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

[Wanderer]

Absolutely. I prefer chamber music over gigantic orchestral works any day. I'm not at all keen on what Frederic Mompou dubbed as "phonorrhea".

Frederic Mompou should have dubbed things in his own language. Etymologically, this very awkward attempt at a Greek neologism can't possibly mean what he seemed to want it to mean ("an excess of padding, ponderous development, and numbing redundancies" or something of the sort).

[Florestan]

Frederic Mompou should have dubbed things in his own language. Etymologically, this very awkward attempt at a Greek neologism can't possibly mean what he seemed to want it to mean ("an excess of padding, ponderous development, and numbing redundancies" or something of the sort).

You're being too pedantic in this case, my friend. 

[Judith]

What a wonderful Brahms concert yesterday evening performed by
local orchestra

Sinfonia of Leeds

with David Greed soloist
and conducted by Peter Stark

Performing
Violin Concerto
Symphony no 2

Such a treat. 

[Mapman]

I just attended a fantastic concert by Christian Lindberg and Roland Pöntinen! Lindberg will be giving a (trombone) masterclass tomorrow; I intend to watch.

Here's the program (excluding the 4.5 encores):
This concert will present classic and original works composed and arranged for trombone and piano: Sonata for Trombone "Vox Gabrieli" by Stjepan Sulek, Camera for Trombone and Piano by Roland Pöntinen, Mayfly for Solo Trombone by Christian Lindberg, Suite from Pique Dame (Arr. Lindberg) by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Los Bandidos for Trombone and Piano by Christian Lindberg, Three Preludes for Trombone and Piano (Arr. Tarrodi) by George Gershwin, Drei Fantasiestücke Op. 73 by Robert Schumann, Barcorolle No. 5 in F Sharp Minor, Op. 66 by Gabriel Fauré, and Three Pieces from Firebird (Arr. Pöntinen/Lindberg) by Igor Stravinsky.

[brewski]

Looking forward to the inauguration of a new chamber music series starting in March, at The Black Squirrel Club, housed in an old steam plant from the 1890s. The series is the brainchild of Micah Gleason, a singer and conductor studying with Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

Tesla Quartet
Joseph Haydn: String Quartet Op. 33, No. 2 "The Joke"
Stacy Garrop: String Quartet No. 4 "Illuminations"
Maurice Ravel: String Quartet in F major

-Bruce

[Brian]

I just attended a fantastic concert by Christian Lindberg and Roland Pöntinen! Lindberg will be giving a (trombone) masterclass tomorrow; I intend to watch.

Here's the program (excluding the 4.5 encores):
This concert will present classic and original works composed and arranged for trombone and piano: Sonata for Trombone "Vox Gabrieli" by Stjepan Sulek, Camera for Trombone and Piano by Roland Pöntinen, Mayfly for Solo Trombone by Christian Lindberg, Suite from Pique Dame (Arr. Lindberg) by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Los Bandidos for Trombone and Piano by Christian Lindberg, Three Preludes for Trombone and Piano (Arr. Tarrodi) by George Gershwin, Drei Fantasiestücke Op. 73 by Robert Schumann, Barcorolle No. 5 in F Sharp Minor, Op. 66 by Gabriel Fauré, and Three Pieces from Firebird (Arr. Pöntinen/Lindberg) by Igor Stravinsky.

Wow! Amazingly lucky, and I hope you do get to see the masterclass. Lindberg is by reputation maybe the best trombonist ever? And The repertoire there is a cool mix of rarities, his own compositions, and the "big hits."

[Mapman]

Wow! Amazingly lucky, and I hope you do get to see the masterclass. Lindberg is by reputation maybe the best trombonist ever? And The repertoire there is a cool mix of rarities, his own compositions, and the "big hits."

I did make it to the masterclass! The MSU trombone students were great, and Lindberg helped them sound even better. He also answered some questions from the audience, including describing part of the process of writing one of his recent compositions. Perhaps most interestingly for members here, one question was about what (Classical) music to listen to. He specifically mentioned Curzon's recordings of Mozart Piano Concertos.

He is currently on tour, but it looks like it is about to end. The program was quite interesting. He told us that part of the program was chosen by his fans on social media. It looks like he was in the Dallas area last week. It's too bad that you didn't know about that performance!

https://calendar.unt.edu/event/guest_artist_recital_christian_lindberg_trombone_w_roland_pontinen_piano

[Brian]

Oh, darn it! You shouldn't have told me    Actually that would have been very hard to achieve on a weekday; Denton is more than an hour each direction from central Dallas so it wouldn't have been very practical unless we got a hotel. Bet it was fun to watch the nitty-gritty of the suggestions for the performing students.

[Ganondorf]

Dialogues of the Carmelites on 26th was wonderful! I'm not going into specifics this time too much but I have to mention about this work the chillingly macabre effect of the sound of a falling blade of the guillotine in the final scene.

[Brian]

Dallas Symphony this weekend has a now-rare all Sibelius program:

En Saga
Violin Concerto
Symphony No. 5

Alexi Kenney, violin
Donald Runnicles

Never heard of Kenney; the internet tells me he's just 29 and a rising chamber music star.

[brewski]

Dallas Symphony this weekend has a now-rare all Sibelius program:

En Saga
Violin Concerto
Symphony No. 5

Alexi Kenney, violin
Donald Runnicles

Never heard of Kenney; the internet tells me he's just 29 and a rising chamber music star.

I've heard Kenney a few times in chamber music; he's wonderful. Would love to hear him in the Sibelius—along with the rest of the concert, of course! (Big Runnicles fan, here, too.)

-Bruce

[brewski]

Really, really looking forward to this concert, accompanied by some friends I haven't seen in decades. The Lutosławski is a favorite, and ten years ago Soltani played it and won a major cello prize in Finland. The Shostakovich Eleventh is also a longtime fave, to my ears often overlooked in favor of Nos. 5, 7, and 10 (no slight against any of those). And I don't recall hearing Mǎcelaru live, though he has appeared in some streams over the past few years.

Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
Cristian Mǎcelaru, conductor
Kian Soltani, cello

Lutosławski: Cello Concerto
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 11, The Year 1905

-Bruce

[Brian]

Last time I saw Macelaru live, we were at the same university and he was conducting the student orchestra! A night of student compositions, I recall. That program is mouthwatering. 11 can be absolutely terrifying live.

[brewski]

Also, speaking of Shostakovich, WCRB in Boston is rebroadcasting the Saturday, Jan. 27 performance of Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk on Monday, Feb. 5 at 7:00 pm EST.

https://www.classicalwcrb.org/show/the-boston-symphony-orchestra/2023-09-25/opolais-sings-shostakovichs-lady-macbeth-of-mtsensk-with-the-bso

-Bruce

[Wanderer]

When in Rome:

1)
Luigi Boccherini 
Duo per due violini in sol maggiore op. 3 n. 1 G56
Trio per violino, viola e violoncello in re maggiore op. 14 n. 4 G98
Trio per due violini e violoncello in do maggiore op. 6 n. 6 G94
Quintetto per archi e chitarra in re maggiore "Fandango" G448
Quintetto n. 7 in mi minore per due violini, viola, violoncello e chitarra G 541
Variazioni su "La ritirata di Madrid" in do maggiore per quintetto

Fabio Biondi violino
Europa Galante


2)
Giuseppe Verdi: Messa da Requiem

Orchestra e Coro dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
conductor Antonio Pappano
soprano Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha
mezzosoprano Elīna Garanča
tenor SeokJong Baek
bass Giorgi Manoshvili
chorus master Andrea Secchi


3)
Berlioz Le Carnaval romain ouverture
Martinů Les Fresques de Piero della Francesca
Berlioz Harold en Italie

Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
conductor Jakub Hrůša
viola Pinchas Zukerman

[Brian]

Wow, what fortune! I'd happily go to all three of those.

[Florestan]

Wow, what fortune! I'd happily go to all three of those.

+ 1.

[Brian]

Dallas Symphony this weekend has a now-rare all Sibelius program:

En Saga
Violin Concerto
Symphony No. 5

Alexi Kenney, violin
Donald Runnicles

Never heard of Kenney; the internet tells me he's just 29 and a rising chamber music star.

This program was even rarer than I thought! This was the orchestra's first performance of Symphony No. 5 in 12 years, and its first En Saga ever. It was a terrific program. Kenney indulges in some artistic flamboyance in the way he chooses to emphasize certain things, or put a little "sauce" on a phrase, and also in the way he dresses - a formal red dress shirt and black MC Hammer pants! His encore sounded like a Paganini caprice, but wasn't.

Throughout, the orchestra was on very good form and Runnicles kept things orderly with very sensible, sharp tempos. He really whipped up a frenzy at the end of the first movement of the Symphony and at the climax of En Saga. But we also got good quiet playing - the clarinet solo at the end of En Saga, the desolate, intricate string textures behind the symphony's bassoon solo. It was really fun to watch the string players' elbows bob up and down at the start of En Saga - half up, half down on any given beat - and it was also a delight to watch Runnicles conduct, since he keeps time with minimal funny business, and is very clear to follow with his technique.

The most memorable touch, to me, were the unison strings at the glorious ending of the Fifth's finale. Runnicles had them very gently disengage and re-engage every time they reached the end of the bow (up/down/up/down), so rather than a "smooth" long continuous sound, the E flat was gently reaffirmed and reasserted over and over while the brass rang out overhead. Wonderful.

Apparently at Thursday night's concert, a fire alarm went off midway through the Violin Concerto's finale and they didn't resume playing it, just went straight to intermission!

[brewski]

Really, really looking forward to this concert, accompanied by some friends I haven't seen in decades. The Lutosławski is a favorite, and ten years ago Soltani played it and won a major cello prize in Finland. The Shostakovich Eleventh is also a longtime fave, to my ears often overlooked in favor of Nos. 5, 7, and 10 (no slight against any of those). And I don't recall hearing Mǎcelaru live, though he has appeared in some streams over the past few years.

Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
Cristian Mǎcelaru, conductor
Kian Soltani, cello

Lutosławski: Cello Concerto
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 11, The Year 1905

-Bruce

This concert was absolutely sensational, held in Cincinnati's beautiful hall, which was completely renovated in 2018. If I had been in town on my own, and not catching up with a dear college friend, I would have gone to both of the performances. Kian Soltani gave cogent, illuminating remarks before the Lutosławski concerto, highlighting in his words, the "struggle for dominance" between the soloist and the orchestra. While it is certainly not the only way to approach the piece, my friends said afterward that his comments helped them enormously to make sense of it. It was exciting to see the Cincinnati audience go wild for Lutosławski, and as an encore, Soltani performed one of his own compositions, "Persian Fire Dance."

After intermission, with a considerably enlarged orchestra, Mǎcelaru led a beautiful, agonizing reading of the Shostakovich, which he has called a masterpiece. (I agree.) The orchestra sounded as magnificent as any I have heard in the last few years, with clarity, focus, and enormous dynamic contrasts. Highlights: great woodwinds, a fabulous principal trumpet, and a battery of percussionists having a field day.

Later we wondered if Mǎcelaru is being considered as the orchestra's next conductor, given that Louis Langrée is leaving at the end of May. Based on their smiles and obvious commitment, the musicians seemed to relish working with him. (And you can often tell when musicians are not having a good time.)

The rest of the weekend was filled with other delights—excellent food, some glorious architecture (e.g., Union Terminal and the Netherlands Plaza Hotel, both Art Deco), and a ton of conversation—but I will recall the concert for years.

-Bruce

[Brian]

Friday will be my first time ever seeing or hearing this one! (I've heard orchestral excerpts from the suite by Manfred Honeck, only.)

ELEKTRA
Marjorie Owens, Elektra
Jill Grove, Klytämnestra
Angela Meade, Chrysothemis
Alfred Walker, Orest

The Dallas Opera
Emmanuel Villaume, conductor
Sir David McVicar, director