Dancer_not
pfm Member
Another wonderful Met relay - Gounod's Romeo et Juliette
Lavish sets & costumes, beautiful singing & playing.
Lavish sets & costumes, beautiful singing & playing.
Classical Concert chat...
- Thread starter windhoek
- Start date
Mr J
pfm Member
Basingstoke Anvil last night for the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment conducted by the highly dynamic Maxim Emelyanychev. It was a program of popular works - Glinka's Ruslan and Ludmilla Overture, Grieg's Peer Gynt Suite no. 1 and Sibelius' Symphony no. 5. Also in the first half was a work I'm not familiar with, Rachmaninov's The Rock, based on a poem by Russian poet Mikhail Lermontov. Before playing, the lead viola Max Mandel introduced this work and read us the poem, which was a nice touch.
The period instruments lent a warmth to the sound that suited the Rachmaninov, but even with a large number of strings the volume is noticeably lower than with modern instruments, and there is less attack. Personally, I found the works enjoyable but not as exciting as I'd have liked. Maybe I'm just a heathen. Still, it was a very enjoyable concert, expertly played, and I'm looking forward to hearing the OAE again some time.
The period instruments lent a warmth to the sound that suited the Rachmaninov, but even with a large number of strings the volume is noticeably lower than with modern instruments, and there is less attack. Personally, I found the works enjoyable but not as exciting as I'd have liked. Maybe I'm just a heathen. Still, it was a very enjoyable concert, expertly played, and I'm looking forward to hearing the OAE again some time.
Dancer_not
pfm Member
To the QEH on Saturday for the Brodsky Quartet
Bach Violin Sonata BWV1001 arranged for qt
Britten Quartet no 3
Schubert Death and the Maiden
Luminous playing.
Bach Violin Sonata BWV1001 arranged for qt
Britten Quartet no 3
Schubert Death and the Maiden
Luminous playing.
alanbeeb
pfm Member
RSNO at Usher Hall last night. John Wilson conducting all-Brit programme of John Ireland's A Forgotten Rite, Elgar's Sea Pictures and Holst's The Planets.
I had never heard the Ireland piece before, it was a gentle piece of Celtic Twilight late-romantic tone poem... Nice but didn't leave much of an impression.
I don't really care for Elgar's Sea Pictures, although there is good stuff happening in the orchestra, the singing puts me off. Alice Coote certainly seemed to have range and power in her voice but I'm not sure Elgar's vocal writing here is the best.
But the main event was The Planets. Wow.
Suffice to say this performance re-asserted my thinking that this is probably the single best piece of music ever written by a British composer. We were sat in the Stalls in row H, so we got the full volume.
Mars was terrifying, as it should be. When the 2 timpani, side drum and brass were blasting out the main theme I was stuck rigid in my seat with the blood draining from my face in a cold sweat. It was visceral. None of the rest of the movements lowered the intensity.
The Usher Hall organ was deployed too, the glissandi in Mars adding to the terror, the pedals in Saturn underpinning the gorgeousness coming from the harps and strings.
I have no idea where the ladies of the RSNO Chorus were located for Neptune but the effect was pure sorcery. I think they were up in the upper circle somewhere.
In short...glad I was there!
I had never heard the Ireland piece before, it was a gentle piece of Celtic Twilight late-romantic tone poem... Nice but didn't leave much of an impression.
I don't really care for Elgar's Sea Pictures, although there is good stuff happening in the orchestra, the singing puts me off. Alice Coote certainly seemed to have range and power in her voice but I'm not sure Elgar's vocal writing here is the best.
But the main event was The Planets. Wow.
Suffice to say this performance re-asserted my thinking that this is probably the single best piece of music ever written by a British composer. We were sat in the Stalls in row H, so we got the full volume.
Mars was terrifying, as it should be. When the 2 timpani, side drum and brass were blasting out the main theme I was stuck rigid in my seat with the blood draining from my face in a cold sweat. It was visceral. None of the rest of the movements lowered the intensity.
The Usher Hall organ was deployed too, the glissandi in Mars adding to the terror, the pedals in Saturn underpinning the gorgeousness coming from the harps and strings.
I have no idea where the ladies of the RSNO Chorus were located for Neptune but the effect was pure sorcery. I think they were up in the upper circle somewhere.
In short...glad I was there!
gingermrkettle
Deep vein trombonist
Try their CD of the Ireland works, it works very well on there.
Dancer_not
pfm Member
MET relay again on Saturday - Puccini's La Rondine
Great staging, playing & singing.
Great staging, playing & singing.
John Phillips
pfm Member
Just taken my seat in the Wigmore Hall for Alexandre Tharaud playing Couperin, Satie and Ravel.
John Phillips
pfm Member
It was splendid . I will certainly listen again on BBC Sounds.
I don’t think the Couperin benefited from being played on a modern Yamaha piano. I missed the bite of a harpsichord, so the concert got off, IMHO, to a weak start.
The Satie was good. That was much better. Tharaud played with great engagement which was very apparent from his physical and facial expressions.
The Ravel was a knock out. A quiet start with the pavane for a dead infanta. But Tharaud’s own piano transcription of La Valse brought really strong applause with exclamations of Bravo. And an encore.