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

[TheGSMoeller]

Great stuff! The first with Beethoven/Ehnes and Harmonielehre is mouth-moutering ! I heard the Adams in Cologne a few years ago. Memorable. A disc doesn't convey its sonic impact.

That's great, Andre! Harmonielehre is a piece I thought I may never see performed live.

[Cato]

WOW!  Just WOW!  The Philharmonia Orchestra is one sharp, nuclear-powered orchestra!  We had front row balcony seats and could see everything and hear (just about) everything perfectly!  I was not disappointed at all with the orchestra or most of the soloists!   

Barbara Sukowa softened her hootin' 'n' hollerin' interpretation of the Sprecherin part somewhat: she sounded great!

The orchestra filled the stage and filled the hall with great sound when power was required, and became delicate and chamber-like, when that was required.  The concert was a sell-out, and a semi-standing ovation was given at the end.

Only one thing (or two): the singers for Waldemar (Robert Dean Smith) and Tove (Camilla Tilling) lacked the vocal power to be heard over the orchestra at times: for Waldemar's last song in Part II, the fist-shaking threat against God, Mr. Smith lost the battle for his imprecation to be heard ("...mit meiner wilde Jagd, ins Himmelreich ein!" did not sound as mighty as it should have).

The choirs were also extremely good.  And as far as the conducting goes, Esa Pekka-Salonen was on target, no strange tempi or additions or subtractions:  a fairly slow pace at times, but nothing eccentric, and when speed was called for, the engines were cranked up!

The good part: you can hear the exact same concert via Radio 3 BBC!  Perhaps the engineers were able to bring out the two main voices via microphone magic!

See/Hear:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b7hvgv

Today I heard an advertisement that the cheapest tickets for the Taylor Swift show (scheduled in the local 100,000 + football stadium) start at.... $70.00! 

For the above concert with Schoenberg's Gurrelieder performed by the Philharmonia Orchestra, $70.00 is about what we paid for TWO tickets in the front row of the balcony in an air-conditioned concert hall with great acoustics.

Case closed!  Up Schoenberg, down Miss Swift!   0:)   

[NikF]

Debussy - Préludes, Bk 1 no. 10: La Cathédrale engloutie

Berg - Piano Sonata in B minor, Op.1

Prokofiev - Piano Sonata no. 7 in B flat major, Op.83

Debussy - Préludes, Bk 1 no. 4: Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l'air du soir

Prokofiev - Piano Sonata no. 6 in A major, Op.82

Piano - Steven Osborne

Wigmore Hall, London

-

A change of plan means I'm going to this.

[ritter]

Debussy - Préludes, Bk 1 no. 10: La Cathédrale engloutie

Berg - Piano Sonata in B minor, Op.1

Prokofiev - Piano Sonata no. 7 in B flat major, Op.83

Debussy - Préludes, Bk 1 no. 4: Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l'air du soir

Prokofiev - Piano Sonata no. 6 in A major, Op.82

Piano - Steven Osborne

Wigmore Hall, London

-

A change of plan means I'm going to this.

Wow! What a marvellous program, NikF! So many extraordinary pieces there: La Cathédrale..., the Berg Sonata, the Prokofiev Sixth with its tempo di valzer lentissimo... Hope you enjoy it! 

[NikF]

Wow! What a marvellous program, NikF! So many extraordinary pieces there: La Cathédrale..., the Berg Sonata, the Prokofiev Sixth with its tempo di valzer lentissimo... Hope you enjoy it! 

Cheers mate. 
Yeah, it looks great. And there's the bonus of a relaxing journey by train to get there.

[Mahlerian]

Today I heard an advertisement that the cheapest tickets for the Taylor Swift show (scheduled in the local 100,000 + football stadium) start at.... $70.00! 

For the above concert with Schoenberg's Gurrelieder performed by the Philharmonia Orchestra, $70.00 is about what we paid for TWO tickets in the front row of the balcony in an air-conditioned concert hall with great acoustics.

Case closed!  Up Schoenberg, down Miss Swift!   0:)   

And that's even putting aside the music!

[Cato]

Today I heard an advertisement that the cheapest tickets for the Taylor Swift show (scheduled in the local 100,000 + football stadium) start at.... $70.00! 

For the above concert with Schoenberg's Gurrelieder performed by the Philharmonia Orchestra, $70.00 is about what we paid for TWO tickets in the front row of the balcony in an air-conditioned concert hall with great acoustics.

Case closed!  Up Schoenberg, down Miss Swift!   0:)   

And that's even putting aside the music!

Amen!  0:)   I don't think Arnold ever sashayed in short shorts across the stage and twirbled into a microphone: but then again, he never had to!   

[king ubu]

Julia Fischer and Herbert Blomstedt at/with Tonhalle were amazing ... terrific takes on the Mendelssohn VC and on Mahler 1!
This was only my third encounter with a Mahler symphony so far, all live (No. 6 with Zinman/Tonhalle last season, No. 9 with Rattle/LSO in April), and I really need to start exploring Mahler now, I think (I'm only at Bruckner 4 and thought to "complete" that first, but I guess I'll have to change my plan/I should have realized there'd be another man"  ).

--

Yesterday, late afternoon, heard the Armida Quartet - final concert before the summer break, alas. They did three contrapuncti from "The Art of the Fugue" and then KV 546 for starters. Then followed the main beef: Op. 130 with Op. 133 at the end. Quite amazing stuff - too bad I was totally exhausted from days of cleaning and bringing the flat in order (not my music and book collections, mind me - not enough space for either of those...)

--

Also, as it's summer break now, I'm planning to catch some of the more casual organ concerts run in summer at Grossmünster, right around the corner from my (still fairly new) workplace ... whom should I consider, other than Molardi?

https://www.grossmuenster.ch/documents/142/Orgelprogr-2018Web.pdf

Kay Johansen doing Reubke I should not miss, I guess?

[Jaakko Keskinen]

Back from Savonlinna and enjoyed greatly both Pique Dame and Faust. But why did they cut the Walpurgisnachtscene? 

[Cato]

WOW!  Just WOW!  The Philharmonia Orchestra is one sharp, nuclear-powered orchestra!  We had front row balcony seats and could see everything and hear (just about) everything perfectly!  I was not disappointed at all with the orchestra or most of the soloists!   

Barbara Sukowa softened her hootin' 'n' hollerin' interpretation of the Sprecherin part somewhat: she sounded great!

The orchestra filled the stage and filled the hall with great sound when power was required, and became delicate and chamber-like, when that was required.  The concert was a sell-out, and a semi-standing ovation was given at the end.

Only one thing (or two): the singers for Waldemar (Robert Dean Smith) and Tove (Camilla Tilling) lacked the vocal power to be heard over the orchestra at times: for Waldemar's last song in Part II, the fist-shaking threat against God, Mr. Smith lost the battle for his imprecation to be heard ("...mit meiner wilde Jagd, ins Himmelreich ein!" did not sound as mighty as it should have).

The choirs were also extremely good.  And as far as the conducting goes, Esa Pekka-Salonen was on target, no strange tempi or additions or subtractions:  a fairly slow pace at times, but nothing eccentric, and when speed was called for, the engines were cranked up!

The good part: you can hear the exact same concert via Radio 3 BBC!  Perhaps the engineers were able to bring out the two main voices via microphone magic!

See/Hear:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b7hvgv

Here is a review from BachTrack of the above concert: it is completely on target, mentioning the "power struggle" of the two main soloists, but praising everyone else, especially the Klaus-Narr singer:

   The ambitious scale and unprecedented instrumental and vocal forces of Schoenberg's Gurrelieder (1900-1911) almost defy categorisation, yet whether regarded as a vast cantata or an "opera of the mind" this last "hurrah" of late Romanticism bursts the confines of post-Wagnerian tonality like an overripe fruit and, Janus-like, peers into the future while drawing on the past.

Over the course of this magnificent performance from the Philharmonia, Esa-Pekka Salonen unveiled its stylistic trajectory and its Tristan und Isolde-esque tale of doomed love with an unfailing sense of purpose. To the work's gargantuan assemblage (five soloists, narrator, three four-part male choruses, a mixed chorus and huge orchestra) he provided concentrated focus and brought clarity to Jens Peter Jacobsen's retelling of Danish myth; whose Songs of Gurre describe King Waldemar's illicit love for Tove and her murder by a jealous Queen Helwig. His subsequent condemnation of the Almighty and his ghostly night rides lead to a final spiritual reconciliation.

Amongst living conductors, Salonen has directed this score in the region of fifteen times, yet what made this performance so special wasn't just his grasp of dramatic pacing or his attention to detail and balance or even his effortless command of the music's changing emotional landscape (all admirable in themselves) but the impressive sight of three soloists performing from memory – lending a quasi-operatic presence that allowed rapturous love songs and nightmarish visions to glow with an unusual intensity.

Chief amongst these soloists was Robert Dean Smith as a dignified King Waldemar who fully projected his longing for Tove in a voice that still has plenty of stamina and able to meet Schoenberg's formidable demands. Only the outer limits of his range sounded less fulsome, the top occasionally a little thin and the bottom rather gruff, and his raging to God was a rather controlled affair.

His beloved Tove was sung by a radiant Camilla Tilling who occasionally struggled to sing over the orchestra, but there was no lack of poise and tenderness in the intimacy of "Du sendest mir einen Liebesblick" – its Wagnerian influence unmistakable. Michelle DeYoung was a dramatic presence as the Wood Dove but, despite obvious commitment, her fruity vibrato and manner of physically launching herself before each phrase brought little sense of grief or poignancy in her depictions of Tove's murder.

David Soar was a rich-toned Peasant, while Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke was a wonderfully comic and half-crazed Klaus-Narr, who caught the ear and eye in his clear-cut tenor and quizzical expression, superbly responsive to the text's riddles during the ghostly hunt with its fantastical scoring surging around him. Nature's renewal and its healing powers brought orchestral transparency from solo strings, woodwind and celesta and vivid declamation from Barbara Sukowa whose characterfully rendered Sprechgesang indicated just how much Schoenberg had turned his back on the musical language with which the work begins.

The men of London's four conservatoires, and members of Philharmonia Voices, formed a hearty chorus as Waldemar's ghoulish huntsmen and, if a little lightweight when evoking demonic fervour, sang with precision and commendable ensemble. With the arrival of the "Hymn to the Sun", the combined choral forces (now including ladies voices) brought an uplifting blaze of C major (brass ringing out gloriously here) to conclude a sweeping account marked by an intensity of expression and unflagging energy from all involved. 

See:

https://bachtrack.com/en/review-gurrelieder-salonen-smith-tilling-philharmonia-london-june-2018

The Guardian also has a review of the concert: nothing is mentioned about the voices of the two principals being swallowed.  Perhaps the reviewer sat downstairs by the stage?

The Philharmonia season closed with a performance of Gurrelieder, formidably conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen, albeit unevenly sung. Schoenberg's immense cantata is widely regarded as the ultimate post-Romantic statement, a morbidly erotic work saturated in Wagnerism. Schoenberg, however, broke off composition after completing the second of its three parts, resuming work on the score only after forging the new musical language that defined the parameters of modernism. The final section consequently looks forward as well as back, as The Summer Wind's Wild Hunt subjects the Wagnerian apparatus to a process of increasing fragmentation before the closing chorus heralds a new dawn.

Salonen underscored the work's pivotal nature by luxuriating in its Romantic excess even as he charted its dissolution. Vast panoplies of sound gave way to textures of exquisite transparency. There was deep sensuality in the love scenes, and thrilling terror in the spectral ride of Waldemar and his men. Salonen's attention to detail paid off towards the close, as the themes associated with the lovers are absorbed into the eternal flux of nature as the Summer Wind blows the past away.

Robert Dean Smith and Camilla Tilling played Waldemar and Tove. The former, clean and clear, sounded uninvolved throughout. Tilling, in contrast, was rapturous in her ecstatic evocation of "death, the reviver of beauty". Michelle DeYoung's declamatory Waldtaube was more harbinger of doom than voice of grief. Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke, all irony and scorn, excelled as Klaus-Narr. David Soar was the credulous Peasant, Barbara Sukowa the vivid narrator.

The choral singing, from the Philharmonia Voices and the choirs of London's four music colleges, was delivered with tremendous fervour and power.

See:


https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/jun/29/philharmoniasalonen-gurrelieder-review

[Cato]

Here is a review from BachTrack of the above concert: it is completely on target, mentioning the "power struggle" of the two main soloists, but praising everyone else, especially the Klaus-Narr singer:

See:

https://bachtrack.com/en/review-gurrelieder-salonen-smith-tilling-philharmonia-london-june-2018

The Guardian also has a review of the concert: nothing is mentioned about the voices of the two principals being swallowed.  Perhaps the reviewer sat downstairs by the stage?

See:


https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/jun/29/philharmoniasalonen-gurrelieder-review

Another review from a certain Mark Berry: again, a few critical comments about the less than heroic Heldentenor Robert Dean Smith, but otherwise a glowing assessment:

  Opportunities to hear, let alone to conduct, Gurrelieder do not come along very often. Simon Rattle must have had more of the latter than most. What a way, then, for Esa-Pekka Salonen to approach his sixtieth birthday, with a work he had conducted so successfully with this same orchestra, the Philharmonia, in this same hall, not far off a decade ago. (That performance was recorded and released on Signum Classics.)

The opening Prelude glistened, lacking nothing in warmth or almost pointillistic potential. Salonen was no more likely to wallow than Boulez might have done, and all the better for it. Here one heard – almost saw – water and ice. It flowed, ran, even stood with commendable flexibility, suggestive of a tone poem (which, in a way, it is, even when words intervene). Particularly intriguing was his orchestral balancing, subtle yet telling, highlighting yet never exaggerating the music's darker undercurrents: pitch, timbre, harmony. The later Schoenberg is not so far away: one only has to listen. This was music after Götterdämmerung as well as after Tristan: unquestionably 'after Wagner', in far more than the most obvious ways.

Alas, Robert Dean Smith's Waldemar often proved something of a trial. An older-sounding Waldemar is fine, repeated uncertainty of pitch rather less so. For much of the first part in particular, he was at best effortful, an especial pity when Salonen proved so adept at balancing those tone-poem, even symphonic tendencies (Pelleas und Melisande often came to mind) with the music's roots in the song-cycle tradition. (Schoenberg's first conception had been of a shorter cycle for voice and piano. Zemlinsky would recall that the songs 'were wonderfully beautiful and truly novel – however we both had the impression that, on that account, they had little prospect of winning a prize.') There was no denying the through-composed nature of Schoenberg's writing, but nor is there, after all, in what we generally consider the very first song-cycle, An die ferne Geliebte. Fortunately, Camilla Tilling proved far more able than Dean Smith not only to ride the orchestra but also to make something of the words and phrases, although, to be fair, when foretelling his haunting, this Waldemar proved more convincing. There was plenty elsewhere to ravish: not least the combination of delicacy and splendour from Tilling and upper strings as Tove bade her love join her in raising golden goblets, Tristan-like, albeit with a decidedly æstheticist twist, to mighty, beautifying death (dem mächtig verschönenden Tod). It seemed telling and indeed touching, perhaps indicative of Salonen's plans for the Ring, that the chords presaging and indeed furthering Tove's departure from the stage echoed so clearly in combination of harmony and timbre the magnificent, malevolent world of Hagen.

Michelle DeYoung entered stage-right as if a figure from Klimt. (I know it is far too obvious an association, but demeanour and dress were so strongly suggestive that I shall indulge myself.) Jill Crowther's English horn recalled to us an alte – or perhaps better, an ältere – Weise. Yet even before the Wood-dove sang, Schoenberg's interlude had proved a kaleidoscopic realm of love and terror, love as terror; she only put it into words – but how! – what we (mostly) already knew. DeYoung offered a song variegated dramatically as well as tonally, almost a little – well, not so very little – cantata in its own right. Her richness of tone against the darkness of harmony and orchestral colour both reminded us of Salonen's and Schoenberg's presentiments at the opening, whilst leading us to a shattering climax. Tod/death: after that, life could only fade away – or could it?

The opening of the Second Part quite rightly sounded as if a digest of what had gone before – only, as it would in one of Wagner's narrations, be it verbal, orchestral, or both, with difference of detail, of standpoint, of import. Dean Smith proved more imploring than angry, but that worked in its way. The aftermath of Waldemar's outburst was shockingly prolonged – in the best way – by Salonen. Monumental was the word for it.

Variegation again proved the key to the Wild Hunt. Neither here nor elsewhere was there any absence of power to the outstanding massed choral forces, but heft is not enough, nor did it have to be. Salonen ensured an array of colour, even when Schoenberg apparently confronted him and us with blocks of sound. The terror of the first ghostly cry, in reaction to, or perhaps oblivious to, the handsomely dark bass-baritone observations of David Soar's Peasant, proved quite something: several leagues beyond anything to be heard or even imagined in Der Freischütz. The proper entry of the chorus sounded like nothing so much as Götterdämmerung on acid – which it essentially is. It was, however, the aftermath that truly chilled. So much is in Schoenberg's scoring here, yet I do not think before now I had quite realised how much. Dean Smith at last recaptured something of Tristan's delirium, movingly so, as the orchestra seemed to engage in act of self-dissolution – again, as much in timbre as in harmony, before reconstituting itself for what was yet to come.

Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke's Klaus-Narr perhaps inevitably suggested Mime: even his orchestral 'introduction' seemed to do so. This seemed, however, a more ambiguous 'character' still, transformations in mood and/or self-projection of mood disconcertingly yet, in their way, honestly quicksilver. His reflections on – mocking of? – salvation rightly left one uneasy yet wanting to know more. 'Dann muss ich eingehn im Himmels Gnaden... Na, und dann mag Gott sich selber gnaden.' Sepulchral chorus and brass alike soon eerily set against piccolos, set the stage, so it seemed, for another orchestral rebirth, now very much an ensemble straining towards Pierrot lunaire. Nothing would ever be the same again – and perhaps, just perhaps, such had been the work of this 'fool'.

Step forward Barbara Sukowa, as spellbinding as she had been for Salonen in 2009 – or indeed for Claudio Abbado on his Vienna recording. This Speaker was delirious, yet delightful; or was that our æstheticising something too close for comfort? Not only Pierrot, but a whole century's worth of music thereafter flashed before our ears. 'Still! Was mag der Wind nur wollen?' Did these hallucinations, if that be what they were, speak of a bad or a good trip? Schoenberg, as so often, resisted the either/or. Violin and clarinet acknowledged Wagner once again, now the Siegfried-Idyll, paving the way to Schoenberg's final, glorious, yet ultimately never quite convincing paean to the sun(god). We revelled in that final chorus, yet, whether or not we wished to do so, could never quite shake off those intimations of the 'air of another planet'. The future was both upon us and not. Schoenberg's time had come.

Mark Berry 

See:

http://seenandheard-international.com/2018/07/a-rare-opportunity-from-the-philharmonia-to-hear-schoenbergs-gurrelieder/

[Kontrapunctus]

Pianist Evgeny Kissin October 16 in San Francisco: Beethoven "Hammerklavier" Sonata and a group of Rachmaninoff Preludes.

Pianist Denis Matsuev/Valery Gergiev/Mariinsky Orchestra October 22 San Francisco: Debussy "Prelude to the Afternoon of a Fawn," Rachmaninoff "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini," and Mahler Symphony No.5

[king ubu]

Closing the season with two wonderful string quartet concerts ...

Sunday late afternoon, the Armida Quartett ended the first season of the new String Quartet series at St Peter in Zurich - they were pretty amazing indeed. For starters, they played three fugues from BWV 1080, and they had all the clarity and transparency that I so much missed with the Chiaroscuro Quartet (part of the same concert series a few weeks ago - these concerts will go into a second season, but on paper none of the concerts look like total musts to me). Either way, after the Bach, they did KV 546 with it's nerve-wrecking groove and punch ... I guess I could live off that one piece for a few weeks if I had to, and the Armida's interpretation was very good. Then the main piece followed, Beethoven's Op. 130 with Op. 133 at the end. And that last part, Op. 133, was again nerve-wrecking. Music to end all music. They sounded great, the balance was good, they knew how to handle the church (though honestly I'm not sure that was the problem with the Chiaroscuro, I think in a more transparent hall, I'd have disliked their approach even more).

Last night, the summerly open air serenades at Villa Schönberg in Zurich started with the Belcea Quartet. Again, they have a clearly defined sound, and even in the extremely dry surroundings (at least to their back was the large Villa Schönberg, which also shut off some possible street and crowd noise ... didn't help much against helicopters, airplanes and a bunch of noisy kids, but none of that spoilt the pleasure). On the menu was Haydn's Op. 33/5 for starters, followed by Bartók's No. 6, and after the break Mendelssohn's Op. 80. The Haydn was a great entry point. Took me a moment to adjust to the harsh steel string sound, but they played it in a no-b-s manner that got me pretty fast. The Bartók was amazing, and it sempt as if some of the birds in the trees joined in, reacting to the sounds of the Belcea every once in a while. The break was much too long, as usual at classical concerts, but the Mendelssohn was most convincing again, and is indeed a great piece.

Quite lucky to have heard two such good SQ concerts within just three days - the repertoire is still pretty new to me, never heard the Bartók before, for instance (not quite sure about Op. 33/5), and I'm taking immense pleasure from it!

[ritter]

Just bought tickets to see Rossini's L'italiana in Algeri in El Escorial next Saturday. It'll be conducted by Paolo Arrivabeni, and the cast is led by Marianna Pizzolato. Joan Anton Rechi's production (already seen in Buenos Aires, and which will travel next to San  Sebastián) apparently is technically accomplished, but has been criticised for lack of humour.

[Draško]

Picked up tickets for next season of Belgrade Philharmonic. This time got just one set of 5 concerts (there are 5 sets of 5) as most things didn't align conveniently. So I decided to go for one set now and last minute tickets for everything else that looks interesting: concert performances of Bluebeard's Castle and Act I of Walkure, Bruckner 8th and couple more.

Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 2
Sibelius: Symphony No. 2
Nikolai Lugansky, piano
Alexander Vedernikov (con.)

Beethoven: Leonore overture No. 3
Saint-Saëns: Violin Concerto No. 3
Janáček: Sinfonietta
Barnabas Kelemen, violin
Gabriel Feltz (con.)

Elgar: Cello Concerto
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 8
Alexander Buzlov, cello
Daniel Raiskin (con.)

Borodin: In the Steppes of Central Asia
Prokofiev: Sinfonia concertante
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5
Christian Poltéra, cello
Uroš Lajovic (con.)

Sibelius: Finlandia
Nielsen: Flute Concerto
Beethoven: Egmont, incidental music
Michael Martin Kofler, flute
Jeanette Wernecke, soprano
Gabriel Feltz (con.) 

[André]

Concert no 3 (Elgar/Shostakovich) is a dream program !

[André]

The 2020 Mahler Festival is currently being organized at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam. It will be held 100 years after the first Mahler Festival, and 4 orchestras that Mahler conducted in his own works will present all 10 symphonies in the Concertgebouw: the Concertgebouworkest, Wiener Philharmoniker, Berliner Philharmoniker and the New York Philharmonic. There are talks of live streaming, live feed to a tent in the Museumplein across the street and other options to maximize viewership.

I'd definitely attend a concert if I'm around at the time - preferably with the WP or BP  .

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

August 11:

Grant Park Orchestra
Carlos Kalmar, conductor
Pablo Ferrández, cellist
Prokofiev: Sinfonia Concertante
Ives: The Unanswered Question
Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 4
7:30 p.m. Pritzker Pavilion

This is just the kind of mainstream-modernist program I love the most (even though I think The Unanswered Question is probably not a good choice for an outdoor festival, with its extraneous noise). The highlight for me is the VW 4th, which I've long considered one of the greatest 20th-century symphonies, though until now I haven't had the chance to hear it live.

As if that weren't enough, the Thirsty Ears classical music street festival is going on that same weekend:

https://www.acmusic.org/productions/thirsty-ears-festival-2018/

[vandermolen]

Bernstein Symphony 1 'Jeremiah' and Mahler Symphony 1 (Proms, London tonight)

Vaughan Williams Dona Nobis Pacem, Elgar Cello Concerto (my daughter's favourite classical work) (Proms, London Sunday night).

[Judith]

Wonderful prom yesterday with
Joshua Bell
ASMF.

Mendelsohn Midsummer Nights Dream
Saint Saens Violin Concerto no 3

Frank Bridge Lament for Catherine
Beethoven Symphony no 4

Two surprises
Went to foyer in interval for some air and who should happen to be there but my other favourite musician, Steven Isserlis . Had a lovely chat with him.

Afterwards, on way back to hotel, we couldn't find tube station and walking for ages and who should be on other side of road but both Joshua Bell and Steven Isserlis with some people. Went over to thank Joshua for a lovely concert and he thanked me, remembered me a bit from Manchester and said bye to Steven.

So unexpected!!