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

[NikF]

Interesting program, Nik. The Takemitsu work I enjoy a lot, unfortunately I don't know the Vivier or Hosokawa work and I've never heard of Jaehyuck Choi before.

I like to listen to stuff that's new (to me) whenever I can, particularly if it means attending a live performance. In the past I've perhaps not followed through on that as much as I've intended to, but in the upcoming season I'm going to make a more concerted effort. And I hope you find there's cool and good stuff available to attend down your way too. 

[king ubu]

I'm trying to convince Mrs GioCar to join me tonight:

Concerto Italiano
Rinaldo Alessandrini direttore

Monteverdi – Notte. Storie di guerrieri e d'amanti

Sinfonia (da Orfeo, atto terzo)
Hor che'l ciel e la terra
Così sol d'una chiara fonte viva (da Madrigali Guerrieri et Amorosi)
Sinfonia (da Madrigali Guerrieri et Amorosi)
Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda (da Madrigali Guerrieri et Amorosi)
Vivrò fra i miei tormenti, Lamento di Tancredi
Ma dove, oh lasso me!, dove restaro
Io pur verrò là dove sète, e voi (Terzo Libro de' Madrigali)
Sinfonia (da Il ritorno di Ulisse in patria, atto secondo)
Non havea Febo ancora recato al mondo il dì
Amor – dicea, Lamento della Ninfa
Sì tra sdegnosi pianti (da Madrigali Guerrieri et Amorosi)
Al lume delle stelle (da Concerto. Settimo Libro de' Madrigali)
Sinfonia (da Il ritorno di Ulisse in patria, atto primo)
A dio, Florida bella, il cor piagato (da Sesto Libro de' Madrigali)
Sinfonia (da Concerto. Settimo Libro de' Madrigali)
Ecco mormorar l'onde (da Secondo Libro de' Madrigali)
Quando l'alba in oriente (da Scherzi Musicali)

That looks nice! Did you attend?

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

I'm going to give this a try -

Jaehyuck Choi - New Work

Toshio Hosokawa - Im Nebel*

Toru Takemitsu - Twill by Twilight (In memory of Morton Feldman)

Claude Vivier - Siddhartha

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra 
Simon Höfele  trumpet*
Matthias Pintscher  conductor


e: I've heard Takemitsu, but the others are new to me.

Fantastic! Are you an obsessed fan of Pintscher yet.....?

[NikF]

Fantastic! Are you an obsessed fan of Pintscher yet.....?

No, not yet. However, it's becoming clear that he's consistently involved in interesting and varied programming - and long may it continue!

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

No, not yet. However, it's becoming clear that he's consistently involved in interesting and varied programming - and long may it continue!

Indeed! Also, I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the concert.

[GioCar]

That looks nice! Did you attend?

Nope.
We had a small emergency with my mother-in-law.
As usual.

[king ubu]

Nope.
We had a small emergency with my mother-in-law.
As usual.

Sorry about that!

Next up here:

Tonhalle, Zurich - SA 01.04.17
19:30 Uhr, Grosser Saal

Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich
Barbara Hannigan Leitung und Sopran

György Ligeti: "Atmosphères" für grosses Orchester
Alban Berg: Sinfonische Stücke aus der Oper "Lulu"
Claude Debussy: "Nuages" aus Nocturnes
Igor Strawinsky: "Symphony in Three Movements"

[NikF]

Indeed! Also, I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the concert.

You got it. 

[Senta]

Following through on my promise to hear more chamber music after an all-out orchestral bingefest in 2017 so far -

Took in an excellent performance couple of weeks ago by the young new music group Loop38 at the Turrell Skyspace at Rice University, notable for Saariaho's Lichtbogen accompanied by the gorgeous light sequence!

Tonight, seeing the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra for the first time, heard lots of good things about them:

5:00 pm
Church of St. John the Divine
Houston, TX

River Oaks Chamber Orchestra
Steven Jarvi, conductor
Alexander Miller, composer
Scott St. John, concertmaster
Brooke Ferguson, flute soloist

Alexander Miller, Concerto Grosso (ROCO Commission/World Premiere)
Saverio Mercadante, Concerto for Flute in E minor
Gustav Holst, Green Brook Suite
Arnold Schoenberg, Verklärte Nacht

They make use of a new smartphone app Octava on some pieces to deliver info real time during the performance...interested to see how this actually works.

Also, my first time to hear Verklarte Nacht live too

[Todd]

Yuja Wang is coming to town in May 2018.  Repertoire isn't announced yet, but I think I'll be attending irrespective of what she plays.  Gotta hear her in person.  I wonder if she'll wear a snazzy dress.

Also, I've never heard a note from him, but Lukáš Vondráček is putting on my type of recital: the four Chopin Scherzi, Brahms' First Piano Sonata, and Scriabin's Fourth Sonata.  The alternate program is Novak, Suk, Smetana, Liszt and Beethoven.

[SurprisedByBeauty]

Review: Eternal Youth -- Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra At 30


https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2017/04/02/review-eternal-youth-gustav-mahler-youth-orchestra-at-30/#6fa07f6e5720

Blowsy Bruckner, Gerhaher Gorgeousness

The best youth orchestras – and this may well not be a secret anymore – are among the most enjoyable orchestras you can listen to: Technically at the top of the game and motivated from ponytail to pinky; ability and willingness in ready harmony at a level and consistency that cannot be expected from all but a handful of top-notch orchestras. The only thing that can possibly derail them is music that works primarily off a arcane emotional response to life – and a conductor who lacks profundity and the natural authority that comes from musical and personal authenticity. In those cases youth orchestras are prone to have a more difficult time. Incidentally Bruckner – to move from the general to the particular – is one of those composers. And the conductor on this occasion, namely the Vienna stop of the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra's 30th Anniversary Easter Tour, was Daniel Harding...

[listener]

Vancouver Symphony,  Tovey conducting     James Ehnes, viola  in a fortnight
Gavin HIGGINS: Velocity    WALTON  Viola Concerto     HOLST The Planets (with NASA space film)
I'm going to listen, not watch, sound is great in the cheap seats in the balcony

[springrite]

On Thursday night, I will be taking Kimi to her first symphony concert. Last time I tried to take her, she was denied entry because she had not reached 130 cm.

Beethoven: Symphony #6
Beethoven: Symphony #7

Vienna Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Philippe Jordan (Armin Jordan's son)

[bhodges]

I'm going to give this a try -

Jaehyuck Choi - New Work

Toshio Hosokawa - Im Nebel*

Toru Takemitsu - Twill by Twilight (In memory of Morton Feldman)

Claude Vivier - Siddhartha

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra 
Simon Höfele  trumpet*
Matthias Pintscher  conductor


e: I've heard Takemitsu, but the others are new to me.

Wow, what a fantastic-looking concert (and another fan of Pintscher here). The Hosokawa works I've heard for orchestra are marvelous. (You can find Circulating Ocean on YouTube.)

Sorry about that!

Next up here:

Tonhalle, Zurich - SA 01.04.17
19:30 Uhr, Grosser Saal

Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich
Barbara Hannigan Leitung und Sopran

György Ligeti: "Atmosphères" für grosses Orchester
Alban Berg: Sinfonische Stücke aus der Oper "Lulu"
Claude Debussy: "Nuages" aus Nocturnes
Igor Strawinsky: "Symphony in Three Movements"

And heavens, what a treat this looks to be. Barbara Hannigan is a wonder.

Yuja Wang is coming to town in May 2018.  Repertoire isn't announced yet, but I think I'll be attending irrespective of what she plays.  Gotta hear her in person.  I wonder if she'll wear a snazzy dress.

Wang is terrific. (And I love that she dresses like a rock star, since, well, she IS one, figuratively speaking.) And unlike some other super-talented pianists -- let's face it, there are a lot of technical wonders out there -- she has excellent musical instincts, and shows thought in her interpretations. It will be interesting to see how she ages, and how her playing and ideas mature.

--Bruce

[Todd]

And unlike some other super-talented pianists -- let's face it, there are a lot of technical wonders out there -- she has excellent musical instincts, and shows thought in her interpretations.

That's not a veiled swipe at Lang Lang is it?

[bhodges]

That's not a veiled swipe at Lang Lang is it?

Busted! 

FWIW, I have heard him four or five times live, and have tried, TRIED to give him every opportunity to move, to impress -- and it just isn't happening. (He doesn't need my imprimatur anyway, given the throngs of fans.) My theory, which I've put in writing: he needs to be commissioning things from some of today's most interesting composers, things that are way too difficult for anyone else to play. That said, he seems to have little interest in any kind of contemporary music, which makes me a little sad. The closest he's come: an encore, his own extravagantly florid arrangement of a traditional Chinese folk melody -- it was terrific. But made me think, he really should be challenging himself more.

--Bruce

[king ubu]

Lang who?

Barbara Hannigan at Tonhalle, alas, wasn't that thrilling ... her Ligeti and Debussy were pretty good, her singing in the Berg was gorgeous, but neither the Berg nor the Stravinsky were shaped in a stringent, meaningful way, I felt. Still, I have never heard either in concert and the orchestra was in good shape and trying to do as good as it could. I think as a conductor, she's not quite there yet, though her style of conducting was interesting to watch.

Tomorrow night, catching Donizetti's "L'elisir d'amore" with Nello Santi conducting. This is the opening night of the reneval of an older production, and Nemorino won't be sung by Pavol Breslik ... not familiar really with any of the singers other than Breslik and Molnár:
http://www.opernhaus.ch/en/activity/detail/lelisir-damore-07-04-2017-18672/

[kishnevi]

Lang who?

Barbara Hannigan at Tonhalle, alas, wasn't that thrilling ... her Ligeti and Debussy were pretty good, her singing in the Berg was gorgeous, but neither the Berg nor the Stravinsky were shaped in a stringent, meaningful way, I felt. Still, I have never heard either in concert and the orchestra was in good shape and trying to do as good as it could. I think as a conductor, she's not quite there yet, though her style of conducting was interesting to watch.

Tomorrow night, catching Donizetti's "L'elisir d'amore" with Nello Santi conducting. This is the opening night of the reneval of an older production, and Nemorino won't be sung by Pavol Breslik ... not familiar really with any of the singers other than Breslik and Molnár:
http://www.opernhaus.ch/en/activity/detail/lelisir-damore-07-04-2017-18672/

My eyes chortled, so to speak, on seeing that supertitles for the opera will be provided in German and English.  Perhaps this ties in to your description in the other thread of the use of mangled English at work...but it does seem odd that the impresario gnomes of Zurich favor English over Switzerland's other big language (French).

[king ubu]

My eyes chortled, so to speak, on seeing that supertitles for the opera will be provided in German and English.  Perhaps this ties in to your description in the other thread of the use of mangled English at work...but it does seem odd that the impresario gnomes of Zurich favor English over Switzerland's other big language (French).

Oh, it's always German/English - Zurich is an international town, and I think in almost 20 years of work, I have written three or four mails in French (to colleagues in Paris that don't speak but a - most mangled version indeed! - of French), while English is most common. So there's that. It starts in school, kids hate French but love English (it's easy, ya know). We would expect people from the French-speaking part to understand German, but not really accept that they would expect us to speak French with them. The easy solution if none wants to try: switch to English.

But at the opera, that's fine, since there will be many more expats and tourists visiting the Zurich opera than people from the French-speaking part. For them, they have a new production of Massenet's "Werther" anyway (which I'll catch on Tuesday, just bought a ticket) - sounds very good indeed and Juan Diego Floréz seems to be outsanding!

Review in German:
https://www.nzz.ch/feuilleton/opernhaus-zuerich-die-leiden-der-jungen-charlotte-ld.155159

[Senta]

Another new music chamber concert tonight by Musiqa - inspired by nature:

Karim Al-Zand     Studies in Nature
Fred Lerdah        Three Diatonic Studies
Andrew Norman  Light Screen
Kaija Saariaho     Fall

All of these pieces new to me!

Last weekend - greatly enjoyed the concert by River Oaks Chamber Orchestra, very fun and interactive, wonderful group, neat programming.

Verklarte Nacht knocked my socks off (pun!) - tears rolled down my face the whole last half, totally took me by surprise. Had forgotten how much I adore that piece.

Very impressed with guest conductor Steven Jarvi (no relation to the other Jarvis), great chemistry and audience rapport, beautifully structured performances - cool guy too, got to chat a bit at the reception after. Apparently he's with SLSO right now but doesn't have an orchestra of his own yet, would be a fantastic MD catch for some lucky ensemble.