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Classical Concert chat...

Off to see Esa-Pekka Salonen do Stravinsky's Agon as well as RoS at the RFH tonight. Really looking forward to it.
 
Two warhorses for me at the Usher Hall this afternoon. It was a glorious sunny day - another reason for thinking these concerts are just at the wrong time - and the hall was only about 1/3rd full I'd guess. At least that let me move into free space away from fidgety crumblies.

BBC SSO with new chief conductor Thomas Dausgaard - if his Swedish Chamber Orchestra recordings on BIS are anything to go by, he'll be quite different from Runnicles.

Brahms 1st piano Concerto with Denis Kozhukhin - when I've seen this live before its been a sludgefest. This wasn't, despite the pianist wanting to linger langorously while Dausgaard and the orchestra wanted to press on. Jolly good so far.... then:

Beethoven's 7th. Its the best symphony ever and this performance didn't let it down. Excellent playing and enthralling performance. I will try to hear more of Dausgaard and the BBC SSO.
 
Loved the Stravinsky concert last night. Salonen and the Philharmonia really socked it to us, with great energy and timing. The Rite of Spring was a savage and ferocious thing. Being close to the stage and slightly above I got a real blast from the massive orchestra (9 French horns, 8 double basses, 2 tubas, God knows how many trumpets and trombones, lovely!). The last time I saw Salonen conduct this with this orchestra was a bit disappointing as it was in a hall where the acoustic sucked all the life out of the piece, so I was really thrilled by this one.

The music of Agon was great but there were only 6 dancers (probably because of the small constrained stage behind the orchestra) and the timing of some of them seemed a bit off at times. Great to see this live for the first time though.
 
Salonen and the Philharmonia is a marriage made in heaven. He is a brilliant Stravinsky interpreter. I read the Guardian review enviously this morning!
 
TheDecameron said:
Salonen and the Philharmonia is a marriage made in heaven. He is a brilliant Stravinsky interpreter. I read the Guardian review enviously this morning!
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That picture in the Guardian article was taken from the box just to the left of the one we were in, so you can see how we got a good earful :)
The woman taking the pictures was kind enough not to click away during the few quiet bits.
 
Debussy's Pelleas et Melisande at Scottish Opera, Edinburgh Festival Theatre last night. Brilliant and totally absorbing.

Professional reviewers say it much better than I can. I am not much of an opera fan. But the staging, lighting, quality acting from great singers, and a fantastic performance by the orchestra swept me away. I will remember this for a long time.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2...mmershoi-scottish-opera-debussy-david-mcvicar

http://www.spectator.co.uk/2017/03/...ottish-operas-pelleas-and-melisande-reviewed/

https://bachtrack.com/review-pellea...ndarenko-scottish-opera-glasgow-february-2017
 
That is a nutty, hypnotic piece. The soprano Carolyn Sampson from the S.O production gave a recital of John Dowland accompanied by lute from the Wigmore on R3 today. Lovely voice but lost her intonation later in the Britten songs.
 
What's the deal with the pause before the applause? I just watched Mahler's M3 by Abbado/ Lucerne and although it was clear the symphony had finished, there was a weird twenty-second pause before the well-deserved applause. Something similar happened with their performance of M9, but that's understandable as the symphony fades out to a whisper and no doubt the audience were so transfixed no one wanted to break the spell. But at the end of the magnificent M3? Really?

By contrast, the first classical concert I attended featured Elgar's Enigma Variations followed by The Planets by Holst, and no sooner had the last note been played than some big bulk of a man stood up and proclaimed with as much volume and vigour as he could muster, 'Yeasssss!' and with clenched fists pumping as though he'd just scored a goal at Hampden in a cup final!

So, what's the deal with the pause before the applause? Were they just teasing the orchestra en masse?
 
I'd applaud that M3 audience. There's nothing worse than premature congratulators ruining the moment with their "look at me! I appreciated it so much more than you!"
 
Is that a thing at classical concerts - people try to out-do one another with their praise? The guy who proclaimed 'Yesss!' at the end of Enigma Variations did so in a seemingly spontaneous manner and although he was the only one who did so, it certainly captured or represented rather, the joyful appreciation of the audience as we all clapped heartily thereafter with the usual calls of bravo etc.

Perhaps the pause was indeed a sign of quite, respectful admiration before being replaced by an aggregated applause - the two-minute pause at the end of M9 was well earned and well respected by everyone in the hall as seemed right.

I've not been to a classical concert for some years now so perhaps my memory of the etiquette involved is patchy, I don't know. If I'd attended Bernstein's performance of Shostakovich' 5th with that spectacular finale I'd have been up on my feet within seconds however, so perhaps it's all about the particular piece of music that's being played - and how well - that determines the individual and collective response.
 
windhoek said:
Perhaps the pause was indeed a sign of quite, respectful admiration before being replaced by an aggregated applause - the two-minute pause at the end of M9 was well earned and well respected by everyone in the hall as seemed right.

I've not been to a classical concert for some years now so perhaps my memory of the etiquette involved is patchy, I don't know. If I'd attended Bernstein's performance of Shostakovich' 5th with that spectacular finale I'd have been up on my feet within seconds however, so perhaps it's all about the particular piece of music that's being played - and how well - that determines the individual and collective response.
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Within seconds is great, It`s the **stards who star ttheir applause before the piece has finished that annoy me "Look at me, I knowthis piece so well I will clap before the final bar"
 
Yeah clapping before a piece has finished is deserving of a big boo for sure.

Come to think of it, I've only ever been to one classical concert - the Elgar and Holst concert - as none of my friends partake of the so scored pleasure - so my understanding of the etiquette involved is almost certainly out of touch with reality.

One of my friends who loves music as much as I do and might be up for a concert or two is a jazz head sadly - but worse than that, he's a free-form, experimental jazz head! If I ever make it to a concert, I'll follow the etiquette that establishes itself when the music has come to rest so as not to embarress myself or anyone else in the hall :)
 
It is absolutely acceptable, get yourself to the Usher Hall.

The worst "look at me" clap at any concert I have been to was at the end of Henze's 9th at the lroms back in 2000. Astonishing piece that needed the time to let the atmosphere hang at the end and some berk jumps in straight away.
 
Right, I'm going! I only discovered M2 was in Glasgow the evening it was on and missed out, but M3 with tons of time to book? I've got to see that!

Even if the Usher Hall is a better venue I'll stick with the RCH in Glasgow, what with traveling and all that. All I need now is a recommendation for seating and I'm in :D

Incidentally, it looks like the concert will be broadcast live on BBC so if you hear some dude with a dodgy Glaswegian accent shouting 'Pink Fish Rules!' you'll know it was me lol
 
It looks like Euroarts have released the Mahler symphonies by Abbado/Lucerne on Youtube as well as on blu ray; the format I own.

Here is the M3 I enjoyed so much last night and after seeing it again, an appropriately long pause before the applause. Skip to 1 hour 35 minutes for the final few bars to see the sumptuous silence as the audience savours the symphony just ended.


By contrast, here's Bernstein/VPO with an almost urgent applause; skip to 1 hour 43 minutes for the final few bars.

 
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Interesting, the Lucerne / Abbado audience seem to savour the moment more, it puts me in mind of a superb performance of the Faure Requiem we heard at the Festival Hall many years ago under Richard Hickox, it seemed that no one wanted to break the spell, we all just hoped it would carry on for ever. When the applause did come it was enthusiastic and prolonged.
 
Premature clapping is irritating. Wait for the reverberation of the last note to be over. Most conductors usually give a cue when they're ready for the applause (bow to the musicians, or just generally relax).
 
Papano's score for Meistersinger,

vshto1.jpg


Prelude Act 1, ready to go
 
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