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

[jlaurson]

Reviewing the Rott concert (also attended by Sarge).


Ionarts-at-Large: Paavo Järvi Excites with Rott, Pahud Bores with Mozart
http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2010/04/ionarts-at-large-paavo-jarvi-excites.html

[Christo]

Tomorrow:

Miaskovsky Symphony 6 RFH London.

  (We're waiting for your review, of course.) 

[Sergeant Rock]

Reviewing the Rott concert (also attended by Sarge).


Ionarts-at-Large: Paavo Järvi Excites with Rott, Pahud Bores with Mozart
http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2010/04/ionarts-at-large-paavo-jarvi-excites.html

Really enjoyed your WETA article on ROTT too. The poem's last line is devastating, and I loved the allusion to SNL   

I agree about the Mozart (your quick comment as we parted at intermission to retake our seats was spot-on: "crushingly boring"). The fault of Mozart or Pahud? Equal partners in crime, I think. It's probably my least favorite Mozart work and Pahud did nothing to make me revise my opinion. Even the encore (a Gluck duo with the orchestra's first chair flute and former student of Pahud's) was a snooze.

I thought the first movement of the Rott superb...Paavo and the band raised goosebumps with that slow buildup to the movement's first climax. Thrilling. The slow movement too was nicely done. I have doubts about the Scherzo. I thought the initial tempo too fast--way too fast; it missed the rustic character I think Rott intended. The downshift into the Trio (if that section is called a trio in the score) was jarring because the tempo difference was so extreme. My exemplar here is Davies on CPO who gets it just right I think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcWEiH_uqQA&feature=related

If the recording of the Scherzo is like the concert it won't be my favorite interpretation but it will make a great alternative take, a very different one, to the versions we currently have.

I agree the last movement is fun, a riot...but I still think he could have used an editor. A bit more...well, a lot more dynamic contrast would help. It stays too loud too long. The music became quite oppressive live (at least where we were sitting, practically in the concertmaster's lap). I imagined the premature applause was a cry to "Please stop the noise...for god's sake, make it stop!"   Anyway, I find it an easier listen at home...and probably would have found it more congenial had we been in the balcony. But I'm glad I went...well, I wouldn't have missed it actually. Despite my doubts I remain a confirmed Rott fanboy.

Sarge

[MishaK]

This:

May 8th, 8pm
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Robert Chen, violin
Ludovic Morlot, conductor

Martinů  The Frescoes of Piero della Francesca 
Debussy  La mer 
Tchaikovsky  Violin Concerto

The original program was to have Chen (CSO concertmaster) play the Ligeti concerto. At some point early in the season the Tchaik substitution was made for no apparent reason. 

[jlaurson]

This:

May 8th, 8pm
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Robert Chen, violin
Ludovic Morlot, conductor

Martinů  The Frescoes of Piero della Francesca 
Debussy  La mer 
Tchaikovsky  Violin Concerto

The original program was to have Chen (CSO concertmaster) play the Ligeti concerto. At some point early in the season the Tchaik substitution was made for no apparent reason. 

Ticket sales, my friend.

[owlice]

Tonight with an old, dear friend (as in, someone I've known a long time, not someone who is older than I am), these works with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Alsop conducting:

Leshnoff, Starburst (world premiere)
Stravinsky Violin Concerto in D (Shaham)
Rachmaninoff Symphony #2

Leshnoff lives in Baltimore and teaches at a nearby university. Next year will see a number of new works from him, commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. He's composer-in-residence of the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, and Naxos will be issuing three CDs of his music. (One is already out, another is scheduled for release in November.) It's wonderful to see this excellent young composer getting the attention he so richly deserves.

[karlhenning]

Yoo-hoo, owlice!

What a great program!

[bhodges]

Monday night at the Guggenheim Museum:

Stockhausen: Oberlippentanz (Upper Lip Dance) from Licht (Light)
Stockhausen: Freude (Joy) from Klang (Sound) (U.S. premiere)

Matthew Harding, trumpet (from United States Marine Band)
Bridget Kibbey and June Han, harps

--Bruce

[owlice]

Hiya, Karl! It was a great program, and I look forward to getting a recording of Leshnoff whenever it might appear!

Bruce, it has been some years indeed since I have listened to any Stockhausen; must pull some off the shelf and revisit soon.

[listener]

Vancouver Symphony Orchestra  Kazuyoshi Akiyama conductor
Nicola Benedetti Violin

Oesterle   Perennials
Szymanowski Violin Concerto No. 1
Bruckner Symphony No. 4, Romantic

The Szymanowski is certainly a rarity, and it's a Benedetti specialty.   She seemed a little awed at the size of the auditorium - sound carries better that she expected, but the balance was right when the orchestra got going.  Definitely worth going out for.   The piece is  a bit like the 2nd movement of the Glière 3rd Symphony arranged by Scriabin or Sorabji.
The brass got through the Bruckner without mishap, he's not my favourite composer but a live performance is usually more interesting than a recorded one.  Something about the solidity of the sound that wakes up drowsers.

[jlaurson]

 Bruce territory:


Ionarts-at-Large: Munich Biennale

[karlhenning]

Hiya, Karl! It was a great program, and I look forward to getting a recording of Leshnoff whenever it might appear!

Possibly French by ancestry: Le Chnauffe ; )

[bhodges]

Monday night at the Guggenheim Museum:

Stockhausen: Oberlippentanz (Upper Lip Dance) from Licht (Light)
Stockhausen: Freude (Joy) from Klang (Sound) (U.S. premiere)

Matthew Harding, trumpet (from United States Marine Band)
Bridget Kibbey and June Han, harps

--Bruce

This turned out to be more fascinating than I expected, and even though I was a bit tired, I still enjoyed it.  Mr. Harding was terrific on trumpet, sometimes playing while kneeling, or lying on his back.  He wore a belt with containers carrying a variety of mutes for the instrument, producing a pretty wide range of sounds.  At one point he appeared to be exhaling and inhaling while depressing various valves, creating not one, but two different sounds of rushing air.

The two-harp piece was even more impressive (and about 40 minutes long).  The musicians also speak and sing (which they did very well), and again, Stockhausen creates an entire world of new sounds.  Just when you'd thought you'd heard everything the harp can do, here comes a piece like this.

Bruce territory:


Ionarts-at-Large: Munich Biennale

Thanks, Jens!  Three interesting evenings (if not entirely successful).  I would have especially loved to hear the Munich Philharmonic doing that Nono and Pesson--well, the whole concert, actually.  Don't know Thomalla at all.

--Bruce

[offbeat]

RFH May 8th
Beethoven Coriolan Overture
Schumann Piano Concerto
Beethoven Symphony 4
Philharmonia Orchestra/Ashkenazi/Sunwook Kim (piano)

Standard programme but first listen live to Beethoven 4 and also first at seeing Ashkenazi 

[bhodges]

For anyone in NYC, this Saturday is Symphony Space's annual day-long concert that begins at 11:00 am, and this year titled "Wall to Wall Behind the Wall."  Music is by Shostakovich, Lutoslawski, Prokofiev, Ustvolskaya, Tansman, Bacewicz and others--all with some excellent artists--and all free.

More info here:
http://www.symphonyspace.org/event/6005-wall-to-wall-behind-the-wall?source=homepage

--Bruce

[bhodges]

Tonight at Zankel Hall, pianist Nicolas Hodges (no relation to me) in this program:

Beethoven: Sonata No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 2, No. 1
Rzewski: Nanosonatas, Book 1
Dutilleux: Three Preludes
Schumann: Sonata No. 1

--Bruce

[bhodges]

Tonight at Zankel Hall, pianist Nicolas Hodges (no relation to me) in this program:

Beethoven: Sonata No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 2, No. 1
Rzewski: Nanosonatas, Book 1
Dutilleux: Three Preludes
Schumann: Sonata No. 1

--Bruce

An excellent recital last night, and with a very unusual encore by--of all people--Pascal Dusapin: Étude No. 4 (1998-99).

--Bruce

[jlaurson]

An excellent recital last night, and with a very unusual encore by--of all people--Pascal Dusapin: Étude No. 4 (1998-99).

--Bruce

Do you remember Nic Hodges from his swirling solo in Ferneyhough's "Shadowtime"?

[bhodges]

Do you remember Nic Hodges from his swirling solo in Ferneyhough's "Shadowtime"?

Yes, he was wonderful in that!  (Didn't much like the "opera," but oh well.)

--Bruce

[bhodges]

Tomorrow afternoon, and already salivating:

The MET Orchestra
Pierre Boulez, conductor
Deborah Polaski, soprano

Bartók: The Wooden Prince
Schoenberg: Erwartung

--Bruce