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

[HIPster]

This program looks great!

These days they are performing Handel's Theodora in USA, but the SDEMS got a purely instrumental concert. Cool. 

Thanks Gordo!

I'll let you know how it goes. . .

Has the Richter set shown up yet?  Clerk told me that it could take up to 45 days for it to arrive.   

[NorthNYMark]

Hi everyone. I'm a newbie. Here's a couple of upcoming concerts I have tickets for in Munich:

01.25.14
Sibelius Violin Concerto, Julia Fischer (have to hear this)
Brahms 4
Dresdner Phil, Michael Sanderling

02.13.14
Brahms Hayden Variations,
Brahms Double  (local talent, judgement reserved)
Sibelius Symphony 2
Muenchner Phil, Loren Maazel

No prizes for guessing two of my favorite composers, but how about the others? (Hint: I was really pi**ed to miss out on Gil Shaham playing the Berg with Mariss Jansons and the Bayerischer Rundfunk last week.)

What a great set of performances this sounds to be!  I guess the first concert will be starting quite soon now--hope you'll give us a report.  I had a chance to hear the Brahms 4 with Nagano and the Montreal Symphony last year, and it was incredible--even my partner, who is not much of a classical music fan and didn't particularly enjoy the other works on the program, was moved.  And to combine that with one of the finest violin concertos (IMO)--wow.

[NorthNYMark]

Some great stuff in the next few days:

Tonight:

New York Philharmonic
Gautier Capuçon, cello
Andrey Boreyko, conductor
Tcherepnin: The Enchanted Kingdom
Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No. 1
Tchaikovsky: Suite No. 3

Friday:

Joel Sachs, conductor
New Juilliard Ensemble
Pärt: La Sindone (2005, rev. 2013)
Kancheli: "Midday Prayers" ("Tagesgebete") from Life Without Christmas (1990)
Schnittke: Symphony No. 4 (1984)

Monday:

Marc-André Hamelin, piano
Hamelin: Barcarolle (New York premiere)
Medtner: Piano Sonata in E minor, "Night Wind" Op. 25 No. 2
Schubert: 4 Impromptus, D. 935

--Bruce

What an intriguing set of combinations!  I guess this kind of variety is one of the many advantages to living in a metropolis!

[NorthNYMark]

Hélène Grimaud playing Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 1 with the San Francisco Symphony on February 5th. Her new CD of both Concertos is fantastic.

Again, I am envious--that concerto was the first classical work about which I became obsessed as I began exploring the genre, but i have yet to experience it in a live setting.  I've only heard the new Grimaud album once (via MOG), but I remember being pretty impressed.

[Wakefield]

Thanks Gordo!

I'll let you know how it goes. . .

Has the Richter set shown up yet?  Clerk told me that it could take up to 45 days for it to arrive.   

It will be great to know your impressions of this lineup of the English Concert. 

No, it hasn't still arrived, but (living in this so distant part of the globe) I'm quite accustomed to this kind of delays.

[bhodges]

I have tickets to see the Montreal Symphony with Kent Nagano performing Mahler's Seventh next month.  However, a commitment to drive a friend home from surgery in another city may prevent me from attending.  I hope things will work out in such a way that I can end up doing both. The first movement of the seventh may be my favorite single movement in Mahler's oeuvre thus far (though I am relatively new to Mahler, so that may just mean that it is the most immediately engaging); the rest of the movements have yet to "click" with me, so I'm very curious as to how I would experience the entire work in a live setting.

Hope you get to go - sounds fantastic. I'm a huge fan of the Seventh, too. Just heard it in December with James Levine and the Met Orchestra, and while it may not have been the most perfect performance, it was hugely exciting - there's nothing like hearing it live.

--Bruce

[bhodges]

Some great stuff in the next few days:

Tonight:

New York Philharmonic
Gautier Capuçon, cello
Andrey Boreyko, conductor
Tcherepnin: The Enchanted Kingdom
Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No. 1
Tchaikovsky: Suite No. 3

Friday:

Joel Sachs, conductor
New Juilliard Ensemble
Pärt: La Sindone (2005, rev. 2013)
Kancheli: "Midday Prayers" ("Tagesgebete") from Life Without Christmas (1990)
Schnittke: Symphony No. 4 (1984)

Monday:

Marc-André Hamelin, piano
Hamelin: Barcarolle (New York premiere)
Medtner: Piano Sonata in E minor, "Night Wind" Op. 25 No. 2
Schubert: 4 Impromptus, D. 935

--Bruce

Of these three, Hamelin's recital last night took the prize, just in terms of sheer musicality and virtuosity. Of the three works, I enjoyed the sprawling (30+ minutes) Medtner the most, perhaps because of its rarity, but everything was enjoyable. He did three encores: the first movement "Reflets dans l'eau" from Debussy's Images, Hamelin's own hilarious take on Chopin's "Minute" Waltz, and a rarely done etude by Paul de Schlözer.

--Bruce

[otare]

The Pavel Haas Quartet is playing in my home town on Friday. Beethoven, Haydn and Haas. Not too badly priced - 40 US$. They are playing in a small, intimate hall in the old shipyard (turned shopping mall and concert venue) here in Trondheim.
We will also get Steven Isserlis playing Prokofievs Cello Symphony and Truls Mørk playing Elgars cello concerto in february. Not too bad for a small town far up to the north.

[North Star]

The Pavel Haas Quartet is playing in my home town on Friday. Beethoven, Haydn and Haas. Not too badly priced - 40 US$. They are playing in a small, intimate hall in the old shipyard (turned shopping mall and concert venue) here in Trondheim.
We will also get Steven Isserlis playing Prokofievs Cello Symphony and Truls Mørk playing Elgars cello concerto in february. Not too bad for a small town far up to the north.

Very nice! Can't go wrong with any combination of quartets from those three.
Andreas Brantelid will play the Proky Cello Symphony here in May.

By the way, I hadn't realized that Trondheim is 'far up to the north' - I guess it's a matter of perspective. 

[otare]

Compared to the rest of the world it is. Same approximate latitude as Reykjavik, Nome and Oulu (well - Oulu is slightly further north). It is not that far from the Arctic circle.
But the Pavel Haas quartet also plays in Bodø (3 stops in Norway this time - Oslo, Trondheim and Bodø). I'll try to persuade my friend Michael Kanka in the Prazak quartet to get the quartet to come to Trondheim soon. Crossing my fingers.

[Brian]

I'll try to persuade my friend Michael Kanka in the Prazak quartet

How are you friends with Michal Kanka?!

[otare]

He is married to the daughter of the composer Jindrich Feld - Pavlina Feldova. She went to school with my wife - they were best friends. We visit them every time we go to Prague, which is 3-4 times a year.

[North Star]

Compared to the rest of the world it is. Same approximate latitude as Reykjavik, Nome and Oulu (well - Oulu is slightly further north). It is not that far from the Arctic circle.
But the Pavel Haas quartet also plays in Bodø (3 stops in Norway this time - Oslo, Trondheim and Bodø). I'll try to persuade my friend Michael Kanka in the Prazak quartet to get the quartet to come to Trondheim soon. Crossing my fingers.

Yep, it's in the north, of course (midway between Helsinki & Oulu).

Must be nice to know Kanka - and to visit Prague regularly.

[londonrich]

Booking opened this week for the 2014/15 season at the Barbican Centre, London.  Lots of good stuff.

I'm looking forward to Haitink's Bruckner 8 (although the LSO are also doing the same work under Fabio Luisi this summer, which could be fantastic). Plumped for the MTT concert too - his Tchaik 5 before Christmas was great. Also grabbed a ticket for Previn conducting the Rach 2, a sentimental booking as his EMI recording of that piece has long been a favourite CD.

[Todd]

The Oregon Symphony announced its 2014/2015 season, and in addition to standard rep, Carlos Kalmar has scheduled some mighty interesting looking, lesser heard or never heard fare.  Below is the list of relative and absolute rarities I have the chance to hear next season.  The Dutilleux and Messiaen Oiseaux exotiques are in the same concert, along with Liszt's Totentanz and Ravel's Bolero.  The pianist?  Marc Andre Hamelin.  I do indeed look forward to that concert.  An all standard rep concert that caught my was was Tapiola, Bartok's Third PC with Jean-Philippe Collard (!), and Dvorak's entire Op 72.  Another sure thing.


Torke: Charcoal
Barber: Medea's Meditation and Dance of Vengeance
Korngold: Violin Concerto
Gabriela Lena Frank: Three Latin-American Dances
Gershwin: Concerto in F
MacDowell: Piano Concerto No. 2
Dutilleux: Symphony No. 1
Messiaen: Oiseaux exotiques
Messiaen: Hymne
Glazunov: Violin Concerto
Lutosławski: Partita for Violin and Orchestra
Hosokawa: Blossoming II
Sierra: Concerto for Saxophones (this was premiered at the Grant Park Music Festival last year.  Kalmar directs that festival as well.)
Rouse: Concerto for Orchestra
Widman: Con brio


Who says classical music is dead?

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

The Oregon Symphony announced its 2014/2015 season, and in addition to standard rep, Carlos Kalmar has scheduled some mighty interesting looking, lesser heard or never heard fare. 

In other words, Kalmar is doing in Oregon the same thing he does in Grant Park, where he has had great success. Cool schedule.

[Todd]

In other words, Kalmar is doing in Oregon the same thing he does in Grant Park, where he has had great success. Cool schedule.

It appears so.  He has also really improved the level of playing of the orchestra quite a lot in the last decade.  When I first started attending concerts, they couldn't play, say, Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra very well, but now they can play almost anything well, with perhaps just a little more work needed in the brass.  He ruffled some feathers getting to that point - including some public complaining by a flutist he fired because her playing didn't meet his standards - but the results have been worth it.  Hell, their Carnegie Hall appearance even earned high praise from some New Yorkers used to world class playing.  I hope he stays on past 2015.

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

Yeah, it's not just the scheduling, it's the performing. I've been impressed by the results whenever I've heard him live.

[bhodges]

The Oregon Symphony announced its 2014/2015 season, and in addition to standard rep, Carlos Kalmar has scheduled some mighty interesting looking, lesser heard or never heard fare.  Below is the list of relative and absolute rarities I have the chance to hear next season.  The Dutilleux and Messiaen Oiseaux exotiques are in the same concert, along with Liszt's Totentanz and Ravel's Bolero.  The pianist?  Marc Andre Hamelin.  I do indeed look forward to that concert.  An all standard rep concert that caught my was was Tapiola, Bartok's Third PC with Jean-Philippe Collard (!), and Dvorak's entire Op 72.  Another sure thing.


Torke: Charcoal
Barber: Medea's Meditation and Dance of Vengeance
Korngold: Violin Concerto
Gabriela Lena Frank: Three Latin-American Dances
Gershwin: Concerto in F
MacDowell: Piano Concerto No. 2
Dutilleux: Symphony No. 1
Messiaen: Oiseaux exotiques
Messiaen: Hymne
Glazunov: Violin Concerto
Lutosławski: Partita for Violin and Orchestra
Hosokawa: Blossoming II
Sierra: Concerto for Saxophones (this was premiered at the Grant Park Music Festival last year.  Kalmar directs that festival as well.)
Rouse: Concerto for Orchestra
Widman: Con brio


Who says classical music is dead?

What fabulous programming. That might be the best list to emerge from any orchestral season announcement this year.

--Bruce

[TheGSMoeller]

What fabulous programming. That might be the best list to emerge from any orchestral season announcement this year.

--Bruce

I agree. Let's hope Atlanta SO's 14-15 can bring out a similar variety.
I like how Oregon SO mixes genres and eras within each concert. For example...

Mozart: Symphony No. 32
Stravinsky: Orpheus
Korngold: Violin Concerto
Strauss: Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks

Rachmaninoff: Isle of the Dead
Lutosławski: Partita for Violin and Orchestra
Dvořák: Romance for Violin and Orchestra
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5

..these two shows offer such diversity in sound.