiter"


Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue (Kirill Gerstein)
Chris Rogerson: Unnamed Commission/World premiere
Schoenberg: Piano Concerto (Kirill Gerstein)
(With stage setting by Luis Alfaro)


Beethoven: Symphony No. 2
John Adams: Absolute Jest (St. Lawrence String Quartet)
Hindemith: Symphonic Metamorphosis on Themes of Carl Maria von Weber


Piston: Symphony No. 7
Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 2 (Natasha Paremski)
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6, "Pathetique"


Barber: Essay No. 2
Franck: Symphonic Variations (Francesco Piemontesi)
R. Strauss: Burleske (Francesco Piemontesi)
Sibelius: Symphony No. 5


Dvořák: The Water Goblin
Hanson: Symphony No. 4 (Requiem)
Brahms: Violin Concerto (Vadim Gluzman)


Andy Akiho: Percussion Concerto (Colin Currie; Commission/World premiere)
Ravel: Daphnis and Chloe (complete)


Guillaume Connesson: Supernova (Cosmic Trilogy, Part III)
Szymanowski: Violin Concerto No. 1 (Sarah Kwak, OSO concertmaster)
Saint-Saëns: Symphony No. 3


Hindemith: News of the Day Overture
Bernstein: Serenade (Joshua Bell)
Gabriel Kahane: Unnamed Commission/World premiere (Measha Brueggergosman)

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

That concert schedule looks AWESOME!!!! It would almost convince me to move to Oregon!

[Christo]

February 10, Concertgebouw Amsterdam: NedPhO under Karl-Heinz Steffens playing Frank's Symphony and Falla Noches in los jardines de Espana (Roberto Cominati, piano)

March 10, Wageningen SO and choir under Stef Collignon, Elgar's Enigma Variations and Vaughan Williams In Windsor Forest

March 31, Rotterdam: RPhO under Mark Elder, Debussy L'après-midi d'un faune and La Mer, coupled with Vaughan Williams The Lark Ascending and Symphony No. 4 in F minor.

[SimonNZ]

A couple of interesting concerts coming up here within a couple of days of each other:

March 18th: Gubaidulina's Offertorium and Schoenberg's arrangement of Brahms' Piano Quartet No.1

March 20th: L'Arpeggiata with Christina Pluhar focusing on 17th Century England

and I see that in June Masaaki Suzuki will be in town doing an all-Bach concert including Ich Habe Genug

[king ubu]

Tonight at Tonhalle Zurich:

Il Giardino Armonico
Giovanni Antonini Dirigent
Sandrine Piau Sopran

Joseph Haydn
Sinfonie D-Dur Hob. I: 6 «Le matin»
«Berenice, che fai»

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Rezitativ «Giunse al fin il momento» und Arie «Deh vieni non tardar», aus: Nozze di Figaro
Arie «Non mi dir», aus: Don Giovanni

Joseph Haydn
Sinfonie A-Dur Hob. I: 64 «Tempora Mutantur»

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Rezitativ «Grazie ai numi parti» und Arie «Nel grave tormento», aus: Mitridate re di Ponto

Really looking forward ... I actually spent quite something for a front row seat (means I get a semi-good view and can stretch my legs ... the best seats start in row 4 or 5, but those beyond my price range usually).

[SurprisedByBeauty]

Review: Hamburg Elbphilharmonie Opening And First Impressions Of The Great Hall


http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2017/02/08/review-hamburg-elbphilharmonie-opening-and-first-impressions-of-the-great-hall/#474bf13b3cd2

Paddington Bear/Falstaff/Bryn Terfel (hard to tell) lumbered onto the stage and roared and howled away like a drunken sailor on shore leave.

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

I've been going to these concerts with friends http://www.mso.com.au/whats-on/2017/sidney-myer-free-concerts/

[king ubu]

Tonight at Tonhalle Zurich:

Il Giardino Armonico
Giovanni Antonini Dirigent
Sandrine Piau Sopran

Joseph Haydn
Sinfonie D-Dur Hob. I: 6 «Le matin»
«Berenice, che fai»

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Rezitativ «Giunse al fin il momento» und Arie «Deh vieni non tardar», aus: Nozze di Figaro
Arie «Non mi dir», aus: Don Giovanni

Joseph Haydn
Sinfonie A-Dur Hob. I: 64 «Tempora Mutantur»

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Rezitativ «Grazie ai numi parti» und Arie «Nel grave tormento», aus: Mitridate re di Ponto

Really looking forward ... I actually spent quite something for a front row seat (means I get a semi-good view and can stretch my legs ... the best seats start in row 4 or 5, but those beyond my price range usually).

This was so amazing ... actually the orchestra was rather small of course (I guess for the Mozart towards their largest line-up, which I think is 35, in Zurich it was probably between 20 and 30, depending on if additional winds were added or not), so sitting front row was great to hear it all in fairly loud volume in the hall that's too big for such an ensemble ... and having Sandrine Piau just in front of me was a wonderful experience, never sat so close to a singer in a classical concert yet. The Haydn was really coming alive, breathing and stomping (I could hear Antonini hum and breathe and sometimes stamp his foot), with perfect attention to detail and an extremely transparent sound.

Piau changed from one character to another with ease (actually "Mitridate" I don't know yet), and her singing was as great as I was hoping from from hearing her on disc. She got a huge applause and sang two encores ... I was hoping for a review to mention them as I failed to take notice of the opening line of the first one, which was sung German. The second was the wonderful short aria "L'ho perduta, me meschina" by Barbarina from "Le nozze de Figaro", and again Piau was stunning!

Next up tomorrow (should have been - finally - my first time seeing Bringuier conduct, but that seems to be difficult ... actually the concerts he usually conducts are not the ones high on my list):

ORCHESTERMAGIE
19:30 Uhr, Grosser Saal
Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich
Michel Tabachnik Leitung
Katia und Marielle Labèque Klavierduo
Clara Mouriz Mezzosopran

Philip Glass: "Four movements for two pianos"
Francis Poulenc: Konzert d-Moll für zwei Klaviere und Orchester
Manuel de Falla: "El sombrero de tres picos" ("Der Dreispitz")

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Just came home from a concert given by fabulous local ensemble called Plexus (with guest artist, soprano Merlyn Quaife) who specialise in performing a lot of new music. Tonight the program was

Me: 'Evolve' for clarinet, violin and piano (world premiere)
Malcolm Arnold: Sonatine for clarinet and piano
Gordon Kerry: Drei Jahreszeitenlieder' (settings of poems by Friedrich Hölderin, Rainer Maria Rilke and Georg Trakl) for soprano, clarinet, violin and piano (world premiere)

Barbara Heller: 'In Bewegung' for piano
Beethoven: Sonata for piano and violin, op. 12,1
Stefan Cassomenos: 'Three Australian Songs' (settings of poems by Weston Bate) for soprano, clarinet, violin and piano (world premiere)


An extremely varied program of chamber and vocal works! I was particularly blown away by the Malcolm Arnold piece

[Brian]

This Saturday:

CHRISTOPHER ROUSE | Symphony No. 5 (world premiere performances)
BEETHOVEN | Piano Concerto No. 2
RESPIGHI | Pines of Rome

Emanuel Ax, piano
Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Jaap van Zweden

Mostly for the Rouse, to be honest; this is one of my least favorite Beethoven works. After the girlfriend reacted very favorably to Rouse's "Rapture" in the first concert of the season, she's happy to go along.

Then, we're seizing this extremely rare opportunity to see the Taneyev Piano Quintet and five rising young stars:

SHOSTAKOVICH | String Quartet No. 9
TANEYEV | Piano Quintet

Alessio Bax, piano
Escher Quartet

Tues., Feb 21 in Dallas

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Never really listened to any Rouse before but I may have heard a bit of a flute concerto i think? Not sure. Very cool to see world premieres of orchestral music! Are there recordings of his other symphonies?

[Brian]

Never really listened to any Rouse before but I may have heard a bit of a flute concerto i think? Not sure. Very cool to see world premieres of orchestral music! Are there recordings of his other symphonies?

Yes! Rouse's Symphonies 3 & 4 just came out on Dacapo, with the New York Philharmonic and Alan Gilbert - really interesting CD. His flute concerto is magnificent; BIS Records CEO Robert von Bahr chose it as the last thing he heard before a life-threatening surgery. (Spoiler alert: he lived to hear more music.)