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Post by MartinT on Oct 17, 2016 22:08:58 GMT
Lucky you, Jules, you finally got to see her.
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Post by julesd68 on Nov 10, 2016 14:01:41 GMT
Royal Festival Hall 9/11/16London Philharmonic OrchestraRobin TicciatiBeethoven Violin ConcertoDvorak Symphony No 9  It was 1980 when a young Anne-Sophie Mutter first recorded the Beethoven with Herbert Von Karajan. She has had plenty of time to make it her own; indeed, last night it struck me that she is so utterly at home and comfortable with this formidable concerto, but with maturity comes a greater emotional connection and understanding. LVB makes you wait some time of course before the solo violin makes its first entry. But those notes, when they finally arrived, were just so exquisitely judged with the most wonderful timbre - sweet but not too honeyed … goosebumps all round ... This was to be the most assured professional performance in front of an entirely sold out Festival Hall. At the core of it all is Ms Mutter’s unshakeable technique. The two ‘solo’ passages towards the end of the first and second movement were quite mesmerising, a entirely bravura display underpinned by this technique which feeds such fearsomely accurate intonation with the trickiest of warp speed bowing. My conclusion was that whilst we hadn’t learnt anything new about this concerto, it was a deeply satisfying performance from one of the world's true greats. As an encore, the JS Bach Sarabande in D minor was poignantly dedicated to those who lost their live in yesterday’s London tram crash. The plaintive, restrained Baroque tone reflected the mood perfectly. After the interval we were treated to the joy that is the New World Symphony. I don’t think I will ever tire of this work - four movements where invention and melody never let up, it is so consistently brilliant and its energy is so infectious. Indeed, Mr Ticciati was constantly urging on his orchestra to maintain their energy and discipline. Perhaps it could have been slightly tauter in parts, and I felt the largo was taken just slightly too fast for the cor anglais to truly revel in its role here. Overall however, immensely enjoyable and a fine way to end a perfect evening’s entertainment. It was also very special for me to take my 11 year old son to this concert. He’s a piano and violin player and I hope that a little of Anne-Sophie’s divine stardust will have rubbed off on him and inspire him to make even better music. Our seats were in the choir, just to the side, but not like at the Albert Hall where you can still be a long way from the stage. Here we were a couple of metres away from brass and timpani! The sound was quite marvellous and very exciting to enjoy it so close in where the dynamics feel even more exhilarating. We also had a perfect view of the soloist as she mainly played facing the conductor. Very interesting to be able to watch the conductor in this way as well. These tickets are an absolute steal as some of the cheapest in the venue and whilst this time I didn’t have a choice of tickets, next time at the Festival Hall I wouldn’t have any hesitation about choosing the same seats. 
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Post by MartinT on Nov 10, 2016 16:15:43 GMT
It sounds like you had a marvellous evening, Jules. Thanks for the great review.
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Post by ChrisB on Nov 11, 2016 13:37:29 GMT
Just back from quite a music orientated trip to Berlin, one of the things we did was to attend an informal piano recital by the duo of Lane and Slava Levin at the Berliner Philharmoniker. Berliner Philharmoniker (the light brown coloured structures in this photo taken from the 25th floor of Potsdamer Platz 1 - Panoramapunkt)  Every Tuesday lunchtime, the Berliner Philharmoniker holds a free concert in the foyer of the auditorium and what a great thing this is for the residents and visitors to the city. The performers don't earn a fee and the organisation encourages the audience to make voluntary donations for UNICEF. It's first come, first served, so you take your chances as to whether you will get in or not. We got there about 50 minutes before it started and in a slightly bizarre ritual of being handed a token each and then taking two steps before handing it to another member of staff, we walked straight in! The queuing starts about 1/2 an hour before the start, or so we were told. Philharmoniker Entrance The only seating provided is for the disabled and they get the very best of the concert, which is fantastic. Everyone else makes the best of what is available, so they sit on the floor, staircases and fixtures and fittings. There is coffee, beer and good food available, but no clinking of glasses or cutlery once the performance has begun, thank you very much. It was funny to see well dressed members of society sitting on the floor trying to eat plates of spaghetti one handed in the daintiest way! We found ourselves a seat high up on the staircase to the second balcony and were rewarded with almost no view of the performers at all! However, this doesn't bother me, as I almost always shut my eyes while listening to live classical performances anyway. The Audience Assembles The concerts are fairly short - usually 40-50 minutes but we were treated to hour or so. The programme: Camille Saint-Saёns
Variations on a theme of Beethoven op. 35
Anton Arensky
Suite for 2 pianos No. 4 op. 62
Sergei Rachmaninov
Suite for 2 pianos No. 2 op. 17
 We enjoyed the music and the Arensky, a composer who I have never knowingly heard was, for me, the highlight. Mischa liked the delicate encore piece best, but we don't have a clue what it was! My main reason for this post was to point out to folks that these great events exist and if you are in Berlin, then maybe you ought to look out for them - well worth taking a chance on getting in.  |
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Post by julesd68 on Nov 11, 2016 14:48:02 GMT
Thanks for sharing Chris - I love these kind of lunchtime concerts. It's amazing the talent you can enjoy, more often than not for free ...
If anyone is near London the lunchtime concerts at St Martin-in-the-Fields and St James Piccadilly are well worth the effort.
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Post by kettlechips on Jan 4, 2017 10:55:59 GMT
I went with a couple of friends to the New Years eve concert at the Eglise Saint-Suplice in Paris. A 200 piece orchestra and choir performed Dvorak's 9th Symphony, aka "The New World Symphony" and Mozart's Requiem
The performers were: le Choeur Hugues Reiner, le Choeur Résilience, le Choeur IBM et l'Euromusic Symphonic Orchestra. Soloists were: Emilie Rose Bry, soprano, Olga Gurkovska, alto
Joachim Bresson, tenor, Jacques Catalayud , baryton and the conductor was Hugues Reiner.
Paris was very cold, and light snow was just falling as we went into the church. An excellent atmosphere for these pieces.
I felt the Dvorak was a little lacking in tempo, but the Mozart requiem had just the right pace and feeling. I'm sure that the performers from three choirs and an orchestra, had not had enough time together to really gell, but over all an excellent, and free start to the New Year.
For those of you that don't know this church, The Eglise Saint Sulpice is the second largest church in Paris after Notre-Dame. It is located in the Luxembourg Quarter of the VIe arrondissement. It was originally constructed during the 13th century, and mostly completed in 1732. The church has a long-standing organ tradition which began in the 18th century. It hosts an organ built by Aristide Cavaillé-Coll added in 1862. Sadly the organ was not used during the performance we saw. |
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Post by julesd68 on Jan 4, 2017 13:22:42 GMT
What a fabulously stirring programme for New Year in a quite superb setting!
Thanks for sharing ...
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Post by MartinT on Jan 6, 2017 7:59:58 GMT
Fantastic way to spend the New Year's evening.
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Post by julesd68 on Mar 14, 2017 14:39:33 GMT
An Open Letter to Mr Christian Tetzlaff
Dear Mr Tetzlaff, Brahms Concerto - LSO with Susanna Mälkki. Barbican London 12/3/17.
When I was informed that Janine Jansen was ill and would not be playing the Brahms, I was a bit upset. Actually I was really pissed off. It’s not that you aren’t a world-class soloist, but Ms Jansen is arguably the leading female violinist in the world and I have never seen her play. I have seen you perform a number of times already and if I’m honest the last time I saw you, ironically replacing the indisposed Midori, I didn’t go wild over your ‘innovative’ Bach interpretation as everyone else did. I prefer my Bach a little more austere let’s say ... So you took to the stage on Sunday evening looking very rock 'n roll - black suit and shirt, hair tied back into a ponytail. I’m far too discreet to mention any names (*cough*) but there are a few ‘haircuts’ in the upper echelons of the classical music world who exude a certain triumph of style over substance, so how would this pan out? It’s quite a long time for you to wait to make your entrance in the Brahms. The LSO didn’t initially appear to be responding to Ms Mälkki's demands for more urgency and I was a little concerned we were to be underwhelmed by the evening. But then something happened. You tore into your opening salvo like a man possessed. It almost sent shockwaves round the hall. I immediately knew that this wasn’t going to be a case of making up the numbers and honourable second places. This was going to be Brahms on fire. It certainly woke up the LSO who were feeling the heat - it’s as if all of a sudden they realised that they needed to respond in kind, and respond most admirably they did for the rest of the concerto. To say that you played with a commitment would be an understatement. You were living and breathing every beat of this miraculous work. It was as if you were playing for your life. To use a motor-racing parlance, you might have been driving on the ‘ragged edge’, pushing yourself to the limit and ready to take any chance to gain an advantage. But you weren’t ragged at all. Your intonation and phrasing were entirely supreme, secure in a total and utter mastery of technique. Initially I thought your performance was one of a certain exaggerated duality - a contrast between the cavalry charge of the faster passages to the plaintive urgings of the slower tempi. But I quickly realised I was wrong - you actually brought the same intensity to the slower sections by playing them with equal and total abandonment; they weren’t sweet and cloying, indeed they had wonderful passion and depth. But sadly it cannot all be good. At the end of the concert I asked my 11 year old son what one thing he would take from your performance to learn from as a violinist. He said he wouldn’t move around the stage like you did. I explained that this was you really feeling the emotion and visceral thrust of the music but he was having none of it. I think already he is cast in the mould of the stoic soloist a la Jascha Heifetz … Your animation reminded me that when I was not much older than my son I would often go to see another Teutonic master, Mr Michael Schenker, display similar mastery as yours but his weapon of choice was the Gibson Flying V. Happy days indeed but this was another day that will also linger long in the memory. If only that night had been recorded for posterity and a commercial release, preferably direct-to-disc with a 100% analogue vinyl release please. The best compliment I might pay you is that it would take pride of place in my collection in front of the estimable Mr Herman Krebbers. So, you came, you saw, you played, you reduced the Barbican to all but glowing embers to be rebuilt for another occasion. I salute you, Sir. Regards, Julian 
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Post by MartinT on Mar 14, 2017 19:52:25 GMT
It sounds like you had a great evening, Jules!
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Post by julesd68 on Mar 15, 2017 0:15:27 GMT
Yes it was a fine evening indeed...
I wasn't able to fully concentrate on Also Sprach Z as the violin concerto was still on my mind!
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Post by MartinT on Jun 5, 2017 6:13:52 GMT
Duruflé & Fauré Requiems
Festival Hall
Philharmonia Orchestra & Voices
Jérémie Rhorer - Conductor
Elizabeth Watts - Soprano
Jean-Sébastien Bou - Baritone
Last night the Festival Hall looked absolutely magnificent with the recently completed organ refurbishment and the removal of a lot of the old sound treatment speakers. We started with a minute's silence for the victims of the London attack, very appropriate and appreciated. The Philharmonia were in glorious form, as ever, the choir quite superb and Rhorer looked quite young and bohemian but in control of his resources for these two great French pieces.
I liked both soloists, who suited the parts well. I had never heard of Bou but he sang marvellously. The choir were simply wonderful throughout and created a hell of a crescendo when asked of them. This is the first time I've been able to compare the two Requiems directly and it coalesced my thoughts on the two. The Duruflé is the more complex work and you can hear that he lived in an age where dissonance and harmonic complexity were beginning to emerge, creating some stunning moments. The Fauré is more straightforward, very beautiful and has its own moments. For me, the Duruflé is up there with the greatest works ever composed, but how good it was to hear both performed in quick succession!
A thoroughly enjoyable evening and I managed to get home before midnight.
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Post by julesd68 on Jun 5, 2017 13:10:38 GMT
Yes it was a magical experience to hear these two master works performed on the same night! It was also magical to be greeted with the sight of the Festival Hall organ. Visually it is so spectacular and was beautifully played throughout; sadly I don't have a note of the organist ... As Martin has said, the Philharmonia were immaculate throughout, but I want to say a special word for the cello section who have a lot of work to do in both requiems when the violins lie silent ... The plaintive urgings of the Durufle were encapsulated in their purity of tone and involvement in the music - it was was really something special and I found their performance very moving indeed. Yes, when the choir and orchestra were at full throttle it was a miraculous wall of sound indeed and gave me goosebumps at times. I found that the Philharmonia Voices were at their best in these sections. Sometimes I didn't quite find the purity of tone I was looking for in the hushed moments and when individual groups of voices (sopranos, tenors etc) were performing on their own, especially in the Faure. I didn't think the performance of the Faure added anything new to the work and it didn't hit heavenly heights, but it was honest and heart-felt in its intentions; I did very much enjoy it. For me the Durufle is a master work and one of the great requiems. Martin mentions the complexity and I think it is this that makes it so rewarding. It doesn't wear its heart on its sleeve in quite the same way as the Faure. Whilst the Faure revels in more easily accessible exquisite melodies and beauty, the Durufle could be said to offers more surprises, intrigue and greater depth of 'textures'. Certainly a work that I very much look forward to re-visiting in the concert hall in the future. A quite wonderful evening's entertainment ...  |
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Post by julesd68 on Jun 5, 2017 14:13:21 GMT
Martin - the Durufle can be performed in three ways - 1) full orchestra, organ + choir 2) reduced orchestra, organ + choir 3) organ + choir Could you let me know which versions you have? I have a fabulous organ version on Argo but am now very keen to acquire a good full orchestra version!  |
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Post by MartinT on Jun 5, 2017 18:36:04 GMT
Durufle Requiem recordings...
Shaw/Atlanta/Telarc
Guest/St John's College Cambridge/Decca
Chung/Santa Cecilia/DG
Best/ECO/Hyperion
Davis/Philharmonia/Sony
Legrand/Philharmonia/Teldec
Davis/NPO/CBS
Of these, the Shaw is my favourite.
My favourite Faure is the Cluytens.
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Post by julesd68 on Jun 5, 2017 18:56:04 GMT
Yes I have that Faure, it is fab ...
So looks like I am buying a Durufle you don't know - it's the version on Erato conducted by the man Durufle himself!
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Post by MartinT on Jun 5, 2017 19:03:49 GMT
Good stuff - which orchestra? I note I have the Guest that you posted above.
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Post by julesd68 on Jun 6, 2017 8:21:03 GMT
Here's the details from the cover - Durufle himself is on the keys ...  |
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Post by MartinT on Jun 6, 2017 9:15:07 GMT
Let us know how it sounds.
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Post by julesd68 on Jul 17, 2017 18:25:20 GMT
I've just scored another Durufle, this time it's the Hyperion Best / ECO version -
what's interesting about this is that it's a white label German test pressing from 1985.
Whilst it is a digital recording, I have high hopes that it is a good one!
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