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

[Klaze]

There was a Piano Marathon yesterday in our provincial town, but with a great programme and superb performers.

4 pianists, playing a bit more than 4 hours of music:

Ralph van Raat:

Alkan - Symphony for Piano Solo
Ligeti - Etudes selection (Automne a Varsovie, Touches bloquees, Fem, l'Escalier du Diable)

Severin von Eckardstein:

Janacek - On an Overgrown path (selection)
Medtner - Sonata reminiscenza
Medtner - Zwei Märchen
Rzewski - Piece #4
Encore; Schumann - Traumeswirren

Bobby Mitchell:

Rzewski - Ruins
Schumann - Sonata No.1

Daan Vandewalle:

Rzewski - The People united will never be defeated

...with an absolutely amazing improvisation. Exhausted at the end, but a very rewarding experience.

[Todd]

Leonidas Kavakos and Enrico Pace are performing in Seattle next January.  Thinking about it.

Andras Schiff will be in Seattle in March.  I will have to do more than think about it.

[Wanderer]

Jenůfa at our National Opera next week.

Grandmother Buryjovka: Ines Zikou
Laca Klemeň: Frank van Aken
Števa Buryja: Dimitris Paksoglou
Kostelnička Buryjovka: Sabine Hogrefe (14, 21, 24/10) - Julia Souglakou (19, 27/10, 2/11)
Jenůfa: Sarah-Jane Brandon ( 14, 21, 24/10) - Maria Mitsopoulou (19, 27/10, 2/11)
Foreman at the Mill: Yanni Yannissis
Mayor: Dimitris Kassioumis
The Mayor's Wife: Margarita Syngeniotou
Karolka: Artemis Bogri
Pastuchyňa: Barunka Preisinger
Barena: Varvara Biza
Jano: Miranda Makrynioti
Tetka: Anastasia Kotsali


Also, Berlioz at the Wiener Musikverein in November:

Symphonie fantastique
Lélio ou Le retour à la vie

Cyrille Dubois
Florian Sempey
Markus Meyer
Singverein der Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde
Wiener Symphoniker
Philippe Jordan

[André]

Thanks for the report, Milos !

Greg, this looks like a great evening at the symphony ! Hearing Harmonielehre live is a blast, believe me! And Ehnes is my favourite violinist... .

[NikF]

Since being invited into what's apparently something of an exclusive inner circle consisting of recitals in well kempt private homes, it has also allowed me to become privy to such as performances taking place in church halls and community centres along the lines of "...his own very personal take on Rachmaninov's piano sonatas" - why not? 

[Draško]

My next Belgrade Phil. concert will probably be Bruckner 8 in early November with their MD Gabriel Feltz conducting.

Before that I'm still considering Brodsky Quartet playing DSCH 7, Beethoven Serioso, Mendelssohn 6 and some contemporary piece, and Lucas Debargue playing selection of Chopin, Bach Toccata and Beethoven op.111

[Kontrapunctus]

Evgeny Kissin playing Beethoven's "Hammerklavier" Sonata and 10 Preludes by Rachmaninoff this Sunday (Oct.14) in San Francisco--should be epic!

Edit: He changed the first half to two Nocturnes by Chopin and Schumann's 3rd Sonata. I'm not thrilled, but I guess the Schumann will played as well as it can possibly be played!

[TheGSMoeller]

Greg, this looks like a great evening at the symphony ! Hearing Harmonielehre live is a blast, believe me! And Ehnes is my favourite violinist... .

Harmonielehre was fantastic, almost blew the roof right off! Might've been the loudest I've ever heard an orchestra play.
And Ehnes was amazing. Lyrical, and technically precise. I'm not the biggest Beethoven VC fan, but the cadenzas offers a chance to show off, and Ehnes took full advantage of it.

[André]

Wow! Must have been a great experience !

[Wanderer]

My next Belgrade Phil. concert will probably be Bruckner 8 in early November with their MD Gabriel Feltz conducting.

Before that I'm still considering Brodsky Quartet playing DSCH 7, Beethoven Serioso, Mendelssohn 6 and some contemporary piece, and Lucas Debargue playing selection of Chopin, Bach Toccata and Beethoven op.111

I would certainly go to listen to Debargue again, one of the most promising young talents today. I was at a recital of his in 2016 in Paris where he performed an exquisite and intensely felt Liszt B minor Sonata, as well as a beautiful rendition of Medtner's Sonata op.5. I can imagine that late Beethoven would be right up his alley.

[Brian]

Tonight:

Mussorgsky - Night on Bald Mountain (not sure which version)
Shostakovich - VC 1
Mussorgsky/Ravel - Pictures

Leonidas Kavakos
Giancarlo Guerrero
Dallas Symphony

Very excited to see both guest artists and the Shosty for the first time live.

[TheGSMoeller]

Tonight:

Mussorgsky - Night on Bald Mountain (not sure which version)
Shostakovich - VC 1
Mussorgsky/Ravel - Pictures

Leonidas Kavakos
Giancarlo Guerrero
Dallas Symphony

Very excited to see both guest artists and the Shosty for the first time live.

Ahh, Nashville's own Giancarlo. I've seen him several times since I've lived here, I will be very interested to hear your thoughts, Brian. Enjoy!

[NikF]

On Thursday -

Frank Zappa: The Perfect Stranger
Julian Anderson: The Imaginary Museum – concerto for piano and orchestra
Charles Ives: A Symphony: New England Holidays

Conductor: Volkov
BBC SSO

[Brian]

Tonight:

Mussorgsky - Night on Bald Mountain (not sure which version)
Shostakovich - VC 1
Mussorgsky/Ravel - Pictures

Leonidas Kavakos
Giancarlo Guerrero
Dallas Symphony

Very excited to see both guest artists and the Shosty for the first time live.

Ahh, Nashville's own Giancarlo. I've seen him several times since I've lived here, I will be very interested to hear your thoughts, Brian. Enjoy!

Holy shit! Leonidas Kavakos gave one of the 2-3 best violin performances I have ever seen live - only one that compares in my memory is James Ehnes in the Barber concerto - just jaw-dropping. The combination of always-on-fire intensity and flawless technical control - there's really no time off in this piece, and Kavakos absolutely shredded it, going all-in on every phrase without ever losing his way or tripping over the virtuoso effects. Playing on a level above that of ordinary very-goodness. I shook my head a few times. At the end of the piece, instead of waving their bows, the DSO violinists put down their violins and bows and clapped with their hands. The woodwind players were clapping too.

Guerrero's main interpretive mannerism seems to be hanging on to big pauses until you can time the reverb effect in the concert hall. That worked really well in the Mussorgsky - which was the shitty bastardized version by Rimsky-Korsakov, sigh - where the orchestra could let 'er rip, stop on a dime, spend about 5 seconds listening to the echo from the back of the hall, and then proceed. Guerrero himself has such a bizarre clownish podium presence - during "Gnomus" he did a Neanderthal face and tromped around the podium; in "Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks" he danced like an old man at a salsa club - that at several different moments you could hear the audience laughing. Entertaining, I guess, but audience laughter at a musician is - like orchestra members straight-up clapping for a musician - something I've very rarely seen.

[André]

From the WAYL thread:


https://www.ardmediathek.de/tv/kulturmatinée/Teodor-Currentzis-dirigiert-Gustav-Mahl/SWR-Fernsehen/Video?bcastId=19396202&documentId=56289022

[TheGSMoeller]

Guerrero's main interpretive mannerism seems to be hanging on to big pauses until you can time the reverb effect in the concert hall. That worked really well in the Mussorgsky - which was the shitty bastardized version by Rimsky-Korsakov, sigh - where the orchestra could let 'er rip, stop on a dime, spend about 5 seconds listening to the echo from the back of the hall, and then proceed. Guerrero himself has such a bizarre clownish podium presence - during "Gnomus" he did a Neanderthal face and tromped around the podium; in "Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks" he danced like an old man at a salsa club - that at several different moments you could hear the audience laughing. Entertaining, I guess, but audience laughter at a musician is - like orchestra members straight-up clapping for a musician - something I've very rarely seen.

Thanks for the post, Brian.
I haven't experienced the dancing yet, in fact the most recent concert I saw with Guerrero was Adams' Harmonielehre and his face was mostly in the score which is probably ideal considering the constant rhythmic and time signature changes of that piece.
My next few NSO concerts are with other conductors, but I'm going to be looking for his mannerisms next time (sometime in Spring) now that you've mentioned them. 
I noticed Guerrero is also guest conducting the Chicago Symphony this season, he seems to be getting around.

[Papy Oli]

Last night :

Purcell (orch. Manze for wind and brass) - Fantasia upon one note
Dvorák - Cello Concerto
Vaughan Williams - A London Symphony

Hallé Orchestra
Conductor - Andrew Manze
Cello - Jian Wang

Delighted to have ticked the Lento off my live bucket list, one of my favourite symphony movement but the whole symphony itself was gorgeous. The Dvorak Cello was powerful too for my first time seeing it live.

[Brian]

Thanks for the post, Brian.
I haven't experienced the dancing yet, in fact the most recent concert I saw with Guerrero was Adams' Harmonielehre and his face was mostly in the score which is probably ideal considering the constant rhythmic and time signature changes of that piece.
My next few NSO concerts are with other conductors, but I'm going to be looking for his mannerisms next time (sometime in Spring) now that you've mentioned them. 
I noticed Guerrero is also guest conducting the Chicago Symphony this season, he seems to be getting around.

I wonder if he is more or less serious depending on the orchestra's familiarity with the work. Probably with Adams the musicians need to look up for actual guidance more frequently, whereas with "Pictures" aside from setting the tempo and getting balance right they could practically play it in their sleep...

[Judith]

Yesterday evening at Leeds Town Hall
Vienna Tonkunstler Orchestra
Soloist. Angela Hewitt
Conductor Yutaka Sado

Sibelius Finlandia
Beethoven Piano Concerto no 5 (Emperor)
Sibelius Symphony no 5

Lovely concert performed by all. 
In interval Angela was signing autographs. She was really nice🎼🎼

[king ubu]

tonight:

Kammerorchester Basel
Heinz Holliger, Leitung
Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Violine

Franz Schubert (1797 - 1828)
Sinfonie Nr. 4 c-Moll D 417 ("Tragische")
Sinfonie Nr. 6 C-Dur D 589 («kleine C-Dur Sinfonie»)

Sofia Gubaidulina (*1931)
«Die Leier des Orpheus» für Violine, Schlagzeug und Streichorchester