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

[Kontrapunctus]

How about one I was looking forward to? I attended Gil Shaham's solo recital, or part of it, Friday night (Nov.1). I left after Sonata No.1--never have I heard such rushed, mechanical playing. His pitch accuracy and tone were fine, but I kept wondering if the music meant nothing to him or if he were double-parked in a red zone.

J.S. Bach Violin Sonata No.1 in G Minor, BWV 1001
J.S. Bach Partita No. 1 for Solo Violin in B Minor, BWV 1002

Intermission

William Bolcom Suite No. 2 for Solo Violin
J.S. Bach Partita No. 3 in E Major, BWV. 1006

[Pat B]

FRIDAY!
My first-ever trip to the Dallas Symphony, after a year of living here -

Dvorak: Te Deum
Suk: Fairy Tale (Raduz & Mahulena)
Dvorak: Symphony No. 8

Tomas Netopil, conductor

Dvorak's Te Deum was the first piece I saw live at a London orchestra concert, too.

How was that, Brian? As I mentioned earlier I'm going to see the DSO in January.

[bhodges]

Tomorrow night, another The Rest is Noise concert at London's Southbank:

Sofia Gubaidulina Offertorium (Violin Concerto)
Arvo Pärt Magnificat
Arvo Pärt Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten
Arvo Pärt Berliner Messe

London Philharmonic Orchestra
Tõnu Kaljuste conductor
Sergej Krylov violin
London Philharmonic Choir

Saw Kaljuste conduct the BBCSO in an all-Pärt concert last year (including the Berliner Messe) and was very impressed.

Well, that looks pretty swell!

Next week, seeing Richard Strauss's Die Frau Ohne Schatten at the Met - can't wait for that! - and two nights later, Tilson Thomas and San Francisco in the Mahler Ninth.

--Bruce

[Brian]

How was that, Brian? As I mentioned earlier I'm going to see the DSO in January.

Very good. The Dvorak Te Deum is always a marvel live, and the chorus is very good; the band didn't seem totally convinced by the over-the-top romantic exuberance of Suk's Fairy Tale, but maybe I'm projecting my own emotions onto them. Pretty potent funeral episode. The Dvorak Eighth was a fantastic performance. The cor anglais sounded a little wonky (saxophone?) but the violins are unusually rich and clear-toned for an American orchestra. (Maybe I'm used to San Antonio's fairly puny section.)

All in all, I'm pretty positive that this is the best orchestra in Texas. (Lived in Houston too.) One of my favorite concert halls too - as Monkey Greg indicates the Meyerson is quite a sight. Not sure how to describe the hall's design: it's not traditional, it's not modern in the conventional sense; it's wonderful. Someone in front of me said, "The way the lighting is done up makes it look like the Starship Enterprise." But with rich dark wood surfaces.

[Pat B]

All in all, I'm pretty positive that this is the best orchestra in Texas. (Lived in Houston too.)

Probably true by default. I saw Houston a couple years ago and was not overwhelmed -- Jones Hall may have been part of the problem, but I'm not sure that Hans Graf lived up to the legacy of conductors there. It will be interesting to see what happens there under Orozco-Estrada.

Thanks for the report.

[Brian]

Probably true by default. I saw Houston a couple years ago and was not overwhelmed -- Jones Hall may have been part of the problem, but I'm not sure that Hans Graf lived up to the legacy of conductors there. It will be interesting to see what happens there under Orozco-Estrada.

Thanks for the report.

I agree with you strongly about Hans Graf, who's uninspiring, but Jones Hall is a major problem. I've sat on the orchestra level in the first dozen rows and still thought the orchestra sounded distant.

Orozco-Estrada's debut album was uninspiring but hopefully he'll grow as a performer. I also hope he'll draw more of the Hispanic crowd who made the Dudamel concert in Houston in '09 so much fun to see.

EDIT: He'll grow as a listener? Weird typo.

[TheGSMoeller]

Countdown to Parsifal at Lyric Opera of Chicago begins! 10 days to go.

Word from the Lyric pit is that the dress rehearsal was great, Act 1 clocked in at 100 minutes! And I received a picture of the production that had a very modern look (I won't post yet since the opening night is not until this Saturday), should be interesting. 

Opening night of Wagner's Parsifal will be streamed live this Saturday night at 7:00 Eastern/6:00 Central at www.wfmt.com

More info can also be found here.

[bhodges]

Countdown to Parsifal at Lyric Opera of Chicago begins! 10 days to go.

Word from the Lyric pit is that the dress rehearsal was great, Act 1 clocked in at 100 minutes! And I received a picture of the production that had a very modern look (I won't post yet since the opening night is not until this Saturday), should be interesting. 

Opening night of Wagner's Parsifal will be streamed live this Saturday night at 7:00 Eastern/6:00 Central at www.wfmt.com

More info can also be found here.

That sounds absolutely great - I may tune in on Saturday.

Meanwhile, I'll be at this tonight, and just found out they are streaming it live as well. Here's the streaming link:

http://www.chambermusicsociety.org/seasontickets/event/1141/1/

Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
Romie de Guise-Langlois, clarinet
Gilles Vonsattel, piano
Danish String Quartet
   
Lieberson: Quintet for Piano and Strings (2001)
Abrahamsen: Ten Preludes for String Quartet (1973)
Golijov: The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind for Clarinet and String Quartet (1994)

--Bruce   

[Brian]

I should be home by 6:30. I'm in!

[bhodges]

I should be home by 6:30. I'm in!

Great - about 7:45 I'll yell out, "Brian, how are you liking it?"



PS, though the entire program sounds interesting (and I'm writing it up for The Strad) I confess I'm most interested in the Abrahamsen pieces - and I've never heard the Danish group live.

--Bruce

[TheGSMoeller]

Not strictly a concert, but as part of the Britten centenary, tomorrow night at the Barbican Theatre in London the Richard Alston Dance Company (formerly London Contemporary Dance) will be performing to an all-Britten programme played live by the Britten Sinfonia:

Lachrymae
Sechs Holderlin Fragmente
Phaedra
Les Illuminations 

Very much looking forward to this.  I never miss an opportunity to see this troupe in action, if at all possible. Spellbinding stuff.

That is fantastic, let us know if that gets recorded and ends up on the internet somewhere, I would love to see it.
Thanks, Soapy.

[Brian]

Great - about 7:45 I'll yell out, "Brian, how are you liking it?"



PS, though the entire program sounds interesting (and I'm writing it up for The Strad) I confess I'm most interested in the Abrahamsen pieces - and I've never heard the Danish group live.

--Bruce

Bruce, I only caught about five minutes - the video was intermittently chopping up so I moved on to writing and dinner. What I heard was the finale of the Lieberson work, which I did find pretty intriguing, especially how he weaves in that quick, stamping dance figure.

[bhodges]

Bruce, I only caught about five minutes - the video was intermittently chopping up so I moved on to writing and dinner. What I heard was the finale of the Lieberson work, which I did find pretty intriguing, especially how he weaves in that quick, stamping dance figure.

Oh, too bad.  I liked the Lieberson a lot, and a big "yes" to the passage you heard. Things got even better with the Abrahamsen Ten Preludes - what a piece. Wrote it when he was around 20, and as host Michael Lawrence put it, it's like a survey of Western classical music smashed into a tiny frame. The last of the ten sounds like Haydn! 

The Golijov was sort of like "Klezmer meets Ligeti" (not quite adequate) and the quartet was joined by a fantastic clarinetist. It's quite a piece - around 30+ minutes.

They may post the video later; if I see it I'll put the link here.

Edit: well, what do you know - it's up already:

http://www.chambermusicsociety.org/watchlisten/watchlive/

--Bruce

[TheGSMoeller]

Countdown to Parsifal at Lyric Opera of Chicago begins! 10 days to go.

Word from the Lyric pit is that the dress rehearsal was great, Act 1 clocked in at 100 minutes! And I received a picture of the production that had a very modern look (I won't post yet since the opening night is not until this Saturday), should be interesting. 

Opening night of Wagner's Parsifal will be streamed live this Saturday night at 7:00 Eastern/6:00 Central at www.wfmt.com

More info can also be found here.

A reminder for anyone interested in tuning in...

Lyric Opera of Chicago's performance of Parsifal by Richard Wagner will be streaming live on WFMT this Saturday night (Nov. 9th) at 7:00 Eastern/6:00 Central at www.wfmt.com

More info can also be found here at Lyric's website including a short video introduction from Sir Andrew Davis, Renee Fleming and Anthony Freud.

[TheGSMoeller]

Britten: War Requiem
Chicago Symphony Orchestra - Charles Dutoit

Tonight!!
Just arrived in Chicago earlier today and my brother and I decided to catch this performance this evening. First time seeing War Requiem live. Ill post soloists later as i really have no idea as of now.

[TheGSMoeller]

Britten: War Requiem
Chicago Symphony Orchestra - Charles Dutoit

Tonight!!
Just arrived in Chicago earlier today and my brother and I decided to catch this performance this evening. First time seeing War Requiem live. Ill post soloists later as i really have no idea as of now.

[TheGSMoeller]

After seeing Britten War Requiem and Wagner's Parsifal in the same weekend I realized that it's Britten's 100th birth anniversary and Wagner's 200th birth anniversary this year.


Also had the wonderful pleasure of meeting fellow GMG'r velimir and his wife at the opera. Lovely folk.
Hope to get the opportunity to meet some more members one day...or perhaps when we have the first GMG convention in Boston, which is where I believe we decided on for a location. 

[Karl Henning]

Must have been fabulous, Greg.

[TheGSMoeller]

Must have been fabulous, Greg.

It was, Karl. Especially Goerne, such a captivating voice, brought so much more drama to an already dramatic piece.

[The new erato]

Planning for this in a couple of days:

Johann Sebastian Bach
Jesu, meine Freude, motett

Karl Amadeus Hartmann
Concerto funebre, fiolinkonsert

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Requiem

Masaaki Suzuki, dirigent
Bergen Philharmonic
Carolyn Sampson, sopran
Marianne Beate Kielland, alt
Thomas Walker, tenor
Christian Immler, bass
David Stewart, fiolin

+ various choirs.