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

[Herman]

Interesting. Tharaud uses the score on stage. Obviously he's got the music memorized, but he does have a page turner by his side.

It wasn't my way of looking at the Chopin Preludes, but that's what concerts are for, too. I'm rather suprized Tharaud isn't playing Schumann as yet. He likes to highlight march-like, percussive elements. I got the feeling he would as lief have skipped prelude nr 17, a sort of moment of respite, and marched onwards towards the finale. That was a definite turn off for me. If you play the entire Op 28 you're required to make sense of every single piece.

Next to me was a old lady, a blind pianist, who was so much impressed with this recital she asked me to help her purchase three of Tharaud's discs.

[DavidRoss]

Tonight, a mostly Stravinsky program performed by several young musicians from the Curtis Institute:

LUDWIG:         From the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám

STRAVINSKY:  Divertimento for Violin and Piano
                 Three Pieces for Clarinet Solo
                 L'Histoire du soldat 

[ChamberNut]

Last night!   

Ravel - Mother Goose Suite
Saint-Saens - Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor *
Mussorgsky - Pictures at an Exhibition (orch. Ravel)

*Inon Barnatan - piano

Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra
Alexander Mickelthwate - conducting

What an absolutely incredible evening of music.  Just another WOW moment in my classical music journey.  I had yet to ever hear Saint-Saens' Piano Concerto No. 2, and that was a major highlight of the evening....both the work and the incredible performance left me spellbound, and I gave a rousing standing ovation (along with the rest of the crowd!)  The young Inon Barnatan was just so much fun to watch, what a terrific, electrifying performance! 

And the evening capped off with an overwhelming performance of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition (orch. Ravel).  Shivers up my arms and the back of my neck from the opening to the intro of the Great Gate of Kiev right to the end.  One of the greatest concerts, and certainly my favorite concert this season!  0:)

[Brian]

CHO LIANG LIN Violin

Rice Professor Alert!

One of my good friends is a student of Cho-Liang Lin, and, as if that weren't enough, when my mom worked at a bank's marketing department in the 1980s, her boss owned a Stradivarius and a Guarneri which she regularly loaned to the then-20-something Cho-Liang Lin for concert tours.

[ChamberNut]

Rice Professor Alert!

One of my good friends is a student of Cho-Liang Lin, and, as if that weren't enough, when my mom worked at a bank's marketing department in the 1980s, her boss owned a Stradivarius and a Guarneri which she regularly loaned to the then-20-something Cho-Liang Lin for concert tours.

Brian/Solitary,

Just got the season program for the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra for the 2009/2010 season, and the season opening concert features Cho-Liang Lin on the violin for the Sibelius Violin Concerto!  Definitely will be one of the concerts I attend for the next season! 

[DavidRoss]

The Curtis students' performances were terrific, as expected, but what stole last night's show was the unexpected brilliance of Ludwig's new composition, a five part song cycle for mezzo based on the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, using the same orchestration as Stravinsky's Soldier's Tale (percussion, trombone, trumpet, violin, bass, clarinet, bassoon).  This piece, written specifically for this group, deserves a place in the repertoire.  I don't think I've been so pleasantly surprised by such a piece since I first heard Barber's Knoxville.  (Hmmm--come to think of it, Barber was another composer trained at Curtis.)  In trying to learn something more about it, I found a streaming playback of a performance here.

[Solitary Wanderer]

Brian/Solitary,

Just got the season program for the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra for the 2009/2010 season, and the season opening concert features Cho-Liang Lin on the violin for the Sibelius Violin Concerto!  Definitely will be one of the concerts I attend for the next season! 

He last toured here five years ago when he performed Bersteins Serenade with the NZSO.

I quite enjoy Barbers lush Violin concerto, especially the andante, so this should be a treat 

[karlhenning]

What an absolutely incredible evening of music.  Just another WOW moment in my classical music journey.  I had yet to ever hear Saint-Saens' Piano Concerto No. 2, and that was a major highlight of the evening....both the work and the incredible performance left me spellbound, and I gave a rousing standing ovation (along with the rest of the crowd!)  The young Inon Barnatan was just so much fun to watch, what a terrific, electrifying performance! 

And the evening capped off with an overwhelming performance of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition (orch. Ravel).  Shivers up my arms and the back of my neck from the opening to the intro of the Great Gate of Kiev right to the end.  One of the greatest concerts, and certainly my favorite concert this season!  0:)

(* sips hot tea *)

[karlhenning]

Tonight, a mostly Stravinsky program performed by several young musicians from the Curtis Institute:

LUDWIG:         From the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám

STRAVINSKY:  Divertimento for Violin and Piano
                 Three Pieces for Clarinet Solo
                 L'Histoire du soldat 

How did you like the unaccompanied clarinet pieces, Dave?

[DavidRoss]

Not surprised by your interest, Karl.  I even thought of you and Mark during the performance.  To me the pieces seemed flashy, brash, rhythmically playful, and at one point I experienced that occasional amazement at composers like Stravinsky (were there any composers like Stravinsky? Mozart, maybe?) who seem to have grasped the virtuoso challenges and possibilities for a great number of instruments.  Clarinetist Yao Guang Zhai gave a spirited performance and I loved his smooth, dark, full tone.  The site I linked above also includes a sample of his performance.

[Bunny]

Late reporting, but the missus and I enjoyed the Academy of Ancient Music's rendition of all the Brandenburg Concertos in Kansas City last Friday.

I just saw them last night in NYC, and sadly the first half of the concert was not particularly good.  The playing in the first movement of the first concerto (BWV 1046) was very rough!  Not only were some of the instruments noticeably out of tune, but they sounded as if they weren't quite playing together.  Tempo was perhaps a bit too slow with no rhythmic drive so that the first movement seemed like a piece of broken china with the pieces put together but not glued into a stable whole. The horns sounded irrelevant, and lacked punch.  The rest of the concerto was on a level that I would term just competent, which is not what one expects from the Academy of Ancient Music.  I was only surprised that Egarr didn't stop the performance after the first 3 or 4 minutes and start over.

They warmed up a bit more in the 6th (BWV 1051) which was next, but they really didn't turn in a more than decent performance until they did the 2nd concerto (BWV 1047) thanks to the trumpet soloist who came out and did brilliantly, inspiring his fellow musicians to get their act together.  After the intermission, the rest (concertos 5,3,4) proceeded as it should have from the beginning.  Unfortunately, even at its best, last night's concert has not inspired me to run out and purchase their new recording of the concertos. 

I understand that anyone and any group can have an "off" night.  Sometimes despite best intentions, nothing seems to go right and a performance just doesn't jell.  This was clearly one of those nights.  Recalling last years concert which was delightful, I was very disappointed.  At the end, the musicians filed off the stage very quickly, barely waiting to take bows.  I suspect that the musicians knew that they hadn't put in their top work.

[jlaurson]

My review from the Philharmonia in Vienna.



Vienna, that city of bygone imperial allure, more louche than glamorous, hosted London's Philharmonia Orchestra under their new music director Esa-Pekka Salonen in two concerts of Ur-Viennese repertoire. Part of a series entitled "Vienna, City of Dreams", the orchestra has embarked on exploring and explaining repertoire that is quintessential for Vienna around the turn of the last century, the Vienna of the Secession, the Vienna that the Second Viennese School was borne out of, the Vienna of Freud and Jung (hence "Dreams"), Gustav Klimt, Oskar Kokoschka and Karl Kraus, Mahler and Schoenberg...

--> http://www.weta.org/fmblog/?p=514

[DavidRoss]

Coming up this Saturday, a visit from the Estonian National Symphony with Joyce Yang:

Pärt: Summa
Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Major, Op. 26
Sibelius: Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 43

Don't see how this can help but be fun.

[karlhenning]

Great program, Dave!

[DavidRoss]

It appeals to us, all right!  Near the end of the season we'll catch a near-doppelganger when MTT/SFS premieres a new piece by the young composer, Mason Bates, followed by Sibelius's 4th and Prokofiev's 2nd PC (with Yuja Wang).

[karlhenning]

Our program this Saturday is:

Ravel, Ma mère l'oye
Prokofiev, Vn Cto № 2 in G Minor, Opus 63
Stravinsky, Petrushka

Lisa Batiashvili, vn
Boston Symphony Orchestra
Charles Dutoit, guest conductor

[DavidRoss]

Another great program, Karl!  I'll be interested to hear your opinion of the soloist, especially in what I know is a favorite of us both. 

[bhodges]

Coming up this Saturday, a visit from the Estonian National Symphony with Joyce Yang:

Pärt: Summa
Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Major, Op. 26
Sibelius: Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 43

Don't see how this can help but be fun.

It appeals to us, all right!  Near the end of the season we'll catch a near-doppelganger when MTT/SFS premieres a new piece by the young composer, Mason Bates, followed by Sibelius's 4th and Prokofiev's 2nd PC (with Yuja Wang).

Our program this Saturday is:

Ravel, Ma mère l'oye
Prokofiev, Vn Cto № 2 in G Minor, Opus 63
Stravinsky, Petrushka

Lisa Batiashvili, vn
Boston Symphony Orchestra
Charles Dutoit, guest conductor

Some great evenings ahead, gents!  David, a couple of months ago I got acquainted with Mason Bates's String Band, which he wrote for the Claremont Trio.  Here's what Bob Briggs says about it on MusicWeb:

"Mason Bates's String Band contains some good 'ole fiddling which becomes more sophisticated and turns into a very serious, and unusual, middle section, which, although it seems to have dropped in from another piece, is actually a very clever continuation of the opening music. The fiddling returns and the work ends somewhat enigmatically. This work is a real winner but it's not easy to grasp first time round, but after a few hearings you'll start to follow Bates's argument."

And Karl, that's a made-to-order program for Dutoit, definitely playing to his strengths.

Tomorrow night I'm hearing this concert by the group Either/Or.  Their performance last year of the two Lachenmann pieces got my vote for "Best Concert of 2008."

Richard Carrick: "á cause de soleil"-Flow Cycle String Trio Part 1 (2009, world premiere)
Chaya Czernowin: Sahaf (Drift) for electric guitar, piano, percussion, and saxophone (revised version, 2008)
Elizabeth Hoffman: Pathological Curves (2009, world premiere)
Helmut Lachenmann: String Quartet #3, GRIDO (2001/2)
Helmut Lachenmann: Salut für Caudwell for two guitarists (1977)

--Bruce

[DavidRoss]

Tomorrow night I'm hearing this concert by the group Either/Or.  Their performance last year of the two Lachenmann pieces got my vote for "Best Concert of 2008."

Richard Carrick: "á cause de soleil"-Flow Cycle String Trio Part 1 (2009, world premiere)
Chaya Czernowin: Sahaf (Drift) for electric guitar, piano, percussion, and saxophone (revised version, 2008)
Elizabeth Hoffman: Pathological Curves (2009, world premiere)
Helmut Lachenmann: String Quartet #3, GRIDO (2001/2)
Helmut Lachenmann: Salut für Caudwell for two guitarists (1977)

What?!  Don't you know that the concert-going public isn't interested in anything other than a handful of 19th Century warhorses?  Sounds like a great evening ahead, Bruce--hope you enjoy it as much as last year's.

[bhodges]

What?!  Don't you know that the concert-going public isn't interested in anything other than a handful of 19th Century warhorses?  Sounds like a great evening ahead, Bruce--hope you enjoy it as much as last year's.

   

--Bruce