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

[ChamberNut]

March 1, 2009

Haydn - String Quartet in C, Hob III:32 (Sun)
Schubert - Fantasy in F minor for piano duet, D940
Shostakovich - Piano Quintet in G minor, Op. 57

Can't wait for this concert tomorrow night!!   

[Solitary Wanderer]

NZSO March 13th

MAHLER Symphony No 3 in D minor

Aptly described as a "cathedral of sound", Mahler takes us all the way from Creation to Heaven, in an attempt to imagine the history of an entire universe in musical terms. Describing his own symphony to conductor Bruno Walter in 1896, Mahler said: "Just imagine a work of such magnitude that it actually mirrors the whole world".
Don't miss this opportunity to hear the NZSO at full strength with chorus on stage, conducted by the NZSO's own Music Director, Pietari Inkinen.

"Hearing Mahler's Third Symphony live is a can't-miss opportunity to discover the heights to which classical music can ascend, emotionally and intellectually." Andrew Druckenbrod, Post-Gazette Classical Music Critic.

Looking forward to this experience  0:)

[Eddie Williamson]

THIS PAST THURSDAY (2/26),
I went to Disney Hall for a solid night of the music of birthday boy, Felix Mendelssohn.  LA Opera music director James Conlon conducted his next-door neighbor's orchestra, the LA Philharmonic, for the three-part, all-Mendelssohn program.  Sarah Chang played the concerto.

• Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 11
  
• Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64
  
• Selections from A Midsummer Night's Dream
  -Overture
  -Scherzo
  -Wedding March
  

First, it was great to hear the First Symphony, which Conlon, during introductory comments, said he hadn't heard in concert other than the times he conducted it.  And it showed: he took the reigns and guided the LA Phil from memory, not using a score.  Great performance, it really was an true ensemble work, with the winds in particular shining during the ~30 minute work.  The outer movements (Allegro di molto, Allegro con fuoco) were my favorites; the Andante (second movement) dragged just a little, I thought.  I really enjoyed this neglected work.  Miss Chang and the LA Phil got off to an unbecoming start with the Concerto and the forces never quite meshed, IMHO, although I did enjoy the second and third movements more than the not-very-pretty first (and it should make hairs on your neck tingle).  Richard Grinnell put it perfectly in his pithy review of the VC: simply, Chang did not play 'elegantly' enough for my taste.  But the concert was 'redeemed' -- perhaps too harsh a word but relatively speaking, it was true -- with masterful renditions of the famous pieces from A Midsummer Night's Dream.  I love these pieces, and they provided the perfect end-cap for the night. 

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2009/02/la-phil-conlon.html

James Conlon -- whose fuel reserves have been compared to those of the Energizer Bunny -- has been locked in overdrive this week, launching Los Angeles Opera's first Wagner "Ring" while also observing the Mendelssohn bicentennial with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He is no doubt thankful that the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and Walt Disney Concert Hall are right across the street from each other.

Actually, Mendelssohn is a great fit for Conlon right now since revisiting this composer could be considered an extension of the conductor's "Recovered Voices" project at L.A. Opera. Mendelssohn's music, after all, was banned by the Nazis, and we now know that there is a substantial hoard from his huge output that has never been published or heard. And of his scores that are available, maybe only a dozen or so are programmed regularly.

So in his usual spirit of mission, Conlon came to Disney Hall on Thursday night with a rarity that only record collectors know, it seems: the Symphony No. 1 in C minor. The philharmonic had never performed it before, and Conlon pointedly told us that he had never heard it played live unless he was conducting it.

Our loss. It's a great piece, shot through with fierce, rumbling, minor-key vigor, owing much to Mozart's Symphony No. 40 in particular and Beethoven in general but still stamped with its own sound. It becomes perhaps even more imposing when you consider that it was written by a boy of 15 -- albeit with 12 string symphonies under his belt.

Conlon didn't merely play the symphony through. He gave it a painstaking workout, fine-tuning weaker spots like the balance of the strings and winds in the third movement's trio and the phrasing of the pizzicato strings before the clarinet solo in the finale so that they shone. The philharmonic sounded enthused and charged up, with terrific wind playing and scintillating strings in the fugues.

Violinist Sarah Chang and the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto did not make a good match to me. She played it stridently, with plenty of fire yet very little elegance, generating all kinds of little inflections that disrupted the piece's unity. But the audience loved it.

Finally, Conlon chose the three best-known selections from "A Midsummer Night's Dream" -- the miraculous Overture, the fleet-footed Scherzo and the ultra-familiar Wedding March. They were brilliantly handled -- especially the Scherzo -- with the same tempestuous Conlon energy that lighted up the First Symphony.

-- Richard S. Ginell

TONIGHT,
I am in Chicago on a personal trip and happened to find that Helen Regenstein Conductor Emeritus Pierre Boulez is in town for a special program with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra:

• Stravinsky: Symphony in Three Movements
  
• Stravinsky: Four Studies for Orchestra
  
• Carter: Réflexions
  
• Varèse: Ionisation
  
• Varèse: Amériques
  

Looks like a great program.  I have never heard any of these pieces before, except the first Stravinsky, and I do love Boulez's Stravinsky.  Very looking forward to a great night. 

[Häuschen]

^Wow, that Boulez program looks excellent!  Would love to hear his Varese live.

I'm looking forward to:

Zubin Mehta w/ Wiener Philharmoniker & Lang Lang at Disney Hall on March 4:

Wagner - Rienzi Overture
Chopin - Piano Concerto No. 2
Schubert - Symphony No. 9

Yannick Nézet-Séguin w/ LA Phil & Martha Argerich, Disney Hall on March 13

Ravel - La Valse
Ravel - Piano Concerto in G
Shostakovich - Symphony No. 5

Charlemagne Palestine Organ Recital in LA on March 16!!

Pablo Heras-Casado w/ LA Phil, Disney Hall on March 20

Mendelssohn - Symphony No. 4
Mahler - Symphony No. 4

Hope to catch Andras Schiff's last recital of late Beethoven sonatas too.

[MDL]

I know what you mean...I've only just gotten acquainted with Canyons (having heard it once live last year) and it hasn't quite "stuck" like some of the others.  But then, one's first impressions are sometimes suspect!   

And yes, your jammy bastard  has been thinking a lot about low-cost concerts, ever since Alex Ross's post on the subject a few weeks ago (here, with a link to his article in The New Yorker on the same subject).  I hate hearing anyone say, "I can't afford concerts," since a city like this (and a few others, like London) is a goldmine.

--Bruce

Interesting link to the Alex Ross article. I've spent four days in a strange and exotic locale away from the internet (ie, Devon) so I'm just catching up with stuff tonight. How was the Messiaen? I won't ask if it was value for money, obviously.

[MDL]

TONIGHT,
I am in Chicago on a personal trip and happened to find that Helen Regenstein Conductor Emeritus Pierre Boulez is in town for a special program with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra:

• Stravinsky: Symphony in Three Movements
  
• Stravinsky: Four Studies for Orchestra
  
• Carter: Réflexions
  
• Varèse: Ionisation
  
• Varèse: Amériques
  

Looks like a great program.  I have never heard any of these pieces before, except the first Stravinsky, and I do love Boulez's Stravinsky.  Very looking forward to a great night. 

A great programme?! It looks astonishing! I only hope that the band had the stamina to keep up. Was Amériques performed in the standard version or the reconstruction of the original, longer version, with off-stage bands and the even more bizarre selection of whistles, sirens, etc as recorded by Chailly/RCO/Decca and Wit/WhateverhisPolishbandiscalledthesedays/Naxos?

[Lilas Pastia]

I hope we get some reports on how it sounded after all! Much inventive programming or just enticing conjunction of artists and repertoire. Argerich in the Ravel... a match made in heaven if you ask me 

[Brian]

Yannick Nézet-Séguin w/ LA Phil & Martha Argerich, Disney Hall on March 13

Ravel - La Valse
Ravel - Piano Concerto in G
Shostakovich - Symphony No. 5

ZOINKS! 

[Brian]

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!

Program:

Tchaikovsky | Symphony No 4
Ravel | Daphnis et Chloe, Suite No 2
Three TBA Latin-American encores

Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela
Gustavo Dudamel

[MDL]

Program:

Tchaikovsky | Symphony No 4
Ravel | Daphnis et Chloe, Suite No 2
Three TBA Latin-American encores

Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela
Gustavo Dudamel

Where did I get The Rite from? Durr! Still, that looks like a great programme. The queue for returns for the Mahler was huge, but I suspect it'll be dwarfed by the queue for this one.

[ChamberNut]

March 1, 2009

Haydn - String Quartet in C, Hob III:32 (Sun)
Schubert - Fantasy in F minor for piano duet, D940
Shostakovich - Piano Quintet in G minor, Op. 57

Can't wait for this concert tomorrow night!!   

What an outstanding concert experience this was!!!  From start to finish, each work unique in it's own special way.  One of my favorite concerts ever! 

[DavidRoss]

Are you going? If so, you can report back and give me a (p)review!

Re. Angela Hewitt playing the Goldberg Variations at the Mondavi Center, Jackson Hall, Sunday March 1,2009:

It wasn't a performance, but a communion.  Hearing her play this extraordinary work was like bearing witness to a private, intimate moment between Ms Hewitt, the ghost of Bach, and the piano.  Her virtuosity simply vanished; although she commanded a vast range of dynamics and shadings of tone with rapid-fire trills and crossovers all presented in unblemished clarity, her technique never called attention to itself in deficiency nor excess, but simply served the music, from introspective restraint to dancing exuberance as each flowing moment requested.

My wife and I felt privileged to be present, as did the rest of the audience, apparently, for all sat respectfully silent for a good 30 seconds or so after the last note of the final aria died away before breaking into hearty applause--a first in our experience at that venue.  As we made our way home afterwards, the thought came to mind that all of the pain, struggle, and strife of life seem worth it if our world creates the conditions enabling artists such as Andrea Hewitt, JS Bach, and Steinway & Sons to realize such spellbinding beauty.   I suspect we will long treasure the memory of this performance.

[karlhenning]

Love it when an audience lets some silence settle in before starting up the applause.

[DavidRoss]

Yep.  The more moving the performance, the more I want to savor it, and I've learned to wait at least until the performer or conductor signals readiness for applause, but there are almost always some yokels who prefer to show their approval immediately without regard for others preference to let the ending "sink in" first.  Maybe they should add a request to the pre-performance announcements about silencing cell phones and such...?

[Jay F]

I'm going to see the Pittsburgh Symphony play Mahler's 2nd on June 14. It's become their theme song, kind of, since they played it for Pope John Paul shortly before he died. I can hardly wait. I've never heard M2 live. I've heard 3 twice, 7, 8, and 9 once.

[bhodges]

Re. Angela Hewitt playing the Goldberg Variations at the Mondavi Center, Jackson Hall, Sunday March 1,2009:

It wasn't a performance, but a communion.  Hearing her play this extraordinary work was like bearing witness to a private, intimate moment between Ms Hewitt, the ghost of Bach, and the piano.  Her virtuosity simply vanished; although she commanded a vast range of dynamics and shadings of tone with rapid-fire trills and crossovers all presented in unblemished clarity, her technique never called attention to itself in deficiency nor excess, but simply served the music, from introspective restraint to dancing exuberance as each flowing moment requested.

My wife and I felt privileged to be present, as did the rest of the audience, apparently, for all sat respectfully silent for a good 30 seconds or so after the last note of the final aria died away before breaking into hearty applause--a first in our experience at that venue.  As we made our way home afterwards, the thought came to mind that all of the pain, struggle, and strife of life seem worth it if our world creates the conditions enabling artists such as Andrea Hewitt, JS Bach, and Steinway & Sons to realize such spellbinding beauty.   I suspect we will long treasure the memory of this performance.

Beautiful write-up, David.  I've never heard Hewitt live, but my brother turned me on to some of her Bach recordings, which are marvelous.  (One thing I also like is that she writes great, scholarly program notes.)  And the generous 30 seconds of silence after...wow, what a great audience.

I'm going to see the Pittsburgh Symphony play Mahler's 2nd on June 14. It's become their theme song, kind of, since they played it for Pope John Paul shortly before he died. I can hardly wait. I've never heard M2 live. I've heard 3 twice, 7, 8, and 9 once.

Man, you are in for a really mindblowing experience.  Of course we all listen to Mahler on recordings, but there is nothing like a live performance of the Second. 

--Bruce

[Bruckner is God]

This saturday, the 28th February at the Royal Festival Hall, London
Philharmonia Orchestra
Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor
Stig Andersen, Waldemar
Soile Isokoski, Tove
Monica Groop, Waldtaube
Andreas Conrad, Klaus-Narr
Ralf Lukas, Bauer
Barbara Sukowa, speaker
City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus
Philharmonia Voices

Arnold Schoenberg- Gurrelieder

What an extraordinary concert!
The soloists were marvelous, espeacially Monica Groop.
The orchestra was on top form.
A perfect night.
Can't wait to hear the continuation of their series "Vienna, city of dreams 1900-1935".

[Jay F]

Beautiful write-up, David.  I've never heard Hewitt live, but my brother turned me on to some of her Bach recordings, which are marvelous.  (One thing I also like is that she writes great, scholarly program notes.)  And the generous 30 seconds of silence after...wow, what a great audience.

Man, you are in for a really mindblowing experience.  Of course we all listen to Mahler on recordings, but there is nothing like a live performance of the Second. 

--Bruce

Hearing the 8th was mindblowing, too. Everyone who could carry a tune in DC was part of the chorus. I knew at least five people who sang in it. Again, I'm really looking forward to this concert.

[aquablob]

Re. Angela Hewitt playing the Goldberg Variations at the Mondavi Center, Jackson Hall, Sunday March 1,2009:

It wasn't a performance, but a communion.  Hearing her play this extraordinary work was like bearing witness to a private, intimate moment between Ms Hewitt, the ghost of Bach, and the piano.  Her virtuosity simply vanished; although she commanded a vast range of dynamics and shadings of tone with rapid-fire trills and crossovers all presented in unblemished clarity, her technique never called attention to itself in deficiency nor excess, but simply served the music, from introspective restraint to dancing exuberance as each flowing moment requested.

My wife and I felt privileged to be present, as did the rest of the audience, apparently, for all sat respectfully silent for a good 30 seconds or so after the last note of the final aria died away before breaking into hearty applause--a first in our experience at that venue.  As we made our way home afterwards, the thought came to mind that all of the pain, struggle, and strife of life seem worth it if our world creates the conditions enabling artists such as Andrea Hewitt, JS Bach, and Steinway & Sons to realize such spellbinding beauty.   I suspect we will long treasure the memory of this performance.

Thanks for this; I will report back in a few days on my experience.

[AB68]

Tonight I am going to the debut recital of a young Norwegian pianist (I didn't even know they debuted anymore). Her name is Ingfrid Breie Nyhus, and is one of the most talented young pianists in Norway and in Scandinavia.

The program:
Chopin Ballade in G minor, op.23
Schubert Sonata no. 14  in A minor, D784
Sinding Piano Pieces op.20, 31/5,44/2 and 33/6
Rachmaninov Corelli Variations

A wonderful program. Very much looking forward to this.