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

[Opus106]

Deutsche Philharmonie Merck
Heinrik Wiese, flute
Wolfgang Heinzel

CONCERT
    * Ludwig van Beethoven - Leonore Ouverture no 3
    * Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Concerto for flute and orchestra no 2 in D major
    * Johannes Brahms -Symphony no 3 in F major

And I'm back from the performance by the Pharmaceutical Philharmonic. Despite the odd disinterested person sitting around me, it was an evening to remember, and the best part of it: an announcer, a well-known pianist of the city, who briefly explained to the audience about the pieces and about the movement structure! (Not in a condescending manner of course, but as a suggestion to better appreciate the contrasts between the movements.) It worked to some extent, but as people kept flooding in even after half the concert was over there were some who still clapped awkwardly in the Brahms.

Compared to my last orchestral concert, this time I felt the orchestra's sound to have more bite in it and were quite loud where required. The venue was the same, although the repertoire entirely different, and add to that a memory seven months old, so it isn't the most objective comparison... but, there it is.

The conductor, once an assistant to Celibidache and thankfully not quite cast in the "same mould" , began proceedings with both the Indian and German national anthems (what with this concert being part of a year-long celebration of Indo-German ties). Then came the Beethoven. I thought the beginning was a little higgledy-piggledy, but I must confess that I'm not entirely familiar with the Leonore overtures, but he steered the ship fairly well towards the end. Up next was the delightful Mozart concerto. Wiese, a former principal flautist of the BRSO, I found had a sweet tone and kept the audience (or at least me! ) in utter awe and silence during the middle movement. For an encore, he played the opening of Act 3 from Aida, a new piece of music to me.

Finally time came for the pièce de résistance: Brahm's 3rd symphony. Yes, it's not the 4th, but it was one of those works, more specifically a movement within it (III), which made me like Brahms more at a time when I really didn't like any of it. Now that I like so many other moments in the symphony -- the brass, the opening that surges and the little waltz-like section in the first movement, the entire third movement, and the energy in the opening of the fourth, to name a few -- to finally hear them all live was a riveting experience which I'll likely not forget for a long time.

After the Brahms and loud applause and cheer, Herr Heinzel took a few moments to speak appreciatively of the audience. The orchestra, in its third visit to the country, has been city-hopping during the past week, with concerts yesterday and the day before, with the final stop at Chennai today. And after that the encores followed. Brahms 1st Hungarian Dance. He came back to the mic. again and said that he would play another one if we wanted to. I don't know what came over me, but I immediately shouted out "Number five!", as did a few others in support. He looked up roughly in the area where I was sitting and said, "Number five? Awesome.", turned around and stirred the crowd into a frenzy with that perennial favourite! Wanting to bring the concert to a close with something "fine" [his word], he followed that with Strauss' Pizzicato Polka. The crowd that had gathered, already overflowing into the aisles, made sure to let the visiting orchestra know that their performance was a thoroughly enjoyable and enriching experience and that another visit would be more than welcome.

[bhodges]

And I'm back from the performance by the Pharmaceutical Philharmonic.

...

I don't know what came over me, but I immediately shouted out "No. 5!", as did a few others in support. He looked up roughly in the area where I was sitting and said, "No. 5? Awesome.", turned around and stirred the crowd into a frenzy with that perennial favourite!

Just my two favorite bits of your nice write-up. Sounds like a really fun evening, including your encore shout-out!

--Bruce

[Opus106]

Just my two favorite bits of your nice write-up. Sounds like a really fun evening, including your encore shout-out!

--Bruce

Indeed. And it was really nice of them to oblige.

[bhodges]

That reminds me of a very fine Mahler First Symphony performance a few years back. When the cheering died down, the conductor (maybe David Robertson?) asked the audience, "How about an encore?" and someone yelled back, "Mahler 2!"

(Needless to say, that request was not honored.  )

--Bruce

[Opus106]

That reminds me of a very fine Mahler First Symphony performance a few years back. When the cheering died down, the conductor (maybe David Robertson?) asked the audience, "How about an encore?" and someone yelled back, "Mahler 2!"

--Bruce

[Papy Oli]

Great write-up, Navneeth !

[MishaK]

Looks like I'll be leaving Minneapolis sooner than expected, so I'll end up missing this.

Minnesota Orchestra
Osmo Vänskä, conductor
Simone Dinnerstein, piano

Milhaud La Création du monde
Ravel Piano Concerto in G major
Strauss Ein Heldenleben

Oh well...

[Mirror Image]

Looks like I'll be leaving Minneapolis sooner than expected, so I'll end up missing this.

Oh well...

Yeah, I'm kind of unsure how Vanksa would do in this repertoire anyway. He could probably pull off the Milhaud and Strauss, but I doubt he could do much with the Ravel. The central movement to Ravel's Piano Concerto in G is extremely difficult to perform successfully. I can't tell you how many terrible performances I've heard of it. It takes a very special conductor/soloist to make this work swing.

[bhodges]

Minnesota Orchestra
Osmo Vänskä, conductor
Simone Dinnerstein, piano

Milhaud La Création du monde
Ravel Piano Concerto in G major
Strauss Ein Heldenleben

Too bad you had to miss this. Vänskä and the ensemble are on a roll these days, turning out some terrific performances. I'm hearing them later this month in this program:

Tchaikovsky: Voyevoda Overture, Op. 3
Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1 (with Stephen Hough, pianist)
Nielsen: Symphony No. 3, "Sinfonia espansiva"

Tonight:

Talea Ensemble
Mannes Concert Hall

Aperghis: Triangle Carré (1989)
Boulez: Le Marteau sans maître (1955)

--Bruce

Wow, this was some concert! I suspected the Boulez would be excellent (it was) but the Aperghis was the big surprise - and judging from the audience response, I wasn't the only one who found it an arresting piece. It's for a really odd combo - percussion trio and string quartet - and as someone said, it sounds like two different pieces being played simultaneously. The percussionists have quite an array of stuff - including melodicas! - and they also vocalize what sound like nonsense syllables.

--Bruce

[Coco]

I wonder if the ICE concert is the same one they're doing here (at Miller Theatre) in May - and it looks like Aperghis will be on the premises, too!

Tony Arnold, soprano
Ludovic Morlot, conductor
Georges Aperghis, composer
International Contemporary Ensemble

A Shot in the Dark (2011, world premiere)
The Iliad and the Odyssey (2009)
Teeter-Totter (2008)
Simulacre II (1994)
Signaux (1978)

--Bruce

It is (for the most part): http://iceorg.org/events/event/music-of-aperghis-and-french-icelab-composers

the Aperghis was the big surprise - and judging from the audience response, I wasn't the only one who found it an arresting piece. It's for a really odd combo - percussion trio and string quartet - and as someone said, it sounds like two different pieces being played simultaneously. The percussionists have quite an array of stuff - including melodicas! - and they also vocalize what sound like nonsense syllables.

Now I need to finally listen to that Arditti From France disc.

[bhodges]

Tonight:

Vocal Triple Bill
Issue Project Room
Brooklyn

Ascoli Ensemble
Ergodos Musicians
Ekmeles

Medieval vocal music (TBA)

New Irish music (TBA)

Peter Ablinger: Studien nach der Natur
Pascal Dusapin: Two Walking
Johannes Schöllhorn: Madrigali a Dio
James Tenney: Hey when I sing... & Rose Round

Ekmeles:

Mary Mackenzie, soprano
Lucy Shelton, soprano
Eric Brenner, countertenor
Matthew Hensrud, tenor
Jeffrey Gavett, baritone
Steve Hrycelak, bass

--Bruce

[North Star]

On Friday:

Risto Lauriala, piano

Bach-Siloti: Prelude BWV 535 in g minor, Ciaconna
Beethoven: Piano Sonata no. 32 in C minor, Op.111
---------------------------------------------------------------
Liszt: Selections from Harmonies poétiques et religieuses
Chopin: Scherzo No. 3 in C# minor
Waltz No. 7 in C sharp minor, Op. 64/2

Encores:
Schumann-Liszt: Widmung
Schubert: Impromptus, D. 899 (Op. 90), No. 4

Excellent playing apart from a small memory lapse in the sonata, but the acoustics were horrible in the hall.

[listener]

 Feb.25 next, the Vanvouver Symphony (or part of it - they're also playing Mozart Sym.41 and a piano concerto elsewhere that night):
Magnus Lindberg : Jubilees
Jose Evangelista : O Bali
Franco Donatoni : Spiri
Louis Andriessen : Workers Union

[MishaK]

OK, since I got cheated out of the Minneapolis performance and had little work to do last Friday, I spontaneously went to a matinee performance of this:

Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Riccardo Muti, conductor
Gerhard Oppitz, piano

Sinigaglia  Overture to Le baruffe chiozzotte 
Mendelssohn  Symphony No. 4 (Italian) 
Martucci  Piano Concerto No. 2
Busoni   Berceuse élégiaque 
Bossi  Intermezzi Goldoniani 

This program was Muti's tribute to Mahler. Since it's the centennial of Mahler's death and Muti is not much of a Mahlerian, Muti decided to celebrate Mahler the conductor instead. This program happens to be a recreation of the very last concert Mahler conducted in New York before he boarded a ship to go back to Europe to die. It also just happens to feature a few eclectic, nearly forgotten Italian pieces, which Muti has conducted before and which are totally up his alley. In the vein of the programming of the time, this is by current standards an overlong program (started at 1:30pm and ended at 3:50pm with intermission after the Mendelssohn), and that is even though Muti cut two of the six movements of the Bossi, all of which Mahler originally performed. The Sinigaglia, Busoni and Bossi were fun and all, but to me the highlight was the Martucci. Had never heard this guy's work before and very much liked the Brahmsian vein. Not revolutionary by any means, but superb craftsmanship. I immediately ordered the complete Martucci orchestral works set on Brilliant.    The Mendelssohn was a big disappointment. Dull as beige sawdust. It was as if the orchestra was trying to soar out of the gates in the outer two movements, but Muti reined them in unnecessarily, resulting in a rather plodding forward motion.

[JerryS]

I'll be at the Majestic Theater Friday night when the San Antonio Symphony begins the classical season:

Barber: The School for Scandal Overture
Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2
Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 1  (Alexander Gravylyuk, piano)
Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade


Like so many orchestras, the San Antonio Symphony is having financial troubles again. The musicians could not accept the management's latest contract offer, so the season is starting without a contract.

[springrite]

This weekend in Los Angeles:

A work by Vivier
Bartok PC 3
Tchaikovsky Symphony #5

Bronfman/Dudamel/LA Phil

I left LA after 22 years just before Disney Hall opened. So this will be my vey first concert at DH, and my first experience with the music-making of Salonen's handpicked successor!

[bhodges]

Feb.25 next, the Vanvouver Symphony (or part of it - they're also playing Mozart Sym.41 and a piano concerto elsewhere that night):
Magnus Lindberg : Jubilees
Jose Evangelista : O Bali
Franco Donatoni : Spiri
Louis Andriessen : Workers Union

This looks fantastic; I would love to hear a big orchestra play the Andriessen, in particular.

OK, since I got cheated out of the Minneapolis performance and had little work to do last Friday, I spontaneously went to a matinee performance of this:

Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Riccardo Muti, conductor
Gerhard Oppitz, piano

Sinigaglia  Overture to Le baruffe chiozzotte 
Mendelssohn  Symphony No. 4 (Italian) 
Martucci  Piano Concerto No. 2
Busoni   Berceuse élégiaque 
Bossi  Intermezzi Goldoniani 

This program happens to be a recreation of the very last concert Mahler conducted in New York before he boarded a ship to go back to Europe to die.

And too bad about Minneapolis, but this looks like a great runner-up (or who knows, Fate may have dealt you the more interesting concert). Fab idea to recreate the Mahler concert, and I agree with your comments on Martucci - heard that same piece a few years back, also with Oppitz, and found it fascinating. (And while I didn't spring for a box set, I do recall getting a few Martucci discs shortly after.)

http://www.musicweb-international.com/SandH/2007/Jan-Jun07/martucci2701.htm

I'll be at the Majestic Theater Friday night when the San Antonio Symphony begins the classical season:

Barber: The School for Scandal Overture
Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2
Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 1  (Alexander Gravylyuk, piano)
Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade

Thanks for posting this...I have good friends in San Antonio and wonder if they will be there.

This weekend in Los Angeles:

A work by Vivier
Bartok PC 3
Tchaikovsky Symphony #5

Bronfman/Dudamel/LA Phil

I left LA after 22 years just before Disney Hall opened. So this will be my very first concert at DH, and my first experience with the music-making of Salonen's handpicked successor!

Paul, have a fantastic time. That's a great program and should show off what Dudamel can do. And even if the concert doesn't click, you'll enjoy just the experience of being in Disney Hall - it's an extraordinary place.

--Bruce

[bhodges]

(Got so carried away with that burst of concerts elsewhere that I forgot to post my own.) Tomorrow night, three modern classics by Juilliard's excellent new music ensemble, with one of the best conductors around in this repertoire:

AXIOM
Jeffrey Milarsky, conductor

Grisey: Vortex Temporum (1995)
Lindberg: Action-Situation-Signification (1982)
Birtwistle: Silbury Air (1977)

--Bruce

[karlhenning]

This weekend in Los Angeles:

A work by Vivier
Bartok PC 3
Tchaikovsky Symphony #5

Bronfman/Dudamel/LA Phil

I left LA after 22 years just before Disney Hall opened. So this will be my vey first concert at DH, and my first experience with the music-making of Salonen's handpicked successor!

Bronfman is getting around (and the Bartók Third Concerto is always good live) — he's going to play the Brahms Second Concerto at Symphony Hall a week from Saturday, with guest conductor Kurt Masur (who is always good here in Boston).  And that's a concert I am looking forward to . . . in addition to the concerto there is the Brahms Third, guaranteed to get me on the missus's good side : )

[bhodges]

Bronfman is getting around (and the Bartók Third Concerto is always good live) — he's going to play the Brahms Second Concerto at Symphony Hall a week from Saturday, with guest conductor Kurt Masur (who is always good here in Boston).  And that's a concert I am looking forward to . . . in addition to the concerto there is the Brahms Third, guaranteed to get me on the missus's good side : )

That should be excellent. Everyone needs an evening of nothing but Brahms now and then - good for the soul.  0:)

--Bruce