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

[North Star]

In 8 hours:

Anna-Maria Helsing & Oulu Symphony Orchestra
Jörgen van Rijen trombone

Aho: Trombone concerto (Finland premiere)
Tšaikovski: Symphony no 4

The concert is available for listening for 21 days here:
http://areena.yle.fi/audio/1333093528213

[madaboutmahler]

The concert is available for listening for 21 days here:
http://areena.yle.fi/audio/1333093528213

Can we spot you in the audience, Karlo?

[North Star]

Can we spot you in the audience, Karlo?

Since I didn't cough and it's a radio broadcast, I think not 

[madaboutmahler]

Since I didn't cough and it's a radio broadcast, I think not 

Oh, haha

[Papy Oli]

English Touring Opera: The Barber of Seville
Thomas Guthrie director
Paul McGrath conductor

Rossini - The Barber of Seville (in English)

... 1st live Opera too....

What a blast that was !!! the 3 hours just passed by so quickly. The singing in English was a bit bizarre at first but eventually served its purpose for understanding the plot and enjoying it fully. Great singing and acting. Bundles of laughter too !!! My first opera and definitely not the last !!

The ETO presentation video :

http://vimeo.com/40143876

[madaboutmahler]

Tonight:

Elgar The Dream of Gerontius

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Edward Gardner conductor
Sarah Connolly mezzo-soprano
Robert Murray tenor
James Rutherford bass-baritone
CBSO Chorus

As in Mike's concert, Andris Nelsons has had to withdraw....

Am really looking forward to it though. I am sure Gardner will be excellent, he is an amazing conductor!

[pjme]

Last saturday (april 14) I was in Amsterdam/ Concertgebouw.

The Dutch Radio Philharmonic / Ed Spanjaard and Jorge Luis Prats, piano.

Franz Schreker : Vorspiel zu einer grossen Oper. A 1933 (huge orchestra) extravaganza that is ( at ca 20 mins) more a tone poem than an overture. Schreker put this Vorspiel together from fragments of a never completed opera , Memnon.
Memnon tells the story of a mythical king in Ethiopia who goes forth to Troja with his army. He is defeated and killed by Achilles.
In Schreker's time it was believed that the colossal statues of Amenhotep II in Egypt were effigies of Memnon. More so, one of these statues was thought to be "alive" and would shriek at daybreak...
No wonder this myth inspired Schreker who, apparently was always looking for some new "Ferner Klang".
I loved this extremely opulent score , somewhere between Richard Strauss, Respighi and Dimitri Tiomkin in exotico/biblical mood. It starts softly ( horn solo, distant drums, tambourine, woodwind arabesques), grows into a schmaltsy, very sexy saxophone-lead orgiastic dance, thunders into military battle/ victory/defeat mood, bells ring out...and that is only the first half or so!
Something went wrong during the sax-solo - Spanjaard missed a beat - stopped the performance for a second or two . Great: we got that wonderful sax interlude a second time!
Next: Peter Jan Wagemans 2010 score : Deep blue ocean. Another blockbuster for very large orchestra inspired by water, jellyfish, movement of waves and the documentary "Deep blue ocean", of course.
Six trumpets, a set of tuned gongs , plenty of metal percussion (incl 5 smal beer barrels), and a tempestuoso section that made the Concertgebouw shake. Messiaen, Stravinsky, Varèse.
Wagemans is a composer who still believes in the beauty of orchestral sound. A contemporary "La mer". Fascinating stuff. They should have played it a second time.

After the interval: Brahms second pianoconcerto, played rather brutaly by Cuban Jorge Luis Prats. Not the best part of the concert.
P.

[bhodges]

Tomorrow night, Klangforum Wien in this interesting program:

Agata Zubel: What is the word (World Premiere, 2012)
Roman Haubenstock-Ramati: 1. String Trio (1948/1978 new Version)
Johannes Maria Staud: Celluloid (2011)
Györgi Kurtag: In Nomine - all'ongherese (2001, rev. 2004)
Isang Yun: Quartet for oboe, violin, viola, and  violoncello (1994)
Franco Donatoni Rima: Fili (1981)
Salvatore Sciarrino: Malinconia (1980)

--Bruce

[bhodges]

Interesting all-Stravinsky programme from the LSO Chamber Orchestra on 17th May at St Luke's, London:

Dumbarton Oaks
Concertino
Octet for Wind Instruments
Fanfare for Two Trumpets
Les cinq doigts
Eight Instrumental Miniatures
Tango
Ebony Concerto
Ragtime

Many of these I haven't heard in concert before.  Particularly excited by the prospect of the Octet. 

Great-looking concert! And I love the Octet, which reportedly came to Stravinsky in a dream. (We should all have such dreams...) And Dumbarton Oaks is delightful, and doesn't seem to show up that often, for some reason.

--Bruce

[bhodges]

Tonight, the second concert of the MATA Festival, at Roulette in Brooklyn:

Jacob Cooper: Triptych: II. Black or White
Cecilia Lopez: Mechanical Music for Sheet Metal
Kate Soper: Only the words themselves mean what they say
Lesley Flanigan: from AMPLIFICATIONS
Matt Marks: sneak preview of The Little Death: Vol. 2 (with Mellissa Hughes)
Eli Keszler: Cold Pin (with loadbang)

--Bruce

[North Star]

Yesterday:

Anna-Maria Helsing & Oulu SO, solo cello: Riina Seebeck; leader of the orchestra's cello section (not the solo cellist of the orchestra, though)

Mozart: Overture from Die Entführung aus dem Serail
Lalo: Cello Concerto in D minor
Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade concertmaster Lasse Joamets

Excellent performances and music, but both Seebeck's and Joamets's tones were lacking in the low ranges of their instruments - could be either the players or their instruments. The orchestra's solo cellist has no trouble being heard over the orchestra.

[Drasko]

Tonight:

P.Glass: Company
P.Schonefield: Four Parables for piano and orchestra
A.Copland: Symphony No. 3

Belgrade Philharmonic
Conductor: Jonathan Schiffman
Soloist: Andreas Boyde, piano

Never heard of Schonefield before, and both Glass and Copland pieces will be hearing for the first time live.

[Lisztianwagner]

The season 2012/2013 at Teatro alla Scala, Milan, was announced this morning; the programme looks absolutely wonderful, starting with the opera: no less than seven wagnerian works!! In order, from next December, Lohengrin, Der Fliegende Hollander, Gotterdammerung and the complete Ring Cycle, so excited to see them! Plus Siegfried, which is being performed in October, but theorically part of the current season.

About the concerts, there will be a Rachmaninov Festival, entirely dedicated to the great russian composer; Gianandrea Noseda conducting Rach's Piano Concerto No.2 and Symphony No.1; Dohnányi conducting Schumann Symphony No.4 and Brahms' Symphony No.1. I have also to include Abbado conducting Mahler No.6 and Chopin's Piano Concerto No.1 (Barenboim at the piano).

And much more, but these are the works I would like to see so far.

Can't wait the next season starts!

[madaboutmahler]

Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade concertmaster Lasse Joamets

Always a treat to see live! The Watford Youth Orchestra, the orchestra I am the percussionist for, is doing this for our next concert. Really great fun, we rehearsed some of it tonight! As in the rehearsals, there is only myself and the timpanist, we have great fun trying to handle all the percussion parts just the two of us!!!

[Marc]

On my way (in about half an hour) to get seduced (finally!) by Carolyn Sampson!

[bhodges]

Tonight at the Kitchen (experimental music venue), the excellent group Either/Or, in the following program:

John Cage/Max Neuhaus: Fontana Mix:Feed
George Lewis: Thistledown
Elliott Sharp: Venus & Jupiter (World Premiere)
Rebecca Saunders: stirrings still (NY Premiere)
Gérard Grisey: Périodes

--Bruce

[Drasko]

Just came in from the concert:

D. Shostakovich: Ballet Suite br.1
                           Piano Concerto No. 2
                           Symphony No. 6
Alexandar Kobrin, piano
Belgrade Philharmonic
Mikhail Jurowski, conducting

Nothing too exotic but well played concert, quite enjoyable. Jurowski senior is very impressive, economic on the podium but excellent ear for orchestral balances and getting the detail heard without disrupting the flow.
Kobrin won Van Cliburn and Busoni competitions few years ago, but haven't made that big a career, certainly not because his pianistic abilities lack anything. In Shostakovich 2nd his gallop in the first movement was crisp and exciting, second movement had all the mozartean grace and both pianist and especially orchestra played with gusto those odd meters of the finale, has to be 7/8 or something, always sounded like Balkan folk music to me. Overall, perhaps nothing revelatory but very enjoyable evening tonight.

[madaboutmahler]

Just back from:

Beethoven Egmont, Violin Concerto, Symphony no.6

Misbourne Symphony Orchestra/Richard Jacklin (the orchestra and conductor that commissioned and premiered my 'Rhapsody for Orchestra' back in November. )

Wonderful concert!

I also was asked to play the percussion part in Brahms' Haydn Variations arranged for brass ensemble which was used as a starter to the concert. Great fun!

Also, very much enjoying watching the Academy Orchestra rehearse Gershwin's American in Paris, it's only been two rehearsals and they have it pretty much perfect...

[bhodges]

On Wednesday, the New York Philharmonic will be at Carnegie Hall, where it plays 2 or 3 concerts every year. Very much looking forward to this one:

New York Philharmonic
Alan Gilbert, conductor

Mahler: Symphony No. 6

--Bruce

[Mirror Image]

On Wednesday, the New York Philharmonic will be at Carnegie Hall, where it plays 2 or 3 concerts every year. Very much looking forward to this one:

New York Philharmonic
Alan Gilbert, conductor

Mahler: Symphony No. 6

--Bruce

Let's hope people remember to turn their cell phones off.