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

[Karl Henning]

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

Splendid!

[brewski]

Splendid!

PS, what is your recommended place to sit in the hall, the best value for sight and sound? I don't need the most expensive (i.e., close to the singers), but don't need the least expensive, either.

I have been there, but not in maybe 20 years, though I do recall the sound is excellent in most any seat.

-Bruce

[Karl Henning]

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.

[Karl Henning]

S, what is your recommended place to sit in the hall, the best value for sight and sound? I don't need the most expensive (i.e., close to the singers), but don't need the least expensive, either.

I have been there, but not in maybe 20 years, though I do recall the sound is excellent in most any seat.

Your recollection is sound! Plenty of room on the floor that is not on top of the stage. I've also always found the sound from the first balcony to be excellent.

[brewski]

Your recollection is sound! Plenty of room on the floor that is not on top of the stage. I've also always found the sound from the first balcony to be excellent.

Thank you, Karl. (PS, for better or worse, there are still lots of tickets available.)

-Bruce

[Karl Henning]

Thank you, Karl. (PS, for better or worse, there are still lots of tickets available.)

-Bruce

Hope to see you! It's been an age!

[Judith]

Wonderful concert from local orchestra last weekend
Leeds Haydn Players

Performed
Mozart  Divertimento in D major K136
Strauss II  Blue Danube Waltz
Bach  Sleepers Awake
Vaughan Williams  Fantasia on Greensleeves
Hely-Hutchinson  Carol Symphony

Conductors
Harry Lai
Felicity Cliffe

[DavidW]

Okay I love all those works, wish I was there Judith.  Here it is just Christmas pops concerts so I'm checked out.

[brewski]

Very much looking forward to seeing Tiberghien again tomorrow, with a new musical partner:

Marais  Deuxième livre de pièces de viole - Couplets de folies (Les folies d'Espagne)
Kobekin  The Town Romance
Myaskovsky  Cello Sonata No. 2 in A minor Op.81
Debussy  Cello Sonata
Shostakovich  Cello Sonata in D minor Op.40

Anastasia Kobekina cello
Cédric Tiberghien piano

Thanks for posting this, which I missed, even as a subscriber to Wigmore Hall's YT channel. I am not familiar with either artist (except by name), and the program looks great.

-Bruce

[brewski]

In the past I've seen Tiberghien accompanying Alina Ibragimova, who tended to dominate, but even in her shadow you could tell he had a wonderful touch.  Just how much he contributed became even clearer recently when hearing Ibragimova accompanied by Boris Giltburg, who though a fine performer in his own right did not play to her strengths in the same way, and I'm very keen to hear how Tiberghien gets on with his new partner, whom I do not know at all.

In May he's giving a solo recital of works by Bach, Beethoven, Ligeti and Kurtag - I'm really looking forward to that.  

Most interesting, thanks. And I just looked at the May program—heavens, that looks superb. I don't recall ever hearing any of those Beethoven variations. At the moment, doesn't look like they are streaming it, but perhaps it's too early to announce.

-Bruce

[Christo]

Utrecht, March 19: Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir under Tõnu Kaljuste, doing:
* Cyrillus Kreek: I Dreamed; A Harvest Song; Winter Evening; Lullaby; Listen the Story of Light
* Veljo Tormis: St. John's Day Songs, a.o.
Utrecht, Vredenburg, March 19

[brewski]

Utrecht, March 19: Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir under Tõnu Kaljuste, doing:
* Cyrillus Kreek: I Dreamed; A Harvest Song; Winter Evening; Lullaby; Listen the Story of Light
* Veljo Tormis: St. John's Day Songs, a.o.
Utrecht, Vredenburg, March 19

Oh yess, this looks wonderful. I don't know Kreek at all; have you heard any of his work?

-Bruce

[brewski]

On Saturday, 13 January, the WDR Sinfonieorchester is livestreaming this terrific-looking concert.

Schreker: "Night Piece" from Der ferne Klang
Schoenberg: Erwartung for voice and orchestra op. 17
Zemlinsky: The Mermaid (Original version)

Tanja Ariane Baumgartner, mezzo-soprano
WDR Sinfonieorchester
Ingo Metzmacher, conductor

-Bruce

[Ganondorf]

Bought today a ticket to Poulenc's Dialogues des carmelites. It's on 26th this month.

[LKB]

I may attend the San Francisco Symphony performance of Bruckner's 4th in July, with Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting. Have access to two tickets, but Saturday's a work night for me and I'm still thinking about it. 

[Christo]

Oh yess, this looks wonderful. I don't know Kreek at all; have you heard any of his work?

-Bruce

Not much yet, he's one of the most unknown Estonian composers here. Thus far I mostly heard his - sometimes performed - psalms. He dates of course from Estonia's first period of independence, like Mart Saar, Rudolph Tobias, and the much better known Eduard Tubin.

But there's also the wonderful Requiem from 1929, on my headphones now. It was forbidden, as was all religious music, Mozart's Requiem included, in Soviet times - one of the reasons why it took so long to 'discover' him.

[LKB]

Salonen did great work here with the Philharmonia across a wide range of material, and his departure is still felt.  And the SFS made fine Bruckner recordings with Blomstedt.  So in your place I'd probably go, work or no work. Depends on circumstances, of course.  

I used to have a rule about not going to concerts on consecutive days, in case it stopped being special and became just a habit - a bit like booze   - but after last night I have scrapped that.  I missed the Danels' first Weinberg/Shostakovich concert because the next night Lugansky was playing Rachmaninov - which was a mistake: I will be there for the rest of the series regardless of whatever else might be going on at the time.

About four or maybe five years ago l attended a Bruckner Fourth performance by the SFS, conducted  by Honeck. At the time l wasn't very impressed, and remarked to my friend that the orchestra might be a good Bruckner orchestra " someday ". 

( This attitude came about in part due to the crucial opening horn solo being poorly executed, with the final phrase completely absent... precisely the beginning to be avoided. It transformed me from an optimistic, " Bruckner 4th live, yeah baby! " enthusiast to a " Wonder what else will go wrong, they're clearly not ready. " skeptic. )

Was l expecting too much? Perhaps, but during MTT's directorship the orchestra's prestige and international profile had grown significantly, and it's not unreasonable to expect world-class performance when a wide range of critics and publications are labeling an ensemble as such.

Anyway, that's several years ago. More to the present point, I'll have to try and find more recent SFS Bruckner to listen to, perhaps they have since found their comfort zone.

[Ian]

These are planned for the coming months:

April 5th
LUTOSŁAWSKI Concerto pour violoncelle
DVOŘÁK Symphonie n°9, « Du Nouveau Monde »
Krzysztof Urbański
Orchestre National de Lille

May 24th
HOLST The Planets 
Gergely Madaras
Orchestre Philharmonique Royale de Liège

[DavidW]

Tonight's instalment in Quatuor Danel's ongoing dual cycles of Weinberg+Shostakovich:

Weinberg  String Quartets Nos. 2 & 3
Shostakovich  String Quartet No. 3

Favourites all.

Alas no live stream.

Edit:  The Weinbergs were good, but the Shostakovich was ... shattering.   As Marc Danel said: What can we play as an encore after that?

Wish I was there for that!!

[Mapman]

I'm looking forward to tomorrow night's livestream from Detroit. It starts at 8PM Eastern time here: https://www.dso.org/watch/2835418


Paul Lewis piano
Osmo Vänskä conductor

HENRY DORN: Transitions
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major, Op. 15
JEAN SIBELIUS: Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 43


And the next concert I'm going to in person, at the end of the month.

Alisa Weilerstein cello
Jader Bignamini conductor

FELIX MENDELSSOHN: Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream
EDWARD ELGAR: Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85
NIKOLAI RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: Scheherazade, Op. 35