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

[ritter]

Ha! I beat Bruce to this thread.

It was awesome! Even that accidental "double hammer" at the first strike was forgivable.

Must have been great, EigenUser and Bruce...so you got the three hammer blow version, then  ? Bychkov conducted the Sixth here in Madrid last year, but sadly I was out of town those days    ... but he's doing Parsifal in April. That I won't miss!

THREAD DUTY:

Next weekend, the Spanish National Orchestra and Chorus, conducted by Miguel Harth-Bedoya, are offering Ferruccio Busoni's mammoth and rarely heard Piano concerto, with Vadym Kholodenko as soloist. The concert starts with Aaron Copland's suite from Appalachian Spring...(I've never even heard of conductor or soloist before, btw).

[bhodges]

Ha! I beat Bruce to this thread.

It was awesome! Even that accidental "double hammer" at the first strike was forgivable.

Must have been great, EigenUser and Bruce...so you got the three hammer blow version, then  ? Bychkov conducted the Sixth here in Madrid last year, but sadly I was out of town those days    ... but he's doing Parsifal in April. That I won't miss!

What Nate meant (I think) was that the first hammer strike somehow came out as a "th-thud," sort of like a "hammer grace-note," if you will. The second one was just fine.

All in all, one of the most engrossing performances of this piece I have ever heard.

--Bruce

[Todd]

2016/2017 seasons in the Pacific Northwest are looking intriguing.

Among other goodies, the Oregon Symphony is teaming a concert production of Bluebeard's Castle with Mozart's Paris Symphony and an as yet untitled commissioned work by (I assume) whipper-snapper composer Chris Rogerson; Wagner's Prelude and Liebestod is paired with the Turangalîla-Symphonie, with Steven Osborne on piano; and Dvorak's 9th is mixed with Yefim Bronfman playing LvB's G Major PC and Sebastian Currier's Microsymph.  Now those are programs.

Seattle Opera is putting on Kat'a Kabanova in March 2017, too, so looks like a short road trip is in order. 

San Francisco Opera is putting on The Makropoulos Case this October, so I could hit two Janacek operas in one season, but I'm not sure it would be worth the necessary outlay.

[NikF]

Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2

Mahler - Symphony No. 1
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Denis Kozhukhin  piano
Donald Runnicles  conductor

[Brian]

Seattle Opera is putting on Kat'a Kabanova in March 2017, too, so looks like a short road trip is in order. 

Looks like I picked the wrong March (2016) to visit Seattle!

[(poco) Sforzando]

Looks like I picked the wrong March (2016) to visit Seattle!

If it helps, the Met is doing Jenufa in 2016-17. They tend to do a Janacek once every 3-4 years, so Kat'a is not likely until 2020 at best. (I remember it from 2004-05, when it was fabulous.)

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Tonight I'm seeing one of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra's summer free concerts with some friends. The program for tonight is

Dvorak: Carnival
Barber: Violin Concerto

Tchaikovsky: Symphony no. 5

[Mirror Image]

Tonight I'm seeing one of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra's summer free concerts with some friends. The program for tonight is

Dvorak: Carnival
Barber: Violin Concerto

Tchaikovsky: Symphony no. 5

Worth it for the Barber VC alone. Who's the soloist and conductor?

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Worth it for the Barber VC alone. Who's the soloist and conductor?

Joshua Weilerstein is the conductor and the concertmaster Dale Barltrop is playing the solo part. The following week they have a terrific Australian guitar duo Slava and Leonard Grigiryan with them in a performance of Rodrigo's Concierto Madrigal which I'm really really really looking forward to! in the free summer concerts there's often a focus on local musicians, the imports are coming later in the year...............Aimard playing Ravel's Piano Concerto for the Left Hand on the same program as Mahler's 5th (my least favourite of Mahler, but maybe this concert will open my ears up!) conducted by the current principal conductor Sir Andrew Davis will certainly be a highlight later this year!

[Brian]

Joshua Weilerstein is the conductor and the concertmaster Dale Barltrop is playing the solo part.

Joshua Weilerstein is a young American conductor who is a potential candidate to take over my hometown Dallas Symphony in 2018, so I'd really appreciate any comments on his readings & podium presence.

[ritter]

Next weekend, the Spanish National Orchestra and Chorus, conducted by Miguel Harth-Bedoya, are offering Ferruccio Busoni's mammoth and rarely heard Piano concerto, with Vadym Kholodenko as soloist. The concert starts with Aaron Copland's suite from Appalachian Spring...(I've never even heard of conductor or soloist before, btw).

Well, listening to the Busoni Piano concerto live last night was great. After the hors d'oeuvre of Appalachian Spring (music that is miles way from my aesthetic sesibility, so I'll not comment on it), Harth-Bedoya and Khodolenko gave a stunning perfromance of the Busoni, with excellent support of the Spanish National Orchestra and Chorus.

I have long enjoyed the Piano concerto (excesses and all  ) on disc, but hearing it live gives a whole new perspective on the piece. Imbued by the spirit of Liszt, it's very rhapsodic, but there is a subtle thematic coeherence to it. Its 70 minutes (the longest concerto in the repertoire?) went by in a flash! Also, it prefigures much music that came after it: Bartók at times and, surprisingly, Shostakovich in the relentless march of the All'Italiana fourth movement. But still, the most magical moment for me remains the start of the fifth movement, with the orchestra meandering as if not knowing where to go, and the soloist playing filigrees and octaves that make the music acquire a mysterious quality (in the vein of Busoni's Berceuse élégiaque), and then everything starts to "make sense" with the entrance of the choir. Magical!

Wow, and what a pianist Vadym Kholodenko is! Dazzling in his virtousity, with a beauty of tone and cleanness of attack that are out of the ordinary....

[ritter]

Some rather Wagnerian couple of months ahead for me 

On Tuesday March 1, the early, rarely heard (deservedly so  ) Das Liebesverbot here in Madrid, conducted by Ivor Bolton and staged by Kasper Holten (it's a co-prodcution between the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires and the Teatro Real). Then, on Saturday April 9th, Parsifal again here in Madrid, conducted by Semyon Bychkov and produced by Claus Guth. And finally, on Sunday April 17th, Tristan und Isolde in Hamburg conducted by Kent Nagano, in a revival of an old staging by the late (and legendary) Ruth Berghaus. Ricarda Merbeth (whom I've seen several times live, and made a strong impresssion as Senta in concert under David Afkham last month) sings the role of Isolde for the first time in her career.

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Joshua Weilerstein is a young American conductor who is a potential candidate to take over my hometown Dallas Symphony in 2018, so I'd really appreciate any comments on his readings & podium presence.

Well, I was rather far away with 10 other friends and acquaintances on the grass (well over 10,000 watched the concert)....however what I could see and hear was very convincing. A real sense of togetherness I felt. Unfortunately I am quite unfamiliar with the repertoire at that concert so I can't say I'm going to be very reliable on reviewing his interpretation.

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Tomorrow:

Saturday 27 February
Benjamin Northey conductor
Slava Grigoryan guitar
Leonard Grigoryan guitar

Falla The Three-Cornered Hat: Suite No.2
Rodrigo Concierto madrigal
Gershwin Cuban Overture
Piazzolla Selected tangos
Ginastera Estancia: Four Dances

The brothers Grigoryan — Slava and Leonard — join Benjamin Northey and the MSO in a Spanish-South American program that includes tangos by Astor Piazzolla, a Concerto for two guitars by Joaquin Rodrigo, and works by Ginastera, Falla and Gershwin. The perfect summery way to conclude the Sidney Myer Free Concerts for 2016.

Dianne Heywood-Smith and David Backler from Sidewalk Tango, specialists in Tango Argentino, are joining the MSO to dance to Piazzolla's Oblivion and Libertango onstage.

http://www.mso.com.au/whats-on/2016-season/myerfree/

Seeing this concert with a friend of mine, although I would expect to bump into other people I know as well as that tends to happen at these concerts

[Mirror Image]

Tomorrow:

Saturday 27 February
Benjamin Northey conductor
Slava Grigoryan guitar
Leonard Grigoryan guitar

Falla The Three-Cornered Hat: Suite No.2
Rodrigo Concierto madrigal
Gershwin Cuban Overture
Piazzolla Selected tangos
Ginastera Estancia: Four Dances

The brothers Grigoryan — Slava and Leonard — join Benjamin Northey and the MSO in a Spanish-South American program that includes tangos by Astor Piazzolla, a Concerto for two guitars by Joaquin Rodrigo, and works by Ginastera, Falla and Gershwin. The perfect summery way to conclude the Sidney Myer Free Concerts for 2016.

Dianne Heywood-Smith and David Backler from Sidewalk Tango, specialists in Tango Argentino, are joining the MSO to dance to Piazzolla's Oblivion and Libertango onstage.

http://www.mso.com.au/whats-on/2016-season/myerfree/

Seeing this concert with a friend of mine, although I would expect to bump into other people I know as well as that tends to happen at these concerts

Spanish and Latin American repertoire sweet! Kind of wish they would have done the complete ballet of The Three-Cornered Hat, though. Should be an excellent concert I would imagine.

[Mirror Image]

Thursday, March 31st & Saturday, April 2nd

Thomas Søndergård - conductor
Alexandre Tharaud - piano
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra

Berlioz: Overture, Le corsaire
Ravel: Rapsodie espagnole
Ravel: Piano Concerto for the left-hand
Debussy: La Mer

This is definitely a program I'm going to see and hopefully bring a special woman to accompany me (if things tip over in my favor).

[bhodges]

Next week, after a long and rocky few years, the triumphant return to Carnegie Hall of the Minnesota Orchestra. I have already heard from people in Minneapolis who heard the same concert a few days ago, and said it was terrific. It doesn't hurt, either, that Hahn is one of my favorite violinists.

Minnesota Orchestra
Osmo Vänskä, Music Director and Conductor
Hilary Hahn, Violin

All-Sibelius Program

Symphony No. 3
Violin Concerto
Symphony No. 1

--Bruce

[EigenUser]

Thursday, March 31st & Saturday, April 2nd

Thomas Søndergård - conductor
Alexandre Tharaud - piano
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra

Berlioz: Overture, Le corsaire
Ravel: Rapsodie espagnole
Ravel: Piano Concerto for the left-hand
Debussy: La Mer

This is definitely a program I'm going to see and hopefully bring a special woman to accompany me (if things tip over in my favor).

That is a great program -- all-French music. When I went to see Chicago last May to see Turangalila-Symphonie it was during a series of French music concerts. They did Debussy's opera, Ravel's L'Enfant, and the left-handed PC (among others). I only got to see the Messiaen, but I would have loved to see the Ravel, too.

I'm going to see the Philadelphia Orchestra do Ravel's LH-PC in April. I've seen the two-handed one twice before, but never the LH.

[Brahmsian]

Thursday, March 31st & Saturday, April 2nd

Thomas Søndergård - conductor
Alexandre Tharaud - piano
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra

Berlioz: Overture, Le corsaire
Ravel: Rapsodie espagnole
Ravel: Piano Concerto for the left-hand
Debussy: La Mer

This is definitely a program I'm going to see and hopefully bring a special woman to accompany me (if things tip over in my favor).

A wonderful program indeed, John.  Do report back on this! 

[Brahmsian]

Next week, after a long and rocky few years, the triumphant return to Carnegie Hall of the Minnesota Orchestra. I have already heard from people in Minneapolis who heard the same concert a few days ago, and said it was terrific. It doesn't hurt, either, that Hahn is one of my favorite violinists.

Minnesota Orchestra
Osmo Vänskä, Music Director and Conductor
Hilary Hahn, Violin

All-Sibelius Program

Symphony No. 3
Violin Concerto
Symphony No. 1

--Bruce

Very nice, Bruce!  I kind of wish this was in Minneapolis.  I would take the 6 hour drive to attend this concert!