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

[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)

This was an incredibly rich listening experience!  Particularly, hearing Tchaikovsky's 6th live was just incredibly emotional....very uplifting experience.  Mickelthwate's conducting was so passionate (and he did not have the score open for the symphony.)  0:)

[Renfield]

This was an incredibly rich listening experience!  Particularly, hearing Tchaikovsky's 6th live was just incredibly emotional....very uplifting experience. 

[Cato alert.] Absolutely. I've heard it from von Dohnányi and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande (IIRC), and still cherish the experience.

[Eddie Williamson]

Das Rheingold

Los Angeles Opera
Directed by Achim Freyer

I have plans to go March 8.  This is the first installment of LA's $32 million Ring cycle, which will conclude next year.

[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

Smetana was ok, Chopin profoundly boring (full credits to Simon) but Martinu was splendiferous!!!

[Opus106]

This was an incredibly rich listening experience!  Particularly, hearing Tchaikovsky's 6th live was just incredibly emotional....very uplifting experience.

I can imagine... well, not really. I mean, it's a wonderful (yet weird in its structure) work just to listen to via speakers, so it must have been amazing to hear it live.

[Lilas Pastia]

This was an incredibly rich listening experience!  Particularly, hearing Tchaikovsky's 6th live was just incredibly emotional....very uplifting experience.  Mickelthwate's conducting was so passionate (and he did not have the score open for the symphony.)  0:)

Some experienced conductors use a score in performance, even with well-known works. Others don't. I wonder what's the rationale of doing it one way instead of the other ? Is there any gain or miss ?

[Renfield]

Some experienced conductors use a score in performance, even with well-known works. Others don't. I wonder what's the rationale of doing it one way instead of the other ? Is there any gain or miss ?

Toscanini, AFAIK, didn't use a score because of his poor eyesight; and Karajan didn't use a score because Toscanini didn't.

[ChamberNut]

Just ordered my tickets for Korey and I at the ballet!  Sooo looking forward to this one!! 

March 14th

Prokofiev's Romeo & Juliet

Royal Winnipeg Ballet
Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra
*Not sure yet who is conducting.

[bhodges]

On Sunday afternoon, the big reopening of Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, with the following artists and program:

Jordi Savall, vièle
Montserrat Figueras, soprano
Driss el Maloumi, oud
Dmitri Psonis, santur
David Mayoral, percussion
Leon Fleisher, piano
Emerson String Quartet

Artists of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
Ani Kavafian & Arnaud Sussmann, violins
Paul Neubauer, viola
David Finckel & Fred Sherry, cellos
Edgar Meyer, double bass
Ransom Wilson, flute
Stephen Taylor, oboe
David Shifrin, clarinet
Milan Turkovic & Peter Kolkay, bassoons
Kevin Cobb & Raymond Mase, trumpet
Michael Powell & John Rojak, trombones
Juilliard Orchestra
David Robertson, conductor

Sephardic Invocation: Three Romances
Anon: Palestina Hermoza y Santa
Traditional: El Moro de Antequera
Anon: Una matica de ruda
Bach: Chromatic fantasia and fugue in D minor
Osvaldo Golijov: Mariel
Stravinsky: Octet for Winds
Bartók: String Quartet No.3
Stravinsky: Suite from Pulcinella

--Bruce

[MDL]

Off to see this tonight at the Festival Hall (going for the Mahler, obviously):


Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Piano Concerto No.17 in G, K.453
Gustav Mahler Symphony No.5

Gustavo Dudamel conductor
Emanuel Ax piano

[Sergeant Rock]

Toscanini, AFAIK, didn't use a score because of his poor eyesight; and Karajan didn't use a score because Toscanini didn't.

And because reading a score with your eyes closed is just super difficult. 

Sarge

[karlhenning]

Glad I wasn't the one to say it, Sarge 

[Brian]

Off to see this tonight at the Festival Hall (going for the Mahler, obviously):


Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Piano Concerto No.17 in G, K.453
Gustav Mahler Symphony No.5

Gustavo Dudamel conductor
Emanuel Ax piano

Do report back! I'm slated to see Dudamel and his Venezuelan band in April.

As for me, I managed to sneak into a fundraising gala with Renee Fleming on Thursday night, at which tickets started at $1000. It was a black tie event, but nobody kicked me out for only having a yellow one.   

[MDL]

Do report back! I'm slated to see Dudamel and his Venezuelan band in April.

As for me, I managed to sneak into a fundraising gala with Renee Fleming on Thursday night, at which tickets started at $1000. It was a black tie event, but nobody kicked me out for only having a yellow one.   

Just got back from an amazing concert. The entire audience (the place was sold out) was on its feet at the end, and you don't often see that at the Festival Hall. The members of the orchestra looked unusually happy, and the streets around the Southbank Centre were full of punters excitedly discussing the evening. The other half, who normally finds Mahler a bit of a chore, was left giddy with excitement. We had seats on the front row facing the cellos. Now, I don't normally like being that close to the orchestra, but it was startling to watch Dudamel in action. I've never seen a conductor charge around the podium with such lunatic abandon, or heard one make such a wide range of noises (if you saw Ricky Gervais's dance in The Office, you'll have some idea of what it was like). Whatever he was up to, he certainly had the band fired up. With everything pushed to extremes, it wasn't a night for the squeamish, and I'm sure that there will be those who found it a bit vulgar. But, hey, it's Mahler, not Webern or Bach, and it was a live performance, not a library-standard recording.

Brian, I'm very jealous that you're seeing the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra in April. Is that The Rite of Spring?! Blimey, you're going to need smelling salts. Enjoy!

[bhodges]

Off to see this tonight at the Festival Hall (going for the Mahler, obviously):


Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Piano Concerto No.17 in G, K.453
Gustav Mahler Symphony No.5

Gustavo Dudamel conductor
Emanuel Ax piano

He's just great, isn't he!  I just heard him do the Mahler with the New York Philharmonic a few weeks ago (review here), and interesting that you noted the same reaction in the members of the orchestra.  My experience only reconfirmed an impression that has been steadily growing, concert by concert: he is terrific now, and will most likely only continue to develop (i.e., and get better).

Sounds like you had an absolutely splendid time!

--Bruce

[MDL]

He's just great, isn't he!  I just heard him do the Mahler with the New York Philharmonic a few weeks ago (review here), and interesting that you noted the same reaction in the members of the orchestra.  My experience only reconfirmed an impression that has been steadily growing, concert by concert: he is terrific now, and will most likely only continue to develop (i.e., and get better).

Sounds like you had an absolutely splendid time!

--Bruce

It was brilliant. I'm still a bit hyper and have just thrown a can of Foster's Export down my gullet in record time. I'm off to watch a bit of telly now to calm down.

[bhodges]

It was brilliant. I'm still a bit hyper and have just thrown a can of Foster's Export down my gullet in record time. I'm off to watch a bit of telly now to calm down.

   

Love it, love it, love it--and I am not in the least bit surprised.  I've heard him now five times live (I think)--twice with his Venezuelan group, twice with the New York Philharmonic and once with the Israel Philharmonic--and each time has been a memorable experience.  I keep expecting to be let down, but it hasn't happened yet.

--Bruce

[karlhenning]

Friday, April 17, 2009 at 8:00pm

Library of Congress

BRENTANO QUARTET
PETER SERKIN, piano
RICHARD LALLI, reciter

HAYDN: Quartet in D minor, op. 76, no. 2 ("Quinten")
WUORINEN: Second Piano Quintet (commissioned by the artists) Washington premiere
SCHOENBERG: Ode to Napoleon, op. 41 for speaker, string quartet and piano
BEETHOVEN: Grosse Fuge, op. 133

Oh, it's hey-ho for DC in April, for me!

[bhodges]

Looks like an excellent one, Karl.  I've heard the Brentano's are quite good, but I've not heard them live. 

--Bruce

[karlhenning]

I've still never heard that Schoenberg work, Bruce.  I'll much enjoy that weekend.