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

[shirime]

Thanks for these posts, Shirime.

Very interesting concerts. Who said the classical scene was just yet another Schéhérazade and Rach 2 evening ? 

Thanks.
Interestingly, I've never seen those pieces performed live.

[Florestan]

Who said the classical scene was just yet another Schéhérazade and Rach 2 evening ? 

Who said there's anything wrong with those two masterpieces? 

[shirime]

Who said there's anything wrong with those two masterpieces? 

I think they're pleasant enough pieces of music but I have no clue what would make them a masterpiece or not.

[Brian]

While we are listing our Mahler live experiences:

#1: Houston SO, London PO (possibly both Alsop!)
#2: Dallas SO (van Zweden)
#3: Warsaw PO (Wit, first time ever hearing the work, overall most memorable Mahler live experience), San Antonio SO (Lang-Lessing)
#4: San Antonio SO (Lang-Lessing)
#6: New York PO (Bychkov, first time ever hearing the work)

Wunderhorn: London PO with Gerhaher and V. Jurowski

[king ubu]

Tonight:

Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich
Daniel Blendulf Leitung
Janine Jansen Violine Artist in Residence

Michail Glinka Ouvertüre zu "Ruslan und Ljudmila"
Anders Eliasson Violinkonzert "Einsame Fahrt"
Sergej Prokofjew Sinfonie Nr. 5 B-Dur op. 100

--

Never heard Jansen in concert yet (last time I had a ticket she was calling a sick day and Veronika Eberle jumped in, playing a mighty fine Schumann concerto), and never even heard of Eliasson, so curious I am! 

[shirime]

Last night I saw BRSO perform at Herkulessaal, Munich.

BERND ALOIS ZIMMERMANN [1918–1970]
Sinfonie in einem Satz
für großes Orchester [Fassung mit Orgel 1951]
Dialoge
Konzert für zwei Klaviere und Orchester [2. Fassung 1965]
JOHN ADAMS [*1947]
Violin Concerto [1993]
für Violine und Orchester
MITWIRKENDE
Ilya Gringolts, Violine
GrauSchumacher Piano Duo: Andreas Grau, Götz Schumacher; Klavier
Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks
Brad Lubman, Leitung


Dialoge was the big hit of the concert, with the audience audibly more enthusiastic than they were about the Sinfonie. And what a great piece is was! Zimmermann's music was performed with a captivating sense of direction and emotion and his music in general had a very wide scope for the kind of impassioned playing typical of BRSO. Unfortunately it took a little bit of time to truly get a sense of that in the Sinfonie but it was thrilling when the musicians really dug into the music. The Adams concerto started off really well, the style of the first movement complemented Zimmermann really nicely, but after a while of strings of static blocks of texture and a relatively motionless approach harmony, the audience started to get fidgety and I found myself losing focus. The new agey second movement (complete with its badly aged synth sounds) and the sewing machine finale didn't bring back the glorious interplay between soloist and orchestra players that made the first movement so engaging. Rather, the orchestra began to look more like an industrial factory machine replicating mass produced notes rather than a collective of musicians engaging with the music and the audience. I think Zimmermann came more naturally to the musicians and held the audiences interest more than the Adams.

[shirime]

Was going to go to Otello last night but yesterday morning my girlfriend and I decided we aren't quite right in a relationship due to a number of personality and philosophical differences so we spent the night cooking together, chatting, laughing and crying, with the understanding that we get along well enough to still see some operas together and have a wonderful Christmas with family and friends. When I get back to Melbourne she and I will be forging our own separate paths in life and I look forward to a new production of Parsifal that Victorian Opera will be presenting in February. The next operas we are seeing together however are one more Otello, Die verkaufte Braut and Die Zauberflöte across three days before Christmas. We also plan on building a snowman together.

[GioCar]

Best wishes to you both, Jessop.
And, after seeing I don't know how many times Otello, I hope you can now appreciate it as the masterpiece it actually is.   

[shirime]

Best wishes to you both, Jessop.
And, after seeing I don't know how many times Otello, I hope you can now appreciate it as the masterpiece it actually is.   

I've always liked that opera actually, I think it's Verdi's best.

[king ubu]

tonight ... too much x-mas, but finally catching Nuria Rial in person:

Kammerorchester Basel
Nuria Rial Sopran
Reinhold Friedrich Trompete

Johann Sebastian Bach Aus: Kantate "Bringet dem Herrn Ehre seines Namens" BWV 148, 1. Sinfonia
Giuseppe Torelli Konzert D-Dur für Trompete, Streicher und Basso continuo
Georg Philipp Telemann Zwei Arien
Johann Sebastian Bach Kantate "Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen" BWV 51 für Sopran, Trompete und Streicher
Arcangelo Corelli Sonata a quattro D-Dur für Trompete, 2 Violinen, Streicher und Basso continuo
Concerto grosso g-Moll op. 6 Nr. 8 "fatto per la notte di natale"
Katalanische Weihnachtslieder "Nit de vetlla" und "El cant dels ocells"
Georg Friedrich Händel Aus: "Samson", "Let the bright seraphim" für Sopran, Trompete und Streicher

[shirime]

Possibly going to see Münchner Bach Chor perform Weihnachtsoratorium on the 23rd.

[Draško]

Tomorrow night:

Elgar - Cello Concerto
Shostakovich - Symphony No. 8

Alexander Busulov (cello)
Belgrade Philharmonic
Daniel Raiskin (cond.)

[André]

Yesterday's concert was memorable. The Schumann concerto (Eric Le Sage) was very good in a strightforward way. A few wrong notes in the first movement notwithstanding, Le Sage has full command of the concerto's romantic sweep.

The Mahler 9th was on another plane altogether. Nézet-Séguin and his Orchestre métropolitain were at one in this mammoth work, offering a consolatory, cathartic view of the work, esp the finale, perfectly paced here (under 25 minutes). The OM has grown immeasurably under its conductor of 20 years. Its brass section (horns in particular) has remarkable subtlety of expression and security of intonation. The highlights of the performance were the second and fourth movement. I have not heard them bettered, even on record.

[NikF]

Bartók
Suite No.2

Liszt
Piano Concerto No 1 in E flat major

Bartók
Suite No.1

Dausgaard/Hough/BBC SSO

[king ubu]

lunch concert tomorrow, with dudes and dudettes from the Tonhalle-Orchester Zurich:

Kammermusik-Lunchkonzert im Kaufleuten
«Heimat» – Zwei böhmische Komponisten?

Haika Lübcke Flöte und Piccolo
Elisabeth Harringer-Pignat Violine
Cathrin Kudelka Violine
Johannes Gürth Viola
Christian Proske Violoncello
Ute Grewel Kontrabass

Erwin Schulhoff Concertino für Flöte, Viola und Kontrabass
Antonín Dvořák Streichquintett Nr. 2 G-Dur op. 77
Erwin Schulhoff Fünf Stücke für Streichquartett

[TheGSMoeller]

Nashville Symphony | Giancarlo Guerrero, conductor

Smetana – The Moldau from Má Vlast
Dvořák - Symphony No. 9, "From the New World"

This is at 10:30am tomorrow, part of the Nashville Symphony's Coffee and Classics Series. It's also part of the COSMOS - An HD Odyssey which I'm not too thrilled about. This is the third year in a row NSO has featured the COSMOS with added NASA footage to accompany the music, two years ago with Holst's Planets, and last year with Zarathustra. I find this to be a bit of a gimmick and also don't find NASA footage to be appropriate for Zarathustra or Dvorak's 9th.
But I really enjoy the NSO, so I'm all about supporting them And plus my parents wanted to go so it should still be a good time.
Let's just hope their coffee game is strong!

[Brahmsian]

It's also part of the COSMOS - An HD Odyssey which I'm not too thrilled about. This is the third year in a row NSO has featured the COSMOS with added NASA footage to accompany the music, two years ago with Holst's Planets,

Greg, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra is doing a similar concert which I'm attending at the end of March which will feature Holst's Planets.

[NikF]

^We have the following -

The Planets – An HD Odyssey
Sat 15 Jun 2019, 7.30PM
Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
R Strauss Sunrise from Also sprach Zarathustra
J Strauss II On the Beautiful Blue Danube
J S Bach Toccata and Fugue
John Adams Short Ride in a Fast Machine
Beethoven Allegretto from Symphony No7
John Williams Main Title from Star Wars
Interval
Holst The Planets

RSNO
Ben Palmer Conductor
Sopranos and Altos of the RSNO Chorus

I won't be there, but apparently it's going to be well attended.

[king ubu]

lunch concert tomorrow, with dudes and dudettes from the Tonhalle-Orchester Zurich:

Kammermusik-Lunchkonzert im Kaufleuten
«Heimat» – Zwei böhmische Komponisten?

Haika Lübcke Flöte und Piccolo
Elisabeth Harringer-Pignat Violine
Cathrin Kudelka Violine
Johannes Gürth Viola
Christian Proske Violoncello
Ute Grewel Kontrabass

Erwin Schulhoff Concertino für Flöte, Viola und Kontrabass
Antonín Dvořák Streichquintett Nr. 2 G-Dur op. 77
Erwin Schulhoff Fünf Stücke für Streichquartett

That was kinda fun - not sure I could have heard any Schulhoff in concert in the past four or five years, to I just had to go, regardless of the never-ending lunch-break it casued ... the concertino is a fun one, I think, but alas it sounded somewhat under-rehearsed except for the flautist who had her part down to a t. The Dvorák sounded a bit too played-through and not sculpted enough (and frankly I found it a bit long for the occasion, the entire duration with applause and stage adjustments was around 80 minutes I think), but still full of nice moments (performance-wise that is ... I'll have to check out the recordings I have: Panocha for both, and L'Archibudelli for the second). The best part to me was the final pieces by Schulhoff, kinda baroque like variants on/interpretations of dances (viennes waltz, tango etc.), and these were performed very, very well, too (I guess this was the piece best rehearsed). Certainly worth attending, all things considered!

[TheGSMoeller]

Greg, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra is doing a similar concert which I'm attending at the end of March which will feature Holst's Planets.

Thats' cool, Ray. I'm hoping that I'm proven wrong and that I actually enjoy the added visual aspect of this concert.
And I would love to hear your reaction to the concert.

RSNO
Ben Palmer Conductor
Sopranos and Altos of the RSNO Chorus

I won't be there, but apparently it's going to be well attended.

I follow Ben Palmer on Twitter, it's a fun account!