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

[ChamberNut]

Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra

Alexander Mickelthwate - conducting

January 31, 2009

Messiaen - Turangalila Symphony (Pascal Gallet, piano; Jean Laurendeau, ondes martenot)

I've never heard this piece, so it will be a new adventure! 

Well, this was quite the experience!  The performance was just spectacular.....I think the loudest work I've ever heard live (only thing I can compare in terms of booming loudness is The Rite of Spring live).

I wasn't crazy about the entire work, but I enjoyed more than a fair amount of it.  The contrasting 5th and 6th movements were outstanding, and the recurring brass motifs were particularly exceptional.  An incredible live experience! 

[bhodges]

The concert was on the 28th. I really enjoyed the whole evening. There was a nice contrast between Carter's fidgety, intricate, string-dominated works and the more blocky, Stravinsky-like wind-and-percussion writing of Woolrich. I didn't get to speak to the composer at the interval - not that I would have had anything intelligent to say! - but the London Sinfonietta staff were lovely and attentive. Watching the rehearsals conducted by Oliver Knussen was fascinating too.

Thanks!  Sounds like good programming to put these two next to each other.  (And I love Knussen and the London Sinfonietta.)

Well, this was quite the experience!  The performance was just spectacular.....I think the loudest work I've ever heard live (only thing I can compare in terms of booming loudness is The Rite of Spring live).

I wasn't crazy about the entire work, but I enjoyed more than a fair amount of it.  The contrasting 5th and 6th movements were outstanding, and the recurring brass motifs were particularly exceptional.  An incredible live experience! 

Cool!  Glad you liked it.  It is so massive that it just cries out to be heard live...

--Bruce

[Sergeant Rock]

Our local chapter of the Chopin Gesellschaft has been rather quiet the past year but that ended last night with a very interesting concert given by the Polish Duo Łukaszczyk (brothers Maciej and Jacek). As usual with the society's concerts, this was an intimate affair in a private home with an audience of around 50. The program:

Mozart Sonata D major K.448
Chopin Rondo C major op.73
Grieg Old Norwegian Romance and Variations op.51
Poulenc Capriccio (d'après le Bal Masqué)
Shostakovich Concertino op.94


Sarge

[Novi]

It is so massive that it just cries out to be heard live...

Orchestral Messiaen doesn't quite work as well in the sitting room ...

Well, I was looking forward to Anthony Marwood and someone else on piano tonight. But the concert was cancelled as they didn't make it into town - presumably stuck in London .

[bhodges]

Tonight at Zankel Hall, pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard in another fascinating evening.  He must be one of the most brilliant programmers around.  FYI, Daniel Felsenfeld's great program notes are here.

Bach: Canons Nos. 1 and 2 from The Art of Fugue 
Elliott Carter: Two Diversions 
Bach: "Rectus Inversus" No. 12 from The Art of Fugue 
Elliott Carter: Night Fantasies 
Bach: Canons Nos. 4 and 3 from The Art of Fugue 
Elliott Carter: Retrouvailles 
Elliott Carter: Matribute 
Elliott Carter: 90+ 
Bach:  "Rectus Inversus" No. 13 from The Art of Fugue 
Elliott Carter: Intermittences 
Elliott Carter: Caténaires 
Bach: Fuga a tre soggetti (unfinished) No. 14 from The Art of Fugue

--Bruce

[SonicMan46]

Well, this coming Sunday, our local Symphony will be performing the program below at the Stevens Center - pretty standard selections, but I do like all of these works, and my wife is fond of the Bartok piece (and one of my favs from him!) - 

Sunday, February 8, 2009 · 3:00 pm

Kathryn Levy, flute · Amanda Gerfin, oboe · Robert Campbell, horn · Saxton Rose, bassoon
Anita Cirba and Kenneth Wilmot, trumpets

Vivaldi: Concerto in C Major for Two Trumpets, RV 357
Mozart: Sinfonia concertante, K 297b
Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra

[bhodges]

That's a fine program, Dave, and the Bartók is always a treat heard live.  0:)

--Bruce

[SonicMan46]

That's a fine program, Dave, and the Bartók is always a treat heard live.  0:)

Hello, Bruce - I was 'salivating' over the program you described on the previous post - enjoy and wish I were there to hear this music w/ you!  Dave 

[Drasko]

Just got tickets for this, my first live Martinu, as far as I can remember.

On Sunday 15 February the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra will be heading for the Balkans. Their concerts in Belgrade and Zagreb will include works by B. Smetana, F. Chopin and B. Martinů. The concerts will be conducted by the orchestra's Chief Conductor Vladimír Válek and the solo will be performed by pianist Jan Simon.

programme:
Bedřich Smetana: Šárka, from the cycle My Country
Fryderyk Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor
Bohuslav Martinů: Symphony No. 1, H. 289

[bhodges]

Tonight, this concert of music for piano, four hands (with pianists listed for each), a FREE preview of the Keys to the Future festival coming up in May.  More info here.

Andrew List: Mystical Journey (2005) (Jundt and Hutton-DeWys)
Bruce Stark: Four (2008) (Hakobian and Escudero) (World Premiere) 
Arvo Pärt Pari Intervallo (2002) (Jundt and Hutton-DeWys) (U.S. Premiere)
Doug Opel: Dilukkenjon (2002) (Hakobian and Escudero)
Steve Reich: Piano Phase (1967) (Gosling and McMillen) 
William Bolcom: Recuerdos No. 1 (1985) (Jundt and Hutton-DeWys)

--Bruce

[karlhenning]

Concert at NEC tonight, including some Ives songs, and Britten's Serenade for tenor, horn & strings conducted by a friend of mine 

[bhodges]

Concert at NEC tonight, including some Ives songs, and Britten's Serenade for tenor, horn & strings conducted by a friend of mine 

That sounds great (just looked at the NEC website).  I've not heard the Britten in years. 

And the price is right, too. 

--Bruce

[karlhenning]

That sounds great (just looked at the NEC website).  I've not heard the Britten in years. 

And the price is right, too. 

There is so very much music one can go out and hear, without incurring cost, eh, Bruce? No need to wallow in the same few pieces all the time, wot? 

[bhodges]

There is so very much music one can go out and hear, without incurring cost, eh, Bruce? No need to wallow in the same few pieces all the time, wot? 

Yup!   

--Bruce

[ChamberNut]

Tonight!

Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra - Alexander Mickelthwate conducting

February 13, 2009

Bartok - Violin Concerto No. 2 (Gwen Hoebig - Principal Violin & Concertmaster, soloist)
Tchaikovsky - Symphony No. 6 (Pathetique)

[karlhenning]

Handel's Alcina tomorrow night.  Taking Maria & Mamochka to the opera for Valentine's Day!

[DavidRoss]

Tonight, at the Mondavi Center at UCD, the Munich Symphony Orchestra featuring Philippe Entremont, conductor and piano soloist, in an all-Beethoven performance comprising the "Prometheus" Overture, Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major, op. 15, and Symphony No. 7 in A Major, op. 92.  Not the most exciting program I can imagine, but I do love the seventh and haven't heard it in performance for several years.  Still, if they're good, I expect it will be a pleasurable evening, even if less satisfying than the Russian State Ballet Theatre and Sacramento Symphony's performance of Proky's Cinderella last week.

[karlhenning]

. . . even if less satisfying than the Russian State Ballet Theatre and Sacramento Symphony's performance of Proky's Cinderella last week.

Oh, and that sounds lovely!  How'd I miss your going to that?

[DavidRoss]

Oh, and that sounds lovely!  How'd I miss your going to that?

I probably didn't mention it.  Sure, ABT or the Kirov might have performed it with more spectacular leaps, and the Sacramento Symphony might not have been quite as sonorous as the Cleveland, but it was all quite splendid and the costumes, the music, the choreography, and the performers combined to give us one of the most thoroughly enjoyable evenings of dance in recent memory.

[karlhenning]

That sounds great (just looked at the NEC website).  I've not heard the Britten in years. 

And the price is right, too. 

And good music-making at any price.