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

[Brian]

How was the turn out Karl?  My limited experience is that not as many people turn out for chamber music as they do orchestral music.  But maybe it is different in Boston.

Yeah, we had a nearly empty room earlier this year for the Jerusalem Quartet playing Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky.

[brewski]

Yeah, we had a nearly empty room earlier this year for the Jerusalem Quartet playing Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky.

OK, that is sad. I saw them a year ago in Philadelphia, where the house was packed and loudly enthusiastic. But my experience is similar to David's: chamber music somehow appeals to a more limited audience. Somewhere there may be a study on "why."

-Bruce

[steve ridgway]

chamber music somehow appeals to a more limited audience. Somewhere there may be a study on "why."

How does the value for money compare with orchestral tickets? In terms of musicians per dollar I mean .

[DavidW]

Yeah, we had a nearly empty room earlier this year for the Jerusalem Quartet playing Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky.

That is absolutely insane.  I would've killed to be at that concert, they are one of the finest quartet playing right now!

[Karl Henning]

At Jordan Hall for the Bartók quartets, to be played by the Borromeo String Quartet.

Borromeo Quartet delivers dazzling performance of Bartók's six string quartets at Jordan Hall

[brewski]

How does the value for money compare with orchestral tickets? In terms of musicians per dollar I mean .

Ha!

-Bruce

[brewski]

Speaking of Brahms symphonies (on another thread), hearing these two this weekend. (Daniel Barenboim, originally scheduled to conduct, has withdrawn for health reasons.)

Staatskapelle Berlin
Yannick Nézet-Séguin, conductor

Brahms: Symphony No. 3
Brahms: Symphony No. 4

-Bruce

[brewski]

Tonight:

Stockhausen  Cosmic Pulses

Klavierstück XV SYNTHI-FOU for multiple electronic keyboards and eight-channel electronic music
STRAHLEN for vibraphone and ten-channel electronic music
COSMIC PULSES eight-channel electronic music

GBSR Duo & Sound Intermedia   
George Barton percussion
Siwan Rhys keyboards
Ian Dearden sound design

This looks fantastic. I don't know the piece at all (nor the performers). Post-concert comments welcome!

-Bruce

[brewski]

The strongest piece was Cosmic Pulses.  Like the surface of the sun rendered in sound - a massive, dense, boiling explosion.  Yet tonal - in its way - and surprisingly relaxing to listen to:  within minutes I was free-associating like mad, imagination tumbling.  Even when I got home (an hour later) I was still buzzing.  A liberating experience that I'd welcome again, and happily recommend.

Nice also to see a theremin in performance, filling out the tonal palette of the vibraphone piece.  I do like a theremin.

Thanks! (I meant to say that I haven't heard any of the three.) Your description ("the surface of the sun") sells it well. I will seek it out at some point.

-Bruce

[brewski]

Tonight, a "125th birthday party" for Deutsche Grammophon, a hodgepodge of all sorts of things. Normally this kind of event isn't that interesting to me, but I haven't heard Grimaud in awhile, and don't think I've ever heard Dueñas live. (And I snagged a ticket behind the orchestra, close to everyone onstage.)

The Philadelphia Orchestra
Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Conductor
María Dueñas, Violin
Hélène Grimaud, Piano
Moby, Musician/Vocalist

Rachmaninoff Prelude in C-sharp minor
Price Adoration, for string orchestra
Ravel Tzigane, for violin and orchestra
Kreisler "Caprice viennois," for violin and orchestra
Ravel Second and third movements from Piano Concerto in G major
Moby "Everloving"
Handel/arr. Moby/orch. Knoth "Sarabande"
Moby "Hymn"
Moby "Porcelain"
Stravinsky Finale, from Suite from The Firebird

-Bruce

[Wanderer]

This Tuesday and Wednesday in Naples:

Giacomo Puccini
Turandot
Opera in three acts and five scenes
Libretto by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni
from the theatrical fairy tale of the same name by Carlo Gozzi

Conductor | Dan Ettinger
Stage direction | Vasily Barkhatov ♭
Set Design | Zinovy Margolin♭
Costume Designer | Galya Solodovnikova♭
Lighting Designer| Alexander Sivaev♭


Cast
The Princess Turandot | Sondra Radvanovsky (9, 12, 15, 17) / Oksana Dyka (10, 13, 16)
The Emperor Altoum | Nicola Martinucci
Timur | Alexander Tsymbalyuk
Calaf| Yusif Eyvazov (9, 12, 15, 17) / Seokjong Baek ♭ (10, 13, 16)
Liù | Rosa Feola (9, 12, 15, 17) / Amina Edris ♭ (10, 13, 16)
Ping | Roberto De Candia (9, 10) / Alessio Arduini
Pang | Gregory Bonfatti
Pong | Francesco Pittari
Mandarin | Sergio Vitale
First Handmaid | Valeria Attianese ♮
Second Handmaid | Linda Airoldi ♮
The Young Prince of Persia | Vasco Maria Vagnoli ♮

♭ debut at Teatro di San Carlo
♮Artist of the Chorus

Orchestra, Chorus and Children Chorus of Teatro di San Carlo
Chorus Master| Piero Monti
Children Chorus Master | Stefania Rinaldi

New Production of Teatro di San Carlo

[brewski]

Tomorrow night at the Curtis Institute of Music, a group new to me, the Erinys String Quartet.

Webern: Fünf Satze
Beethoven: Quartet No. 6 in B-Flat Major, Op. 18, No. 6
Haydn: Quartet in F Major, Hob. III:48, Op. 50, No. 5 ("The Dream")
Janáček: Quartet No. 2 ("Intimate Letters")

https://www.curtis.edu/event/student-recital-20231213/

-Bruce

[brewski]

Tomorrow evening, the first of three "Chopin plus" recitals by Boris Giltburg:

Chopin  24 Preludes Op.28
Rachmaninov  13 Preludes Op.32

Live stream here, on demand thereafter.

Thanks for this, which I may very well watch tomorrow or afterward. And also, glad to know Wigmore is doing occasional streams. I may not have known that!

-Bruce

[(poco) Sforzando]

I'd love to get to the Feb 17 Carnegie Hall recital by Cliburn 2022 winner Yunchan Lim, already sold out. Only 19, his CD of Liszt Transcendental Etudes is well - transcendental. If anyone has a ticket to sell . . . .

[(poco) Sforzando]

How is their returns policy?  The main concert halls here are pretty good - you can generally return tickets by phone, and the seats will go back on the booking website almost immediately, for other people to pick up.  It's not completely reliable, but usually you stand a reasonable chance if you wait until the last few days before the concert.  That's how I got my tickets for Ryoji Ikeda - somehow I missed the initial booking period, and by the time I was aware of it there was very little left, so instead of taking seats right over at the side or way at the back, I waited for returns to show up.  For the last week or so I had the booking screen open the whole time, refreshing it every so often - and nothing available, completely sold out, day after day - I was starting to think I'd missed my chance - and then 3 days to go, middle of the morning, whaddaya know:  2 prime seats popped up, and I was on them in a flash.

I know what you mean. The time to start a strategy like that is a few days before the event. It's listed now as "limited availability," and last time I called it was "sold out," but once February rolls around I'll keep an eye out for cancellations or returns.

[(poco) Sforzando]

I was just browsing Wigmore Hall's latest brochure for next summer - and saw that it includes Yunchan Lim performing the very same program of Chopin Etudes.  Booking opens next month so I have added that to the (already quite long) list.   Thanks for the heads-up!  And who knows, maybe they'll stream it.

You can see a lot of his work already on YouTube, the Cliburn competition channel for 2022.

[Karl Henning]

Speaking of Brahms symphonies (on another thread), hearing these two this weekend. (Daniel Barenboim, originally scheduled to conduct, has withdrawn for health reasons.)

Staatskapelle Berlin
Yannick Nézet-Séguin, conductor

Brahms: Symphony No. 3
Brahms: Symphony No. 4

-Bruce

Heck of a two-fer in the Hall!

TD: The Lowell Chamber Orchestra will play Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht (1919 version) and the Ives Third tonight.

[brewski]

Heck of a two-fer in the Hall!

TD: The Lowell Chamber Orchestra will play Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht (1919 version) and the Ives Third tonight.

It was a terrific concert. Several friends commented in different ways, nothing against the great Philadelphia Orchestra, but the Staatskapelle offered a different kind of sound.

That Schoenberg/Ives concert tonight looks pretty great.

-Bruce

[Karl Henning]

Andris Nelsons will lead a concert performance of Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk in January.

[brewski]

Andris Nelsons will lead a concert performance of Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk in January.

Will keep you posted, but there's a chance I may come up for that. (That's actually a candidate for "I'll go to all of the performances," even if a fantasy at the moment.)

-Bruce