advertisement


Classical Concert chat...

I agree wholeheartedly. One of the best concerts I have been to at the Usher Hall. Sondergard has been very impressive so far, Oundin was a disaster period to me.
 
I was planning on meeting friends for dinner tonight but that just fell through... and thank goodness as the Mahler concert sounds like a great Plan B :)
 
We will be immersed in Mahler next season at the Phil in Liverpool, Petrenko is conducting all the symphonies over the next two seasons, 1 to 7 in 19-20. Lovely!!
 
It's been a while since I've listened to Mahler's 6th symphony* so to get a feel for it again I just watched it being performed by Abbado-Lucerne FO... and now I'm in the mood for Mahler :)

* The music I tend to listen to most of the time when it comes to Mahler are his 2nd and 3rd symphonies as well as Das Lied von der Erde and this lieder collection.
 
This site contains affiliate links for which pink fish media may be compensated.
I'm just back from seeing Mahler's 6th and what a good show it was indeed! The Mozart piano concerto was pretty good as well - the pianist even gave us an encore of something by Chopin. But back to the main event, although I'm not that familiar with this symphony it seemed well played throughout and thankfully, the crowd waited twenty seconds or so before applauding at the end, giving us all a chance to take a breath and soak up every last drop of sound as it drifted into the ether. Good job all round :)
 
How full was the hall in Glasgow last night?

Not counting the choir seats behind the orchestra, I reckon it was about 85-90% full. Admittedly, it was notably emptier when the Mozart concerto was being played, maybe 70-75% full, but the audience definitely turned up for the main event. Fwiw, it looked like it was being recorded for broadcast by the BBC and if it was and if you hear it, well the guy who shouts bravo once the clapping starts at the end of the symphony is me :)

As an aside, I see there are three Mahler performances scheduled for next season: Symphony 1 in October, Symphony 4 in May 2020, and sandwiched between them is Das Lied von der Erde in March 2020 - that's the one I'll be attending for sure!
 
Here's footage of Jane Irwin singing Das Lied (Schoenberg arrangement) - I think I can live with her voice doing the same at the RCH in Glasgow next March no problem.

 
Some additional thoughts and comments on the Mahler concert:

I'd totally forgotten about the gulf between what I hear from my stereo system at home and music heard in real-life. I mean, the soundstage was properly 2-dimensional with the sound coming from the left, middle and right as well as the front, middle and back at any one time. And the tones and timbres sounded nothing like they do through any speakers or headphones I've ever heard... which madkes me understand why some people spend tens if not hundreds of thousands of pounds of getting the best home audio playback system possible (compulsive spending notwithstanding). As far as my financial health goes, I'm pleased to say I've come off the merry-go-round, as it were, so I've stopped spending money on hifi and instead I get on with enjoying music. But having heard the orchestra last night, I think I need a new approach: I'm never going to recreate the sound of an orchestra in my small flat, so instead of upgrading my hifi or chasing better performances of this and that, I should simply get myself up to the Royal Concert Hall more often and lavish myself with the real McCoy in real-life. And on that note, I became aware that listening to a piece of music at home can never be like hearing it live in person for another good reason i.e. in addition to sound quality: there's an excitement in the belly and a real buzz of anticipation in the air that's just not present when you're listening to a piece of music at home. I'm sure you guys are aware of this but it wasn't until last night when I realised it myself.

A lot of thoughts there but it was a stimulating evening in more ways than one!
 
Some additional thoughts and comments on the Mahler concert:

I'd totally forgotten about the gulf between what I hear from my stereo system at home and music heard in real-life. I mean, the soundstage was properly 2-dimensional with the sound coming from the left, middle and right as well as the front, middle and back at any one time. And the tones and timbres sounded nothing like they do through any speakers or headphones I've ever heard... which madkes me understand why some people spend tens if not hundreds of thousands of pounds of getting the best home audio playback system possible (compulsive spending notwithstanding). As far as my financial health goes, I'm pleased to say I've come off the merry-go-round, as it were, so I've stopped spending money on hifi and instead I get on with enjoying music. But having heard the orchestra last night, I think I need a new approach: I'm never going to recreate the sound of an orchestra in my small flat, so instead of upgrading my hifi or chasing better performances of this and that, I should simply get myself up to the Royal Concert Hall more often and lavish myself with the real McCoy in real-life. And on that note, I became aware that listening to a piece of music at home can never be like hearing it live in person for another good reason i.e. in addition to sound quality: there's an excitement in the belly and a real buzz of anticipation in the air that's just not present when you're listening to a piece of music at home. I'm sure you guys are aware of this but it wasn't until last night when I realised it myself.

A lot of thoughts there but it was a stimulating evening in more ways than one!
It’s Eldorado no matter how much gets chucked at a Hifi. I heard the Gewandhaus play Beethoven 7 then got home and put on the Gewanhaus playing Beethoven 7. The concert sound was still echoing in my mind and the Hifi was a dreadful caricature.
 
Not counting the choir seats behind the orchestra, I reckon it was about 85-90% full. Admittedly, it was notably emptier when the Mozart concerto was being played, maybe 70-75% full, but the audience definitely turned up for the main event. Fwiw, it looked like it was being recorded for broadcast by the BBC and if it was and if you hear it, well the guy who shouts bravo once the clapping starts at the end of the symphony is me :)

As an aside, I see there are three Mahler performances scheduled for next season: Symphony 1 in October, Symphony 4 in May 2020, and sandwiched between them is Das Lied von der Erde in March 2020 - that's the one I'll be attending for sure!
Have they stopped selling the choir stall seats permanently? I sat up there in the 90s watching Ricardo Muti conduct the VPO in Bruckner. I had to rub my eyes to check I wasn’t imagining it.
 
Have they stopped selling the choir stall seats permanently? I sat up there in the 90s watching Ricardo Muti conduct the VPO in Bruckner. I had to rub my eyes to check I wasn’t imagining it.

I don't know if they still sell/don't sell tickets for those seats... a quick look at the website suggests they can't be booked so I guess they don't. Or perhaps, they only release them for 'sold out' concerts. Either way, the choir stall seats were empty for Mahler 6.
 
Choir stalls were empty at the usher hall too, don't remember seeing them in the booking site. I endured a few concerts from there but they were the most uncomfortable ever.

I'm pretty sure that we got the last seats at the front of the grand circle when we booked, yet we pretty much had the row to ourselves on the night. I wonder if the heavy rain in Edinburgh on Friday night put the septugenarians+ off going out. It's nearly 30 years since my first concerts at the usher hall and yet I am still in the younger half of the audience!

As regards home audio Vs concert hall, no point worrying about it. I do sometimes think I hear more inner detail in some recordings than live in the hall. But often I'm grateful that I don't have to put up with fidgeters, coughers and rattly jewellery wearers at home. Wasn't a problem on Friday as we had so many empty seats around us.
 
A long way to go but tickets are in the bag for Shostakovich 5 (plus Barber's Adagio and Mahler's Kindertotenlieder) by the BBC SSO at City Halls on 30th January 2020 and Das Lied von der Erde (plus who cares) at the Royal Concert Hall on 7th March 2020. I'll be going to the Shostakovich concert with a mate and his 8-year-old boy so that the wee man can see and hear an orchestra in real life as apparently, he's developing quite a penchant for film scores in addition to the usual nonsense kids at that age listen to.
 
At Usher Hall again last night for Sondergaard and the RSNO.

Sibelius suite from incidental music from Belshazaar's Feast.... 1st time I've heard this music and its nice in an incidental music sort of way. I thought the performance was very refined and gorgeous tone, just needed to liven it up a bit to make it more compelling.

Same story with Elgar's Cello Concerto with Truls Mork.... lovely perfomance again, but I've never really "got" Elgar's cello concerto - it pulls its punches, has little variety of material and doesn't do a lot with it IMO! Years ago I was almost accused of being unpatriotic on the zerogain forum for suggesting that Miakovsky's Cello Concerto is a far better work if one wants big tunes with some angsty melancholy. Anyway, it was nice.

Lastly, Walton's take on Belshazzar's feast, with big chorus and 2 brass bands up in the edges of the upper circle. Another work which I was not familiar with before - but really enjoyed it. Anthony Clarke Evans performed the baritone solos - but he only get about a dozen lines in about 35 mins, otherwise its a big job for the Choir.

Good stuff, but frankly not a patch on the Mahler 6th 3 weeks ago. But very impressed with Thomas Sondergaard so far, the orchestra is playing much better, great tone and precision than I've heard before.
 
I have made two trips to Scotland this year for concerts... The highlight was the Bloch Schelomo at Glasgow City Halls with Jian Wang/BBC SSO/Dausgard on 7/2. The rest of the evening (Mahler 1) was pretty good too, and the contribution of the klezmer band She'Koyokh fitted in very well. I thought the imaginative programming a great success.
 
Mahler 2 at Symphony Hall (Birmingham, UK) tonight... now we'll see whether Mirga lives up to all the hoo-hah!

(I have until now found her efficient but sometimes rather soulless)

Edit: terrific, overwhelming performance, very well paced. Huge ovation, entirely deserved. Mirga has arrived!

(And we saw her walking into Symphony Hall, carrying the baby!)
 
Last edited:


advertisement


Back
Top