Melbourne Symphony Orchestra concert 28 September 2007 - Organ Spectacular

Featuring:
- Howard Hanson Elegy in Memory of Serge Koussevitzky
- Richard Mills Soundscapes for Percussion and Orchestra
- Camille Saint-Saens Symphony No. 3 'Organ'

Richard Mills - Conductor
Claire Edwardes - Percussion
Calvin Bowman - Organ

To be honest, I went to this concert because of the Organ Symphony. Got my ticket on the day of the performances and there's really not much seats left to choose from although I really wanted to get a seat in the balcony. In the end, I sat at the second last row of the hall - Melbourne Town Hall -. As a result, I couldn't see the whole orchestra clearly, but that's to be expected from the cheapest ticket.

There was an organ recital before the concert, featuring works by Bach, Liszt and Graeme Koehne - a living Australian composer apparently -. Bach's Prelude and Fugue in E flat has typical Bach's melody with some of passages resembled much of the first movement of his second Brandenburg Concerto - I think -. Liszt's Consolation in D flat impressed me the most out of the whole piece performed. This strikes me because I think Liszt is a not-so-good composer. Koehne' Gothic Toccata starts out slow and soft only to develop into an abrupt and very - VERY - loud piece. An old lady sitting beside me even covered her ears during the very end of the piece. She said, "It reminds me of factory sound or rail train". It looks like she had some bad memories on that topic and she was trying to stop the organ sound reaching her ears - a futile effort. Despite that, I kinda like the piece and I think it will be very fitting for a war or battle scene in the movie. By the way, the organist is Calvin Bowman, he also played the organ part in Saint-Saens symphony later.

And now the main program, the concert starts with Howard Hanson's elegy. A piece written in memory of his friend and great conductor - Serge Koussevitzky, the piece was good. It has this simple melody that I unfortunately have forgotten (Sorry Hanson!), that keeps reappearing in the elegy representing the deceased great conductor. The audience's reception was not very enthusiastic - the conductor did not appear the second time after he went backstage as the applause died down shortly after it started.

Now the second program - a work composed by the conductor. The lovely soloist, Claire Edwardes took the stage and literally blazed through the piece written as a concerto for percussion. She played at least 7 or 8 different instruments in total, some of them I didn't even recognise. The concert is full of virtuosity showmanship, fast passages in xylophone and tambourine and in one movement, she played the drums faster than a professional rock or band drummer - no kidding. The concerto also featured plenty of musical sound that represents the sounds of 'bull-frogs and crickets at night in Brisbane gardens'. A wonderful piece and audience seemed to be thrilled by the soloist's performance. Long applause followed.

Last program, the highlight of the night - Organ Symphony. The first movement was slightly slower than the recordings that I'm familiar with but was very well-played. The second movement is the best moment of the concert for me, I shivered throughout the whole movement. Again, it was a tad slower than the recordings that I know but that's what makes the difference - I enjoyed every single note of that movement. Also, I noticed the sweet organ part in that movement which I never know its existence in the recordings. The rest of the symphony is played brilliantly by the orchestra. My slight complaint was the timpani strikes at the end of the symphony wasn't as loud as I wanted it to be. The organ completely overpowered the poor timpani and as a result the timpani wasn't exactly highlighted during that time - which I very much like to be the case. The audience then erupted after the end of the symphony and after quite a long applause, we were given an encore - the famous Faure's Pavane.

Summing up, a very fun and memorable night. Not happy with the seating - I should've gotten a balcony seat to have a better view of the orchestra. The programs were well-played and very enjoyable. Live orchestral music is still worth going. And this concert was almost full-house (99% of the seats are occupied) - the 'crowdiest' concert I've been to.

Next concert: Schumann's piano concerto - next week!

Mozart == sweet

It happened again!

Everytime I listened to one of Mozart's concertos 'sweet' is the first word that comes out of my brain to describe every single of them. His clarinet concerto, oboe concerto, and 5 violin concertos have always did it for me and today I was listening to his Flute and Harp concerto (K. 299). It was my second listening of this piece. I liked it very much when I listened to the recording by Emmanuel Pahud (flute) and Marie-Pierre Langlamet (harp) with Abbado conducting BPO and it was no different when listening to it in period instruments sound. Unfortunately, I didnot know the name of the soloists, but the recording is by Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra conducted by Ton Koopman.

The whole concerto is full of joy - very Mozartian - with the lyrical opening of second movement instantly hits the mark for me. Just listen to the simple theme played by the orchestra and then the same theme is repeated by both of the soloists - ah, sweetness :). The first and last movement are equally enjoyable although I can't remember how the main theme sounds like again. I will listen to it sometime again soon.

By the way, I still have tons of Mozart pieces that I want to listen to. 2 weeks ago, I bought a CD of all his horn concertos that I haven't touched yet. I still have to listen to both of his flute concertos and bassoon concertos. And last but not least, his 27 piano concertos are still in my unknown territory. I should get them soon.

What is appreciating?

Appreciating classical music is a process in which you take some time in your daily life to listen to a classical music piece in order to be familiar with them. For me, it will be until I can practically whistle through the whole piece (or at least the main themes of the piece). To be able to do this, repeated listening is necessary. While this process can sometimes be tiring, the satisfaction that one got after the end of this process is very rewarding. There is nothing that can give me more satisfaction than come to terms with Mahler's Resurrection (I fell asleep twice(!) when trying to love this symphony because the recording that I have for this symphony at that time is a particularly boring one and I have to get myself a different recording).

I was introduced by the concept of repeated listening from this article. Back then (almost 2 years ago) I was a newbie in classical music and was trying to find a guide in the world of classical music. I found this article by accident and after reading that I was instantly motivated by it to discover and appreciate more classical music.

First post!

First post for hopefully long-time running blog of me finding new piece out of tons of classical music out there and learning to love them.

Currently listening to Felix Mendelssohn's - Symphony No. 3 'Scottish'.