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

[MishaK]

Wow, the CSO collaborating with Mouse on Mars--who would have thought?      

Yeah, my thoughts exactly, which is why I want to go. Kudos to our composers in residence Mason Bates and Anna Clyne for their creative programming.

[bhodges]

Yeah, my thoughts exactly, which is why I want to go. Kudos to our composers in residence Mason Bates and Anna Clyne for their creative programming.

Totally agree.  PS, Muti is doing a piece by Clyne on one of their three concerts here later in the spring--surprised, and pleased.

--Bruce

[MishaK]

Totally agree.  PS, Muti is doing a piece by Clyne on one of their three concerts here later in the spring--surprised, and pleased.

Well, he kinda has to since he picked the pair as composers in residence. I missed my earlier opportunities to hear the work of either one.

[bhodges]

Tomorrow night, this great-sounding concert by the Talea Ensemble:

Bent Sørensen: The Deserted Churchyards (1990)
Bent Sørensen: Funeral Procession (1989-90)
Hans Abrahamsen: Schnee (2006)

--Bruce

[Brian]

Tonight!

Franck | Symphony in D minor
Faure  | Requiem

London Philharmonic Chorus and Orchestra
Yannick Nezet-Seguin

My first classical concert of 2011;
my first encounter with Nezet-Seguin;
my first listen to the Faure Requiem!!

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Tonight!

Franck | Symphony in D minor
Faure  | Requiem

London Philharmonic Chorus and Orchestra
Yannick Nezet-Seguin

My first classical concert of 2011;
my first encounter with Nezet-Seguin;
my first listen to the Faure Requiem!!

Nice programme. Enjoy it!

[Sergeant Rock]

Tonight!

Franck | Symphony in D minor
Faure  | Requiem

Franck and Fauré...there's a duo I wouldn't have put together. Yes, interesting.

Sarge

[Brian]

Nice programme. Enjoy it!

Franck and Fauré...there's a duo I wouldn't have put together. Yes, interesting.

Sarge

The programme was actually the best part. White heat and bombast in the first half, meditative calm in the second. It worked really well.

It would have worked better with some more "white heat and bombast," though. Cesar Franck's D minor symphony is a piece I think of as excessive, hugely emotional, the kind of thing that responds really well to aggressive attacks, unabashed rubato, huge swells of lyrical sound. If the Franck symphony were a movie, you'd want Orson Welles, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, and Ingrid Bergman to be directed by Hitchcock (or Welles, duh).

Yannick Nezet-Seguin's conception is more like Gregory Peck in To Kill a Mockingbird: genial, attentive to detail, not ready to make a judgment until all the facts are in. So the first movement's eruptions were not very differentiated from the deep from which they came, but on the other hand, the second theme came across like a sunrise. Nezet-Seguin lingered over the various woodwind solos and got away with it because the LPO winds are fantastic. The only times when his laid-back cool-headedness really bothered me were the final chords of the outer movements, which were sustained too long. I'd rather have thunderclaps than nice cushiony thumps!

I'd never heard the Faure before, but found a lot to like. Gerald Finley and Sally Matthews were excellent soloists, the organ was lovely, and I really enjoyed many moments of Faure's account. I thought of Verdi often: the two Requiems (Requ...not even going to try and figure out the plural) are polar opposites, of course, and Faure's really seems very apt. Love the opening and its reprise in the Libera me. The LPO chorus were magnificent throughout, and the softer they get the more beautiful they sound - afterwards they got a huge roar of approval when the chorus master came out and had them take a bow.

So I did enjoy myself. It was a nice, enjoyable evening out. If the Franck were a CD, I'd have more likely than not panned it, but the London Philharmonic are always a joy to hear. I've also now had the immense pleasure of experiencing their choir twice. That said, not everybody had much positive to say about the night. The guy walking down the staircase next to me very emphatically said, "Absolutely dreadful. Bland as bland can be."

I mean, I'm not on the Yannick Nezet-Seguin bandwagon - he clearly is not a "youngster" on the level of V. Petrenko, Dudamel, V. Jurowski, or Alan Gilbert - but if I ever get that turned off by the LPO & Chorus, send me back to Texas!!

P.S. Screw being sad. At my funeral, if sacred music has to be played, it should be another work I've heard performed by the same musicians in the same hall (but with Neeme Jarvi, last fall): Dvorak's vivacious Te Deum!

[Brian]

I took a coupla artsy photos at the interval.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Thanks for the writeup, Brian, and the photos!


I agree with your idea of the Franck symphony - it needs passion, the music should boil, especially in the outer movements. When the conductor is too sober, the music may fall flat or, as the man said, be just bland. I have the same problem with Thomas Dausgaard, who simply is too level-headed in the music of Rued Langgaard. We don't need Brahmsian precision there, we need fire.


Glad you liked Fauré's Requiem. It's a lovely piece. Not much depth there, but much beauty. A bit like Rimsky's 'Sheherazade', in that respect. Butterflies.

[MDL]

Lots of Bartók knocking around the UK this year, but why did they call the series Infernal Dance, which would have been more appropriate for a Stravinsky festival?

First one this Thursday.


Béla Bartók: Kossuth
Béla Bartók: Piano Concerto No.1
Interval
Béla Bartók: The Miraculous Mandarin, complete

Esa-Pekka Salonen conductor

Yefim Bronfman piano
Philharmonia Orchestra
Philharmonia Voices


I've never heard Kossuth. Is it any good? Can somebody recommend a recording?

[MDL]

I'm kinda pissed off about this one, because originally the Miraculous Mandarin was supposed to be "semi-staged", on the basis of which I planned to to take along someone who probably mightn't make a great deal of the music without the visual representation.  Now I get a note from the RFH blithely informing me that after all they've decided to drop the staging and just present a straight concert - but not offering a refund, I notice. 

I got the same note, which came as a surprise because I hadn't been aware that it was meant to be staged. There's no mention of staging in the Infernal Dance brochure. Where did you get the dodgy info from?

[MDL]

"Semi-staged with puppets" was the description.

Ha, brilliant! It's a shame they're not going through with it. Sounds hilarious. Whatever next? The sock puppet Tristan und Isolde? 

I've got the Infernal Dance leaflet in front of me and can see no mention of puppets. Maybe my copy was from a different print run.

[Sid]

Just went to this one on the weekend:

Symphony in the Domain (open air concert as part of the Sydney Festival)
An evening with Shakespeare

John Bell, compere/narrator
Sydney Philharmonia Choirs
Sydney Symphony Orchestra
Brett Weymark, conductor

Nicolai - The Merry Wives of Windsor, overture
Walton - Henry V, a Shakespeare Scenario, highlights
(interval)
Mendelssohn - A Midsummer Night's Dream, overture
Prokofiev - Three pieces from Romeo & Juliet
Tchaikovsky - 1812 Overture - with cannons & fireworks!

A freind & I went to this concert under the stars. The weather was great & we took some wine & soft drink to have while we heard the beautiful music. We really enjoyed John Bell's narration of Henry V. He used his natural voice, and was quite understated and to the point without being dry. The St. Crispin's Day speech is such a rousing piece of rhetoric, one of the greatest political speeches of all time ("We few, we happy few, we band of brothers..."). It was also great to be able to chat and air-conduct during the pieces without breaking protocol - this was an open air concert after all. The audience was in their thousands, we were sitting at the back, but we got a glimpse of the large screens and the sound from the speakers was excellent. To end, the traditional "encore," Tchaikovsky's stirring 1812, complete with all the effects. A very enjoyable evening all round, and my first open air concert in nearly 20 years (my friend had never been to one of these ever)...

[bhodges]

Tonight:

St. Peter's Church
Timetable Percussion
Talujon

Gérard Grisey: Le Noir de l'Étoile (1989-90) -- Haven't heard this, but every Grisey piece I've encountered to date has been completely fascinating. This one is about an hour long, for six percussionists situated around the audience, plus tape and live electronics. The venue is a modern structure in the center of town, often used for music events.

--Bruce

[nigeld]

BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert series starting up again at LSO St Lukes on Thursday 10th Feb and the next seven Thursdays thereafter.

Highlight for me possibly Alina Ibragimova and Cedric Tiberghien on the 17th Feb

Ravel Sonata in G major for violin and piano
Lekeu Sonata in G major for violin and piano

£7 per ticket.  Now that's value!!

[karlhenning]

Saturday at Symphony Hall:

LIGETI
Double Concerto for flute and oboe (with BSO principals Elizabeth Rowe & Jn Ferrillo)
   
MOZART
Violin Concerto № 4 in D, K.218 (with Arabella Steinbacher)
   
DVOŘÁK
Symphony № 7

Guest conductor: Christoph von Dohnányi

[Jaakko Keskinen]

Wagner in National Opera of Finland:

9.4.2011: Parsifal. Singers include Esa Ruuttunen as Klingsor, Päivi Nisula as Kundry, still magnificent-voiced Matti Salminen as Gurnemanz, Michael Weinius as Parsifal, Petri Pussila as Titurel and Tommi Hakala as Amfortas.

August-September 2011: After a long pause Ring of the Nibelung returns. Some of the singers include: Norwegian singer Terje Stensvold  as Wotan, british Catherine Foster as Brünnhilde and  Matti Salminen as Hagen.

Can't wait!

[Wendell_E]

Sunday, January 30th
Mobile Chamber Music Society
Quatuor Diotima

Onslow: String Quartet no. 29 in d minor, op 55
Czernowin: Anea Crystal
Ravel: Quartet

If nothing else, it'll be fun watching the blue-haired ladies' heads explode during the Czenowin:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-eNtIZcYsk

[bhodges]

If nothing else, it'll be fun watching the blue-haired ladies' heads explode during the Czenowin:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-eNtIZcYsk

   

Wow, a very imaginative program! Do report back. (And on the detonating heads, as well.)

--Bruce