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

[MishaK]

Tonight, the first of ten Mahler concerts at Carnegie with the Staatskapelle Berlin--all the symphonies in sequence, with some of the song cycles--with Barenboim and Boulez alternating conducting duties. 

Staatskapelle Berlin
Daniel Barenboim, Music Director and Conductor
Thomas Quasthoff, Bass-Baritone

Mahler: Kindertotenlieder
Mahler: Symphony No. 1 

--Bruce

I am so jealous that I can't be in NY. My wife will be there for the 5th this Saturday.

[secondwind]

Tonight, the first of ten Mahler concerts at Carnegie with the Staatskapelle Berlin--all the symphonies in sequence, with some of the song cycles--with Barenboim and Boulez alternating conducting duties. 

Staatskapelle Berlin
Daniel Barenboim, Music Director and Conductor
Thomas Quasthoff, Bass-Baritone

Mahler: Kindertotenlieder
Mahler: Symphony No. 1 

W-O-W

Are you going to all 10?

[Bunny]

Tonight, the first of ten Mahler concerts at Carnegie with the Staatskapelle Berlin--all the symphonies in sequence, with some of the song cycles--with Barenboim and Boulez alternating conducting duties. 

Staatskapelle Berlin
Daniel Barenboim, Music Director and Conductor
Thomas Quasthoff, Bass-Baritone

Mahler: Kindertotenlieder
Mahler: Symphony No. 1 

--Bruce

     

Looking forward to tonight as well; and to-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow...  (and not at a creeping, petty, pace either).

[bhodges]

W-O-W

Are you going to all 10?

That would be an "affirmative"!     (I know, I'm a nut.)

Bunny, are you going to all of them, too?

--Bruce

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Can you spell E N V Y ? 

I can... 

[Bunny]

That would be an "affirmative"!     (I know, I'm a nut.)

Bunny, are you going to all of them, too?

--Bruce

Of course!  What would be the point of not going to them all?  Besides, I already had 2 concerts through my subscriptions so it was just a matter of filling in (if you can call it that when 8 concerts are the "fillers." )

[Bunny]

Great, great, start to the Mahler Cycle.

Quasthoff was magnificent in Kindertotenlieder

Barenboim conducted the mother of all Mahler 1sts.

Audience on their feet, couldn't stop the applause. 

Magnificent evening.

[mahler10th]

Great, great, start to the Mahler Cycle.

Quasthoff was magnificent in Kindertotenlieder

Barenboim conducted the mother of all Mahler 1sts.

Audience on their feet, couldn't stop the applause. 

Magnificent evening.

Just for one night, I wish I was you.
Barenboim doen't mess around, does he?  Congratulations on witnessing a wonderful performance.

[MishaK]

Quasthoff was magnificent in Kindertotenlieder

I heard Quasthoff twice in Kindertotenlieder. That man is a force of nature. After hearing him it's not until intermission that you realize that you in fact *did not* just lose all your loved ones.

[Bunny]

Just for one night, I wish I was you.
Barenboim doen't mess around, does he?  Congratulations on witnessing a wonderful performance.

I feel guilty saying thank you.  The congratulations and thanks really should go to Barenboim, the SK Berlin and Quasthoff.  I was just lucky to have subscribed.  In the garage after the concert, picking up our car, everyone on the line was marveling at the brilliance of the evening.  The woman standing ahead of us in the line turned, and said that she had been to many concerts in her life, but this was a very special evening.  Was it the best Mahler 1st even conducted? Who can tell?  Was it absolutely brilliant "theater"?  Absolutely.  Barenboim knows how to open a work, how to close a climax (he was jumping all over the podium at the end; it looked like he was trying to physically lift the orchestra into another dimension); and he kept everything interesting.  The introduction of the second theme in the first movement sounded so "new" that I couldn't believe that I was listening to a work I had heard so many times over the years.  The Klezmer themes had just the right touch of satirical nostalgia.  I was filled with wonder at the genius of the composer, and for a short, brief second, I felt as if Mahler's ghost had suddenly come down to posess Barenboim's body. 

I heard Quasthoff twice in Kindertotenlieder. That man is a force of nature. After hearing him it's not until intermission that you realize that you in fact *did not* just lose all your loved ones.

I've heard Quasthoff before, most notably singing Das Lied von der Erde, but this was really a special evening.  He was in great voice, the accompaniment was exactly right, and I think everyone in the hall knew that it was out of the ordinary.  Last night everything came together in just the perfect synergy of talents.  I can only hope that the next concerts in the series (including Quasthoff singing the Ruckert Lieder on Sunday) come close.  I was close to tears as he sang and I suspect many in the audience were also profoundly moved.  You know that there's something going on when the applause comes in late.  Last night after Quasthoff stopped singing, you could have heard a pin drop in Stern Hall, and then just one set of hands clapping.  That released everyone to start the applause.  I'm sorry that enthusiastic listener broke the spell, but I'm glad that someone reminded us to show our appreciation.

PS. I'd like to give a special thanks to Sergeant Rock who posted about this series in Berlin.  I wouldn't have been aware of how great it could be without his post.  And Sarge, I'll be sure to make the Sunday concerts (also at 2pm) and I'll be sure not to miss Symphony No. 6.  I only wish you could fly to NY to hear it with us.

[Bunny]

I'm looking forward to tonight:

Mahler: Symphony No. 2 "Resurrection"
Staatskapelle Berlin
Pierre Boulez, Conductor
Eberhard Friedrich, Chorus Director
Dorothea Röschmann, Soprano
Michelle DeYoung, Mezzo-Soprano
Westminster Symphonic Choir
Joe Miller, Conductor

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Great review, Bunny! Thank you.

[bhodges]

I will echo Bunny's comments: it was quite a special evening.  And although I'm not quite a huge Barenboim fan (yet), there was something going on last night that made spellbinding listening.  I don't think I've ever heard the First played quite like that.  (More in a later review.)

And Quasthoff really is something else.  It still amazes me, the contrast between his physical self and the sounds that emerge.  The friend with me had never seen him before and could hardly believe what he was hearing.

--Bruce

[Bunny]

I will echo Bunny's comments: it was quite a special evening.  And although I'm not quite a huge Barenboim fan (yet), there was something going on last night that made spellbinding listening.  I don't think I've ever heard the First played quite like that.  (More in a later review.)

And Quasthoff really is something else.  It still amazes me, the contrast between his physical self and the sounds that emerge.  The friend with me had never seen him before and could hardly believe what he was hearing.

--Bruce

Quasthoff is amazing.  I don't really see "him" on the stage anymore.  I only see his voice.

[AB68]

Tonight-
Radu Lupu, piano
Beethoven Sonatas op. 14, nos1 & 2 and op.13
Schubert Sonata no.21 D 960.

[Bunny]

Tonight-
Radu Lupu, piano
Beethoven Sonatas op. 14, nos1 & 2 and op.13
Schubert Sonata no.21 D 960.

I love Radu!  I love the way he sprawls on a bridge chair in front of the keyboard, the way his arms extend to embrace the piano, and the colors that he elicits from the ubiquitous Steinway D.  And especially, I love his Schubert. The D960!  Lucky, lucky you.

[Bunny]

I'm looking forward to tonight:

Mahler: Symphony No. 2 "Resurrection"
Staatskapelle Berlin
Pierre Boulez, Conductor
Eberhard Friedrich, Chorus Director
Dorothea Röschmann, Soprano
Michelle DeYoung, Mezzo-Soprano
Westminster Symphonic Choir
Joe Miller, Conductor

Last night's concert was very different from the first.  Where Barenboim was a passionate and impetuous suitor, seducing an emotional response from the musicians and the audience; Boulez was like a lawyer who argues so brilliantly that intellectually you want to see things his way.  For this Mahler 2nd, the emotions were checked at the door.  Perhaps the performance was closer to the score -- no playing around with tempos allowed here -- but it was also degrees cooler than Barenboim's fervid heat.  Michelle DeYoung was excellent, and Dorothea Röschmann had no problems handling the highs, her voice easily soaring above the orchestra and chorus.  However, not only was the performance very cold and calculated, but it didn't allow the symphony to grow and breathe: it didn't grow organically.  I expected the longish pause after the first movement, Mahler called for that.  However, I think Boulez missed a trick when he allowed everything to grind to a halt at the end of the second movement in order to allow the soloists to enter, and again at the end of the third movement, with some clatter on stage rather than letting the last notes of the third movement melt into the Urlicht.  That stood out as the least well thought out pause, and something that I would not have expected in so controlled a performance.  And that really says it all: it was a very controlled performance and each movement was just that: the next movement.  Was it good, well played music?  I don't doubt that it was.  But was it good theater?  No.  That spark that lifts performances of Mahler into that realm of glory was, for me, frozen into an icicle that merely melted away rather than igniting.  I was not completely dissatisfied, but I felt like a diner who expects a feast only to find the smallest portions on the plate.

[Bunny]

Tonight:

Mahler: Symphony No. 3 in D minor

Staatskapelle Berlin
Pierre Boulez, Conductor
Eberhard Friedrich, Chorus Director
Michelle DeYoung, Mezzo-Soprano
Women of the Westminster Symphonic Choir
Joe Miller, Conductor
The American Boychoir
Fernando Malvar-Ruiz, Music Director

My fingers are crossed!

[ChamberNut]

Tonight:

Mahler: Symphony No. 3 in D minor

Staatskapelle Berlin
Pierre Boulez, Conductor
Eberhard Friedrich, Chorus Director
Michelle DeYoung, Mezzo-Soprano
Women of the Westminster Symphonic Choir
Joe Miller, Conductor
The American Boychoir
Fernando Malvar-Ruiz, Music Director

My fingers are crossed!

How was the 3rd, Bunny? 

[bhodges]

(I'm not Bunny, but... )

The Third (as well as the Fourth the next night) seemed to fare better than the Second, which doesn't seem to be in synch with Boulez's temperament at all.  But the Third seemed a fairly good match; I thought the outer two movements were the best of the evening.  VERY fine work from Michelle DeYoung, who has just sounded splendid so far (along with Thomas Quasthoff and Dorothea Röschmann).  The orchestra was still struggling a bit, with some bobbles here and there.  (Someone suggested that jet-lag may have been a factor, which I'd be inclined to allow, since they seem to be getting better with each concert.  Few musicians would be at their best, playing at the equivalent of 4:00 in the morning!)

If I were to judge solely on audience reaction, Barenboim's Fifth yesterday afternoon may have won the prize (so far).  Although one could nitpick about tempi and some balances, it was a very exciting, visceral performance.

--Bruce