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

[Christo]

Wow, this sounds great. I have never seen notices of any Martinů operas performed in the U.S. (which of course, doesn't mean they haven't been), and his other works don't show up that often, either. In any case, a real rarity. Have fun! And do report back, if you're inclined.

Attended a performance of Julietta by the Opera Zuid at the Stadsschouwburg (city theatre) in Utrecht, as part of a Martinů Festival, on Thursday 26 February 1998. Wonderful, echt ("early, French phase") Martinů!
                                               

[brewski]

Attended a performance of Julietta by the Opera Zuid at the Stadsschouwburg (city theatre) in Utrecht, as part of a Martinů Festival, on Thursday 26 February 1998. Wonderful, echt ("early, French phase") Martinů!
                                             

And that looks great! Rhetorical rant: so when do we get a Martinů Festival? I don't expect any US opera company to step up to the plate, alas.

PS, that's a beautiful poster for it, too.

[Brian]

And that looks great! Rhetorical rant: so when do we get a Martinů Festival?

Bard College is doing one in August of this year! Not operas, I don't think, but the programming is still TBD.

[mahler10th]

Bought one ticket, just to be sure. Second front row, left side. Limited view, very much OK with me. See you, perhaps, and will probably bring one or two friends with me. Unique occasion, I know. My second Mahler 2 ever. Greetings, enjoy, Johan

That is great new Johan.  All the Dutch people I've ever known and worked alongside were so tall!  So Joyce and I will be like two 'wee' people! 
As you're facing the stage, we are on balcony seats around 36, which I have identified (or at least think I have) are in the right corner seats of the balcony.  I will most certainly look out for you.  Will PM you as the date approaches - if we can even say Hi, that would be another triumph for GMG.    I have Mahler 4, 5 and 9 under my belt, but Mahler 2 has always been my favourite, and to see it when and where I'm seeing it, changes everything for me in my love for our music.

[Christo]

That is great new Johan.  All the Dutch people I've ever known and worked alongside were so tall!  So Joyce and I will be like two 'wee' people! 
As you're facing the stage, we are on balcony seats around 36, which I have identified (or at least think I have) are in the right corner seats of the balcony.  I will most certainly look out for you.  Will PM you as the date approaches - if we can even say Hi, that would be another triumph for GMG.    I have Mahler 4, 5 and 9 under my belt, but Mahler 2 has always been my favourite, and to see it when and where I'm seeing it, changes everything for me in my love for our music.

Shrunk from 1.89 to about 1.87 metres now over the past decade (only know this yardstick, no idea how many inches I measure; by the way, my little brother is 1.98 metres, I'm a head shorter). Very nice if we meet at the Concertgebouw, maybe one or two more music friends will come along, just good to share together. My mobile number is on the Internet anywhere: 0031-616.030.666, If all goes well, drinks are included in the price: we'll toast all GMG'ers! And if not, I know a few pubs around the corner, hope to see you there alive & breating again! 

[brewski]

Tomorrow night, this incredible group of players in the program below:

Soovin Kim, violin (formerly with Johannes Quartet)
Paul Watkins, cello (formerly with Emerson Quartet)
Gloria Chien, piano (often with Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center)
Ricardo Morales, clarinet (Philadelphia Orchestra principal clarinet)

Debussy: Première Rhapsodie
R. Schumann: Piano Trio in D Minor, Op. 63
Messiaen: Quartet for the End of Time

[brewski]

Tonight live from Detroit, the terrific Randall Goosby will perform the same Price violin concerto he's doing on Feb. 9 in Cincinnati (which will also be livestreamed).

Detroit Symphony Orchestra
Christian Reif, conductor
Randall Goosby, violin

Florence Price: Violin Concerto No. 2
Florence Price (arr. Goosby): Adoration
Jimmy López: Symphony No. 5: Fantastica (Co-Commission)
Lyadov: The Enchanted Lake
Prokofiev: Symphony No. 7

[Mapman]

Tonight live from Detroit, the terrific Randall Goosby will perform the same Price violin concerto he's doing on Feb. 9 in Cincinnati (which will also be livestreamed).

Detroit Symphony Orchestra
Christian Reif, conductor
Randall Goosby, violin

Florence Price: Violin Concerto No. 2
Florence Price (arr. Goosby): Adoration
Jimmy López: Symphony No. 5: Fantastica (Co-Commission)
Lyadov: The Enchanted Lake
Prokofiev: Symphony No. 7

I'm also looking forward to this livestream! If I was still in Michigan, I would have attended Sunday afternoon.

[Karl Henning]

Tonight live from Detroit, the terrific Randall Goosby will perform the same Price violin concerto he's doing on Feb. 9 in Cincinnati (which will also be livestreamed).

Detroit Symphony Orchestra
Christian Reif, conductor
Randall Goosby, violin

Florence Price: Violin Concerto No. 2
Florence Price (arr. Goosby): Adoration
Jimmy López: Symphony No. 5: Fantastica (Co-Commission)
Lyadov: The Enchanted Lake
Prokofiev: Symphony No. 7

Great program!
TD: two concerts in Lowell today: an afternoon keyboard recital with a Haydn sonata (on harpsichord) Debussy 's Île joyeuse and a late Brahms piece on two different pianos (Brahms on an Érard, IIRC. Tonight the Lowell Chamber Orchestra plays the première of a Little Symphony by My friend Kevin Scott, and the Dvořák wind serenade, among others.

[brewski]

Tonight, this livestream (free) from the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society:

Lucy Fitz Gibbon, soprano
Marina Piccinini, flute
Anneleen Lenaerts, harp

J.S. Bach: Sonata in G Minor, BWV 1020
Smetana: The Moldau (Arr. H. Trnečk)
Roussel: Deux Poèmes de Ronsard, Op. 26
Rota: Sonata for Flute and Harp
C. Schumann: Three Romances, Op. 22
Debussy: Syrinx
J. Marx: Pan Trauert um Syrinx
Ravel: Sonatine

[(poco) Sforzando]

On Feb 9, 2025, Seong-Jin Cho is performing the complete solo piano music of Ravel in one night in San Francisco!

Heard him last night (Feb 5, 2025) doing the complete Ravel at Carnegie Hall. Spectacular! Only three hours worth of music. Available to watch here: https://www.stage-plus.com/discover

[brewski]

Coming up at 2:00 p.m. EST, this livestream:

Frankfurt Radio Symphony
Martin Fröst, Klarinette
Riccardo Minasi, Dirigent

Mozart: Sinfonie A-Dur KV 114
Copland: Klarinettenkonzert
Mozart: Sinfonie C-Dur KV 425 (»Linzer«)
William Grant Still: 1. Sinfonie (»Afro-American«)

[ultralinear]

Tonight the Ligeti Quartet will be utilising d&b audiotechnik's Soundscape system to perform:

Terry Riley  Poppy Nogood and the Phantom Band (arr. Richard Jones)
Pauline Oliveros  70 Chords for Terry
Terry Riley  Cadenza on The Night Plain

[brewski]

Tonight the Ligeti Quartet will be utilising d&b audiotechnik's Soundscape system to perform:

Terry Riley  Poppy Nogood and the Phantom Band (arr. Richard Jones)
Pauline Oliveros  70 Chords for Terry
Terry Riley  Cadenza on The Night Plain

How fantastic. Have a great time, and do feel free to report back.

[ultralinear]

How fantastic. Have a great time, and do feel free to report back.

Poppy Nogood is an all-time favourite piece so I was looking forward to a live performance - if such a thing were possible - but expecting to be disappointed, as I had been with a live performance a few years back of a "Version 2" of A Rainbow In Curved Air, which was  ... all right ... but not anything more than all right - basically the bits that were from the original were as good as they'd ever been, and the additions didn't add anything of value, so you might be better off sticking with the original.

This evening however was definitely worth going to, and did that thing you get sometimes from live performance, of illuminating features of the music which can escape you when you just listen to recordings, no matter how many times you do that.  I had never fully appreciated - though perhaps should have - the closeness of the links between Poppy Nogood and In C - the use of repeating short phrases, layered and shifted temporally (using electronics in place of multiple independent performers) against a continuous drone in place of the pulse, which also linked to the use of the tanpura in Indian music.  I don't know where it fits chronologically in Riley's output, but it now seems to me that Poppy Nogood can be seen as both a foundation and a development of In C.  Maybe the dark side of In C. Which gets regular performances by all kinds of groups - I couldn't count how many I've been to (some better than others) - yet I suspect this may have been the first ever live performance of a Poppy Nogood adaptation - certainly the first performance of this adaptation, which was made by the group's violist (who also operated the drone.)  And it works - the musicians said afterwards how surprised they'd been how well it worked - it's both exactly how Poppy Nogood sounds on the record, and quite different from how it sounds on the record - right there in front of you.  It deserves more performances.

Cadenza was, as it has always seemed to me, too long, but within its parameters worked well.  The Ligetis played it as well as the Kronos, who tutored them in it, so kudos to both of them.

[brewski]

Poppy Nogood is an all-time favourite piece so I was looking forward to a live performance - if such a thing were possible - but expecting to be disappointed, as I had been with a live performance a few years back of a "Version 2" of A Rainbow In Curved Air, which was  ... all right ... but not anything more than all right - basically the bits that were from the original were as good as they'd ever been, and the additions didn't add anything of value, so you might be better off sticking with the original.

This evening however was definitely worth going to, and did that thing you get sometimes from live performance, of illuminating features of the music which can escape you when you just listen to recordings, no matter how many times you do that.  I had never fully appreciated - though perhaps should have - the closeness of the links between Poppy Nogood and In C - the use of repeating short phrases, layered and shifted temporally (using electronics in place of multiple independent performers) against a continuous drone in place of the pulse, which also linked to the use of the tanpura in Indian music.  I don't know where it fits chronologically in Riley's output, but it now seems to me that Poppy Nogood can be seen as both a foundation and a development of In C.  Maybe the dark side of In C. Which gets regular performances by all kinds of groups - I couldn't count how many I've been to (some better than others) - yet I suspect this may have been the first ever live performance of a Poppy Nogood adaptation - certainly the first performance of this adaptation, which was made by the group's violist (who also operated the drone.)  And it works - the musicians said afterwards how surprised they'd been how well it worked - it's both exactly how Poppy Nogood sounds on the record, and quite different from how it sounds on the record - right there in front of you.  It deserves more performances.

Cadenza was, as it has always seemed to me, too long, but within its parameters worked well.  The Ligetis played it as well as the Kronos, who tutored them in it, so kudos to both of them.

Thanks so much for taking the time to relay all of this! I actually have never heard Poppy except for the original recording, which I listened to a lot when it came out, but I haven't heard that in years. Your comments make me want to remedy that, pronto. (Like you, I've heard many performances of In C.) A friend in NYC was curious to know about the arrangement, so I will relay some of your comments.

And similarly, I have only heard the one recording of Cadenza — perhaps the length has subtly discouraged further exploration — but now I'm curious to revisit it as well.

I wish the Ligetis would bring this program here!

[Szykneij]

Going to this one on Monday. Looking forward to the Kilar.

[Kalevala]

Going to this one on Monday. Looking forward to the Kilar.

Haven't heard of Kilar before now.  What is his/hers music like?

K

[Szykneij]

Haven't heard of Kilar before now.  What is his/hers music like?

K

I was unfamiliar with Wojciech Kilar before I was invited to this concert. There is a youtube performance of "Orawa" that I checked out and enjoyed. I did post on the Kilar thread on the composer board but no recommendations for a recording were offered. This piece, at least, I'd call minimalist. I thought of Philip Glass while listening.

[Kalevala]

I was unfamiliar with Wojciech Kilar before I was invited to this concert. There is a youtube performance of "Orawa" that I checked out and enjoyed. I did post on the Kilar thread on the composer board but no recommendations for a recording were offered. This piece, at least, I'd call minimalist. I thought of Philip Glass while listening.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts.  I'll check into his music.

K