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Watched the St Matthews Passion today with Rattle - I can see why it divides opinion. I’ve never ‘seen’ a performance before only listened to recordings so this was a new experience for me.
Our orchestra did a watch party for the St John Passion last night. Not sure it all worked, but the bits that did were mesmerising.
 
Just watched new season opener.... Players well spaced out and audience limited to one every three seats with empty rows between.... The financial hit must still be huge.

Anyway.... A very tight and powerful performance of Brahms 4th with Kirill Petrenko.

Whereas a few weeks ago I watched the same orchestra with Simon Rattle perform the same work, recorded on tour in Hong Kong a couple of years ago...I struggled to get to the end, it was pallid and dull by comparison with Petrenko tonight.

Really looking forward to more Petrenko.... Though covid19 is obvs going to have an impact on what they can perform.

Now watching Christian Tetzlaff and Andris Nelsons in Jorg Widmann's Violin Concerto. Very Berg - in a good way.
 
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Watched a concert from last season, again with Kirill Petrenko - Stravinsky Symphony in C, Bernd Alois Zimmerman Caprichos Brasileiros and Rachmaninov Symphonic Dances - all major pieces composed in 1930s and 40s.

To be frank, I was bit disappointed - both the Stravinsky and Rachmaninov were over-deliberate, and especially the Symphonic Dances lacked dance... all beautifully played of course. The Zimmerman was interesting, clearly an early work which was very derivative and exotic sounding, first time I'd heard it and if you'd told me it was by Villa-Lobos I'd probably have gone along with that.

There are other performances of Rach's Symphonic Dances on the website, with Rattle and Tugan Sokhiev - a conductor I've never encountered. Will give them a try sometime to see if they got more sparkle and energy than Petrenko's performance.
 
After Petrenko's disappointing Symphonic Dances, I decided to give Tugan Sokhiev a try - a performance from 2012. Magnificent! It had in spades what was lacking from Petrenko's performance - drive, grace, oomph, and dance. Highly Recommended. How had I not heard of this conductor before?

Followed by Lisa Batiashvilli in Prokofiev's 2nd Violin Concerto, with Alan Gilbert conducting. Excellent performance but I reckon the spirit ofJascha Heifitz has nothing to worry about.
 
More Rachmaninov, from the other end of his career... Gustavo Dudamel conducting The Isle of the Dead from 2009 in a superbly tense and rich performance, far better than I expected - I've never rated Dudamel's performances of anything else.

Followed by Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde, Rattle conducting with Stuart Skelton and Anne Sofie von Otter, recorded in 2017. Again much better than I hoped for as Rattle's Mahler has left me unconvinced before. But especially because of Anne Sofie von Otter, wonderful in Der Abschied. Shame to think she must be nearing the end of her career soon - but she wears her years lightly - can't believe she is 65 now!
 
Herbert Blomstedt - Nielsen's 5th. Superb. Must be a relative rarity for the Berlin Phil, despite being one of the best c.20th symphonies (IMHO)

Followed by an excellent Mozart 40th conducted by Trevor Pinnock, then Mozart K.466 20th Piano Concerto with Mitsuko Uchida and Simon Rattle.... splendid.

Then Paavo Jarvi conducting Sibelius Night Ride & Sunrise. Paavo Jarvi is becoming one of my favourite conductors.

Sonic and visual quality is excellent on this service. I think the subscription cost about £160 for the year.... definitely been getting my money's worth.
 


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