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

Started by Siedler, April 20, 2007, 05:34:10 PM

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orbital

Quote from: bhodges on March 14, 2008, 01:20:50 PM
Decided at the last minute to go to this tonight, after some persuasive friends called who are going:

The Philadelphia Orchestra
Charles Dutoit, Conductor
Women of the Philadelphia Singers Chorale
David Hayes, Music Director

BARTÓK: The Miraculous Mandarin Suite 
DEBUSSY: Nocturnes
HOLST: The Planets, Op. 32 

--Bruce
You probably had a 105F fever if you needed persuasion for this program  ;D Bartok... Debussy... Philadelphia... Bruce... needs a push... ??? can't compute  ;D

PS - Is this the year of Debussy in NY?

karlhenning

Tonight the BSO plays the Shostakovich Fifth, and the Schumann Piano Concerto with soloist Garrick Ohlsson

Greta

Quote from: bhodges on March 14, 2008, 01:20:50 PM
Decided at the last minute to go to this tonight, after some persuasive friends called who are going:

The Philadelphia Orchestra
Charles Dutoit, Conductor
Women of the Philadelphia Singers Chorale
David Hayes, Music Director

BARTÓK: The Miraculous Mandarin Suite 
DEBUSSY: Nocturnes
HOLST: The Planets, Op. 32 

--Bruce

I would make it to the above concert with a 105F fever, somehow...my word! I really could hardly of a more possibly fetching program for that conductor/orchestra pair. How was it?  :D

bhodges

#543
Quote from: orbital on March 14, 2008, 01:26:05 PM
You probably had a 105F fever if you needed persuasion for this program  ;D Bartok... Debussy... Philadelphia... Bruce... needs a push... ??? can't compute  ;D

PS - Is this the year of Debussy in NY?

;D  Well, I had been out all week and needed a break...hence the "persuasion."  ;D 

It was very good, if not at the tip-top level, but I enjoyed it.  Dutoit and Philadelphia are a good match, I think.  The Debussy was a little too driven, and the chorus--excellent though it was--was a little too loud in the final "Sirènes."  (I think the voices should sound more ethereal, as if they're in the distance.)

--Bruce

MDL

Quote from: bhodges on March 14, 2008, 01:20:50 PM
Decided at the last minute to go to this tonight, after some persuasive friends called who are going:

The Philadelphia Orchestra
Charles Dutoit, Conductor
Women of the Philadelphia Singers Chorale
David Hayes, Music Director

BARTÓK: The Miraculous Mandarin Suite 
DEBUSSY: Nocturnes
HOLST: The Planets, Op. 32 

--Bruce


That's a great programme, although it's a shame they weren't playing the complete Mandarin. Some people are a bit sniffy about The Planets, but I think it's an amazing piece. Accessible, perhaps even populist, but still quite radical and adventurous. Some of the influences may be a bit obvious (Stravinsky, Debussy, Wagner), but Holst absorbs them and creates his own distinctive sound world. I'm impressed that you managed to get tickets for this at the last minute. Here in London, that concert would have sold out months ago.

I've been a bit crap at going to concerts lately. I went to see Salome at Covent Garden on Wednesday and loved it. Unless I get my arse into gear and start booking some more tickets, my next concert is in early May; it's the second of two performances of Nono's Prometeo at the Royal Festival Hall. That should be interesting.

bhodges

Quote from: MDL on March 16, 2008, 10:59:29 AM

That's a great programme, although it's a shame they weren't playing the complete Mandarin. Some people are a bit sniffy about The Planets, but I think it's an amazing piece. Accessible, perhaps even populist, but still quite radical and adventurous. Some of the influences may be a bit obvious (Stravinsky, Debussy, Wagner), but Holst absorbs them and creates his own distinctive sound world. I'm impressed that you managed to get tickets for this at the last minute. Here in London, that concert would have sold out months ago.

I've been a bit crap at going to concerts lately. I went to see Salome at Covent Garden on Wednesday and loved it. Unless I get my arse into gear and start booking some more tickets, my next concert is in early May; it's the second of two performances of Nono's Prometeo at the Royal Festival Hall. That should be interesting.

Yes, the complete Mandarin is marvelous.  Awhile back Boulez did it here with Chicago and it was one of my favorite concerts of the year.  And I like The Planets, too.  (I have enjoyed Dutoit's recording for many years.) 

And as far as getting tickets, my experience has been that there are almost always seats to be had, from those who cancel at the last minute and return tickets.  If you are patient and keep trying--and only need a single--you can often have success.

Very envious of the Salome and Nono!  Do report on the latter!  (Not much Nono gets performed here.)

--Bruce

M forever

Quote from: karlhenning on March 15, 2008, 09:06:15 AM
Tonight the BSO plays the Shostakovich Fifth, and the Schumann Piano Concerto with soloist Garrick Ohlsson

Indeed they did, and I could go, too, because Karl's wife did not feel way, but I was there on his side  ;D Thanks again for the ticket! It was a very good concert, and I was very impressed by Daniele Gatti's direction. I only have one album with him (Respighi's tone poems with the Santa Cecilia orchestra) and have never seen him conduct live or on video. His conducting techinque and contact with the orchestra is very good, very relaxed and laid back but effective and with natural authority. He was very much on top of things, obviously had a thought-through and ripened concept and let the orchestra play without micromanaging and drawing attention to himself, but he gave exactly the right signs at the right moments to shape the music in a nuanced way as it happened. From a conducting point of view, really first class, much better than a lot of the vain posers out there on the podiums. I am delighted to read that he will become MD of the Orchestra National de France, an orchestra whose very specific sound I have always liked. Thet will actually be coming to Boston next month, I hope I can go, even though that will still be with Masur who is OK but not necessarily someone I would go to see in concert if I had a fever.

bhodges

Tonight:

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde

Conductor: James Levine
Isolde: Deborah Voigt
Brangäne: Michelle DeYoung
Tristan: Gary Lehman
Kurwenal: Eike Wilm Schulte
King Marke: Matti Salminen

Still no word on whether the ailing Ben Heppner will sing Tristan at the HD film broadcast on Saturday afternoon...  :(

--Bruce

Haffner

Quote from: bhodges on March 18, 2008, 06:34:12 AM
Tonight:

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde

Conductor: James Levine
Isolde: Deborah Voigt
Brangäne: Michelle DeYoung
Tristan: Gary Lehman
Kurwenal: Eike Wilm Schulte
King Marke: Matti Salminen

Still no word on whether the ailing Ben Heppner will sing Tristan at the HD film broadcast on Saturday afternoon...  :(

--Bruce




Bruce, I am supremely envious. And I hope you have a terrific time!

bhodges

Quote from: Haffner on March 18, 2008, 06:38:27 AM



Bruce, I am supremely envious. And I hope you have a terrific time!

Thanks, Haffner!  I'm very much looking forward to it.  I've seen this production on television (with Heppner and Jane Eaglen, IIRC), and listened to it on the Saturday afternoon radio broadcast when it premiered in 1999, but haven't seen it in the house.  I do like the production--a lot.  Lots of cool photos of it, here.

--Bruce

Florestan

Quote from: bhodges on March 18, 2008, 06:44:39 AM
I do like the production--a lot.  Lots of cool photos of it, here.

Had it not been for the legends I couldn't have told Isolde from Brangaene. Actually, I could have had it the other way around, as Brangaene looks slightly younger.  :D
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

bhodges

IIRC when the production premiered there was a most unfortunate photo in the paper, with Heppner and Eaglen...and a large rock.  All three pretty much looked the same.

--Bruce

Florestan

Quote from: bhodges on March 18, 2008, 06:56:46 AM
IIRC when the production premiered there was a most unfortunate photo in the paper, with Heppner and Eaglen...and a large rock.  All three pretty much looked the same.

--Bruce

:D

Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

Novi

#553
Quote from: Novitiate on March 04, 2008, 02:08:14 AM

Peter Hill, piano recital

Messiaen: La Colombe; Morceau de lecture a vue; Le Tombeau de Paul Dukas
Le Merle Bleu, Le Traquet stapazin, Canteyodjaya, L'Alouette lulu

A belated report :).

I enjoyed this recital very much. The colourful pieces from Catalogue contrasted nicely with the earlier works, with a bit of Bach thrown in for good measure. Hill isn't flashy but gets the colours and tones just right, IMO.

In fact, it turned out to be almost a full day of Messiaen. In the afternoon, Peter Hill gave a talk on Messiaen's use of birdsong, charting his progression from the earlier ornithologically 'fundamentalist' phase of Réveil des Oiseaux, when he insisted that he was merely transcribing nature, in a 'sing, Heav'nly Muse' kind of way I guess, through to a more flexible use in Oiseaux exotiques, and ultimately to the complex licence of Catalogue d'oiseaux.

While Messiaen made many field trips, he also worked from recordings, and what is really great is that Hill has managed to locate a few of these. He matched these with the relevant sections from Messiaen's notebooks (apparently he's left a huge archive). This was the most interesting part of the paper: to hear the passage of birdsong while following Messiaen's notation; then to hear the passage played as a single line; then the final incarnation (I think it was Oiseaux exotiques - can't remember after this time :-[).

This was followed by a paper on Et Expecto Resurrectionem Mortuorum by a Professor Nigel Simeone, who'd co-authored a biography of Messiaen with Peter Hill. Another good talk, this time more focused on the historical context of the piece. Interesting to note that after hearing Boulez conduct the piece, Messiaen wrote in his notes, 'formidable!!!' with the three exclamation marks :). The talk was complemented by a performance from the RSAMD students: impressive, although the hall was perhaps a bit too echo-y and resonant.

Apparently there will be an outdoor performance of Et Expecto on a mountain somewhere in France this summer. Can't remember the details though, but sounds pretty cool.
Durch alle Töne tönet
Im bunten Erdentraum
Ein leiser Ton gezogen
Für den der heimlich lauschet.

Dana

      I saw Micheal Tilson Thomas and the San Fransisco Symphony last Friday and well... I was impressed :) They are the single most underrated orchestra in all of America. I say this because most people I speak to seem to be under the impression that while they're a good orchestra, they can't stand toe to toe with the New York Philharmonics and Philadelphia Orchestras (maybe this is only an East Coast superiority complex?). Stated simply, they can. They can, they can, they can.
      The program opened with Sibelius' 7th, which was the reason I attended the concert (aside from my curiosity regarding the orchestra). It's my favorite Sibelius, and MTT played it as the late romantic symphony that it is. While honoring the rough four-movement outline that most theorists and conductors have applied to the symphony, this performance, more than any I've heard before, unified the symphony into a single romantic work. The orchestra played to the works strength as struggling, deeply romantic melodies rested atop Sibelius' characteristic sound-blocks, and they got more character out of the scherzo-section than most others that I've heard.
      The other half of the program, was the one which I was most skeptical about. Beethoven's 3rd, it seemed to me, did not play to MTT's strengths of sensitivity and romanticism. For me, this symphony has always been primarily a classically influenced symphony of epic proportions, and much to my relief, that was how MTT played it. The orchestra scaled back their interpretive attentiveness just so much that it wasn't ridiculously romantic, but it still had a lot of flavor to it, especially the first movement. You could clearly hear how Haydn's compositional style influenced Beethoven, even as he was busting every mold that had ever been conceived.
      MTT has gotten a very European sound from the strings. I haven't heard such a homogeneous sound from the strings since the Vienna Philharmonic was in town last year (and I in no way mean that as an insult). The brass and woodwinds similarly showcased their ensemble. There's entering together, and there's entering as a single unit, and this orchestra had every single one of their entrances down pat (there was a single botched entrance in the entire performance). As for MTT himself, he looked like every caricature I've ever seen of Stokowski; the man looked downright ridiculous, and I don't think most of the techniques he used would ever be found in any conducting textbook (especially cut-offs). However, the ensemble trusted him completely, and there's no arguing with the kind of sound the orchestra produced.

bhodges

Tonight, the first concert of Keys to the Future, a 3-night festival of contemporary piano music played by some excellent musicians. 

Louis Andriessen: The Memory of Roses (1993)
Poul Ruders: Star-Prelude and Love Fugue (1990)
Joan Tower: Throbbing Still (2000)
John Fitz Rogers: Variations (2003)
Joseph Rubenstein: Romance No. 2 (aurora)* (2007)
Henry Martin: Preludes and Fugues (4 selections) (1998)

--Bruce

c#minor

Quote from: karlhenning on March 15, 2008, 09:06:15 AM
Tonight the BSO plays the Shostakovich Fifth, and the Schumann Piano Concerto with soloist Garrick Ohlsson


Ahhh i saw him play the Schumann Concerto with the Nashville Symphony, then he gave an encore with a Chopin Nocturne. It was great.

bhodges

Tonight, the second concert of Keys to the Future.  I've actually heard Bolcom's Graceful Ghost, a nostalgic little bit of ragtime.

Chester Biscardi: Incitation to Desire (1984)
Hans Otte: Book of Sounds #11 (1982)
David Rakowski: Four Études (1997-2002)
Martin Kennedy: Theme and Variations (2004)
Charles Wuorinen: Bagatelle (1988)
William Bolcom: Graceful Ghost (1970) 
John Musto: In Stride (1994) 
Elena Kats-Chernin: Backstage Rag (1999)
John Halle: Rozology (2000)
Derek Bermel: Carnaval Noir (1997)**

--Bruce

bhodges

Tomorrow night:

Birmingham Contemporary Music Group
Thomas Adès, Conductor
Stephen Wallace, Countertenor (Pleasure)
William Purefoy, Countertenor (Truth)
Christopher Lemmings, Tenor (Beauty)
Roderick Williams, Baritone (Deceit)
Stephen Richardson, Bass (Time)

GERALD BARRY: The Triumph of Beauty and Deceit (Concert Performance, NY Premiere)

--Bruce

bhodges

And on Sunday, this concert:

The MET Chamber Ensemble
James Levine, Artistic Director and Conductor

Mozart: Serenade in B-flat Major, K. 361, "Gran Partita" 
Gunther Schuller: Grand Concerto for Percussion and Keyboards (NY Premiere) 
Mozart: Eine kleine Nachtmusik, K. 525

--Bruce