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

Started by Siedler, April 20, 2007, 05:34:10 PM

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Choo Choo

Quote from: toledobass on June 15, 2007, 09:10:10 PM
I've enjoyed lots of his stuff this year but he just butchered Rosenkavalier.

That's interesting.  One of the other options was W-M conducting Arabella at the Staatsoper.

The impression he gives me is of trying to create an exciting performance by stirring up activity, but how far that reaches below the surface, I'm not so sure.  I'm much less keen on his LPO Bruckner #5 than I was - in fact, my enthusiasm for it has declined in inverse proportion to my increasing fondness for this piece - and I thought his recording of #8 with the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra was, frankly, a pretty crude effort.

But the Clevelanders are a superb ensemble - and certainly know how to play Bruckner - so maybe (I'm hoping) the combination will be more positive.

toledobass

Quote from: Choo Choo on June 16, 2007, 02:41:37 AM
That's interesting.  One of the other options was W-M conducting Arabella at the Staatsoper.

The impression he gives me is of trying to create an exciting performance by stirring up activity, but how far that reaches below the surface, I'm not so sure.  I'm much less keen on his LPO Bruckner #5 than I was - in fact, my enthusiasm for it has declined in inverse proportion to my increasing fondness for this piece - and I thought his recording of #8 with the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra was, frankly, a pretty crude effort.

But the Clevelanders are a superb ensemble - and certainly know how to play Bruckner - so maybe (I'm hoping) the combination will be more positive.

Yes I think you are correct in your analysis of his conducting.  For me he gets into trouble when he doesn't allow the music to breath.  By constantly pushing to get to the next moment he misses the chance to let the line unfold and have a life.  That's why I've always thought he's done better when singers are on the stage but this recent Rosenkavalier has proved me wrong.  When things don't work in his interpretations I find him to be unlistenable,  but when things work well he creates some marvelous stuff.


Allan

Sergeant Rock

Quote from: toledobass on June 15, 2007, 09:10:10 PM
He always seems to take swifter tempos than most.  I've enjoyed lots of his stuff this year but he just butchered Rosenkavalier.

And he's to be the music director in Vienna?...oh my  ;D

Sarge
the phone rings and somebody says,
"hey, they made a movie about
Mahler, you ought to go see it.
he was as f*cked-up as you are."
                               --Charles Bukowski, "Mahler"

bhodges

Quote from: Choo Choo on June 16, 2007, 02:41:37 AM
But the Clevelanders are a superb ensemble - and certainly know how to play Bruckner - so maybe (I'm hoping) the combination will be more positive.

His Bruckner Fifth last fall with Cleveland (at Carnegie) was one of the best Bruckner performances I've ever heard.  Might just be his empathy with the piece, but I suspect there's more than that.  The LPO one that he recorded was (I hear) done when he really wasn't in synch with the group, but I think he and Cleveland are more on the same wavelength.

--Bruce

Papageno

Don Giovanni
Die Zauberflote
Enfuhrung aus dem Serail
Requiem - Mozart
Carmen
Tosca
Orfeo ed Euridice - Gluck
and some Schubert, Haydn and Mahler

sidoze

Quote from: Drasko on June 14, 2007, 05:00:54 PM
Then here's something for an appetiser:

Anton Bruckner: Symphonie Nr. 4 Es-dur
Aufnahme am 2. April 2004 beim Luzerner Osterfestival im Kultur- und
Kongresszentrum
Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks
Mariss Jansons
Digital Satellite broadcast
http://rapidshare.com/files/34614490/Jansons_Bru4.zip.001
http://rapidshare.com/files/34620769/Jansons_Bru4.zip.002.

OT: do you get these links from the Yahoo operashare group?

As for me, I'm not looking forward to any concerts. I looked through the Lucerne summer programme and the Bad Kissingen festival. Not for me this year. I'm going to hang out in Shoreditch instead. Now that's a class name.  8)

Drasko

Quote from: sidoze on June 16, 2007, 01:16:13 PM
OT: do you get these links from the Yahoo operashare group?

They probably come from there but I just picked that up reposted at rmcr

Novi

Quote from: Lilas Pastia on June 12, 2007, 05:09:23 AM
Yesterday night  was the closing concert of Montreal's Orchestre métropolitain and they chose the Mahler 6th to end their season. Young maestro Yannick Nézet-Séguin gave a short but highly informative comment on the work. They played it without any filler and it lasted about 80 minutes. First movement exposition repeat was observed, and the andante was placed second. This was a very interesting departure from the usual movement order. Although I'm familiar with it (can be programmed that way on any recording), hearing it live brought a different slant on the work's architecture and tonal/emotional picture.  Now that I've heard it, I must say I prefer  the standard order (Scherzo-Andante).

Overall I'd say it was a truly magnificent presentation. Some sections of the orchestra (brass esp.) clearly outclass the more famous MSO band. Both conductor and orchestra play as men and women possessed, in total contrast with the boring and lackluster Nagano-MSO concerts. The orchestra's tonal palette is much more european than the clearer, more refined MSO. They play with plenty of warmth and colour, and a compactness of ensemble sound that  makes it sound a lot like the BSO. Nézet-Séguin has interesting ideas about the work. He presents a supercharged yet clear-headed view of the "Tragic", with no eccentricities.  Cellos and esp. double basses dig into their lines with a ferocity that brought a startling clarity and depth to the tonal foundation of the work. Yes, the hammerblows were powerfully done, but more importantly, the whole orchestra erupted with startling power at the crucial moments (end of I, climax of the Andante, and the whole second part of the Finale). I've heard the 6th about a hundred times on records and yet Mahler's punches to the solar plexus still came out of nowhere with tremendous power.

Some scrambling and confusion in the fugal portions of the last movement was noticeable, but better that shortlived blot than a whole evening of soulless professionalism. Clearly the OMGM is edging out the MSO in excitment and visceral commitment, and they're not far behind in corporate excellence. Nézet-Séguin is a real dynamo on the podium. Barely 30 years old, his charming and unassuming demeanor (he's barely 5'3") conceal a bundle of energy and a startling sense of hitting a work's 'hot buttons' with unerring precision and flair. If he's guest conducting in your area, don't miss him!

Thanks for the review - sounds like it was phenomenal. Nézet-Séguin guest conducted here a few months earlier, but unfortunately, I couldn't make it that night. He got great reviews though, and yours is a pretty high endorsement, so I'm keen to see him when he comes again the next season.

Incidentally, I'm a scherzo-andante person too. I find the scherzo follows on quite naturally from the 1st movement and the andante softens you up for the 'pow' of the finale :).

Everyone seems to be going to great concerts. Is Edinburgh the only town on a summer hiatus ???? There doesn't seem to be anything on until the Festival in August :-\.
Durch alle Töne tönet
Im bunten Erdentraum
Ein leiser Ton gezogen
Für den der heimlich lauschet.

Sergeant Rock

Reading next season's schedule at the Gewandhaus, I noticed these concerts in the Grosser Saal, one on Saturday, one Sunday, first weekend in May: We're there!

Alban Berg Quartet

Haydn Op.77/1
Berg SQ3
Beethoven Op.132


MDR SO, conducted by Stefan Solyom

Sibelius En Saga
Sibelius VC
Shostakovich 10


Sarge
the phone rings and somebody says,
"hey, they made a movie about
Mahler, you ought to go see it.
he was as f*cked-up as you are."
                               --Charles Bukowski, "Mahler"

bhodges

This coming Saturday, Lorin Maazel and the New York Philharmonic, with Deborah Voigt, in a program that looks like it could be a winner.  "Befreit" is one of my favorite Strauss songs.

R. Strauss: "Befreit," "Lied der Frauen," "Morgen!," "Frühlingsfeier"
Mahler: Symphony No. 7

--Bruce

Sergeant Rock

Quote from: bhodges on June 19, 2007, 08:57:01 AM
This coming Saturday, Lorin Maazel and the New York Philharmonic, with Deborah Voigt, in a program that looks like it could be a winner.  "Befreit" is one of my favorite Strauss songs.

R. Strauss: "Befreit," "Lied der Frauen," "Morgen!," "Frühlingsfeier"
Mahler: Symphony No. 7

--Bruce

Maazel used to play the Mahler 7 almost like Klemperer...at least the outer movements. I wonder if he still does. Take a stop watch, Bruce, and let me know, will ya?  ;D

Sarge
the phone rings and somebody says,
"hey, they made a movie about
Mahler, you ought to go see it.
he was as f*cked-up as you are."
                               --Charles Bukowski, "Mahler"

Choo Choo

Quote from: Sergeant Rock on June 19, 2007, 04:45:03 AM
Reading next season's schedule at the Gewandhaus, I noticed these concerts in the Grosser Saal, one on Saturday, one Sunday, first weekend in May: We're there!

Alban Berg Quartet

Haydn Op.77/1
Berg SQ3
Beethoven Op.132


MDR SO, conducted by Stefan Solyom

Sibelius En Saga
Sibelius VC
Shostakovich 10

Interesting.  I've been trying to put together a Leipzig/Dresden week of events for a long time now - and thought I had one in May this year ... until the Gewandhaus changed the programme late in the day from Bruckner #6 to Schmidt #2 (MDRSO again - fine band.)  Must have another look for next year.

karlhenning

Quote from: Sergeant Rock on June 19, 2007, 09:08:20 AM
Maazel used to play the Mahler 7 almost like Klemperer...at least the outer movements. I wonder if he still does. Take a stop watch, Bruce, and let me know, will ya?  ;D

One BSO concert, I was following along in a score while they played the Schoenberg Chamber Symphony No. 1, something music students have been doing, oh, about since the days of Berlioz — following live music with score in hand, I mean, not listening to Schoenberg  0:)

At the interval, an usher told me I couldn't do that, somebody or other found it "distracting."  I forebore to offer any retort, since I was not going to follow a score through the Beethoven Opus 125 anyway.

I can inly imagine what the usher would have had to say, if I had brandished a stopwatch in Symphony Hall8)

bhodges

Quote from: Sergeant Rock on June 19, 2007, 09:08:20 AM
Maazel used to play the Mahler 7 almost like Klemperer...at least the outer movements. I wonder if he still does. Take a stop watch, Bruce, and let me know, will ya?  ;D

Sarge

;D  I'll see if I can come up with some timings.  (PS, I don't think I've heard Klemperer's Seventh...worth it?  I love the piece...fave recordings are Abbado's, both of them, and Chailly.)

I have (perhaps surprisingly) really, really enjoyed Maazel's Mahler over the last few years.  His First was incredible, one of the best I've ever heard of that piece, and his Fifth and Sixth were quite good, too.

PS, sorry meant to comment: it's a year off, but both of those concerts in Leipzig sound great.

--Bruce

Solitary Wanderer

#154
Quote from: bhodges on June 15, 2007, 01:23:26 PM
I hope people were energized by the Nielsen and want to hear more!  He seems very underplayed in the United States: I've heard the Helios once, I think, and the symphony maybe once, too.  (And that symphony is the most popular of the six.)

Thanks for that great report.

--Bruce

Heres the review from the NZ Herald
'I lingered round them, under that benign sky: watched the moths fluttering among the heath and harebells, listened to the soft wind breathing through the grass, and wondered how any one could ever imagine unquiet slumbers for the sleepers in that quiet earth.' ~ Emily Bronte

Sergeant Rock

Quote from: karlhenning on June 19, 2007, 09:16:23 AM
I can inly imagine what the usher would have had to say, if I had brandished a stopwatch in Symphony Hall8)

Yes, the score on your lap, stopwatch in one hand, baton in the other, front row center  ;D

Sarge
the phone rings and somebody says,
"hey, they made a movie about
Mahler, you ought to go see it.
he was as f*cked-up as you are."
                               --Charles Bukowski, "Mahler"

Sergeant Rock

Quote from: Choo Choo on June 19, 2007, 09:14:50 AM
Interesting.  I've been trying to put together a Leipzig/Dresden week of events for a long time now - and thought I had one in May this year ... until the Gewandhaus changed the programme late in the day from Bruckner #6 to Schmidt #2 (MDRSO again - fine band.)  Must have another look for next year.

Yes, we do that too. Both Berlin and Dresden are close to Leipzig, making it easy to see concerts in two or three cities over a week's holiday.

Sarge
the phone rings and somebody says,
"hey, they made a movie about
Mahler, you ought to go see it.
he was as f*cked-up as you are."
                               --Charles Bukowski, "Mahler"

Sergeant Rock

#157
Quote from: bhodges on June 19, 2007, 09:22:08 AM
PS, I don't think I've heard Klemperer's Seventh...worth it?

Uh...it's such an individual, even eccentric reading, I can't answer that for you. I love it--it actually is my favorite version--but really slow, glacial tempos don't bother me. I have infinite patience ;D

Klemp was very near the end when he recorded the Seventh. Ensemble is scrappy (they probably had trouble following his beat). After the slow introduction he launches the Allegro at exactly the same tempo! and maintains that slow pace until the end. It can seem interminable. One needs to set aside an entire afternoon for this movement...at least it can feel like that ;D

The first Nachtmusik, though, is just....perfect. Again, very slow, and at this speed the music becomes almost pointilistic; it reminds me of Webern. It really does appear to be staring into the future. The second Nachtmusik is really lovely; nothing weird about it and features the trademark Klemperer transparency and detail. He captures the music's atmosphere perfectly, I think. The Rondo-Finale is again very slow. Maazel, no speed demon, takes a little over 20 minutes in his Vienna recording. Klemp takes more than 24. Surely too slow but I think it's fascinating...and I love the way this speed emphasizes that sudden descent, that dark, hesitant moment that occurs just before the blazing, triumphant final notes.

Of course YMMV

Sarge
the phone rings and somebody says,
"hey, they made a movie about
Mahler, you ought to go see it.
he was as f*cked-up as you are."
                               --Charles Bukowski, "Mahler"

Sergeant Rock

#158
More long range planning. BASF sent me the schedule for all concerts that will take place in the firm's Feierabendhaus during the 2007-08 season. The most exciting recital, at least the one I'm looking forward to the most, will take place in March: Grigory Sokolov returning to Ludwigshafen. Program has not yet been announced.

Chamber music includes the Elgar Violin Sonata...never heard that live before. Some of the string quartets in the lineup:

Leipzig: Mendelssohn #4 E minor
            Piazzola Four for Tango
            Schulhof Five Pieces for String Quartet
            Shostakovich 8 C minor     

Auryn:   Haydn D major op.76/6
            Widmann Fantasia for Clarinet solo
            Widmann "Jagdquartett" String Quartet #3 (2003)
            Mozart Clarinett Quintet

Gewandhaus:  two different concerts and programs in one day, combining Romantic and Contempory music for string quartet


Some may remember the abbreviations thread at the old forum. My local band is a pain to spell out (Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz) and there is no satisfactory abbreviation that people recognize. The situation has just gotten worse. They've changed their name to:

Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz

I guess the first name wasn't long enough. Mrs. Rock said they were forced to change their name to avoid confusion with the equally famous Polish Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz at Cracow.

Anyway, the DSPR-P's conductor, Ari Rasailainen, continues to program an interesting variety of musc; this year perhaps a tad more on the beaten path than usual. Concerts include:

Bartok PC 3 with Radu Lupu
Bruckner 9

Sibelius Swan of Tuonela
Strauss - Four Last Songs with Christine Oelze
Tchaikovsky - Symphony #6

Penderecki - Concerto Grosso for 3 cellos and orchestra
Shostakovich - Symphony #15
(this is going to be wildly popular with the bald and blue-hairs  ;D )

Bach/Webern - Ricercare
Berg - VC
Brahms - Symphony 4

Debussy - La Mer
Mozart - PC 27
Schumann - Symphony #3


Sarge

the phone rings and somebody says,
"hey, they made a movie about
Mahler, you ought to go see it.
he was as f*cked-up as you are."
                               --Charles Bukowski, "Mahler"

karlhenning

Quote from: Sergeant Rock on June 28, 2007, 06:58:42 AM
Penderecki - Concerto Grosso for 3 cellos and orchestra
Shostakovich - Symphony #15
(this is going to be wildly popular with the bald and blue-hairs  ;D )

They'll be able to tap along with the Rossini quotations, eh?