Featuring:
- Brahms Song of Destiny
- Wagner The Valkyrie: Wotan's Farewell and Magic Fire Music
- Brahms Symphony No. 2
John Wegner - Bass-baritone
Melbourne Symphony Chorus - chorusmaster: Jonathan Grieves-Smith
Tadaaki Otaka - Conductor
This was yet another non-brainer concert that I picked when I subscribed to MSO earlier this year. The original program consisted of much loved Schubert's Unfinished Symphony, Schoenberg's supposedly moving A survivor from Warsaw and Brahms' 2nd symphony. However, due to Caetani's sudden departure, MSO decided to change the program as well.
Stepping in is Tadaaki Otaka, Principal Guest Conductor of MSO next year. I'm indifferent with the program change, as I love Brahms' Song of Destiny (Schicksalslied) but I'm sad not to see Schubert's Unfinished symphony on the program. I'm fine with Wagner's music, so again, I'm not entirely too concerned with the program change. I've found it a bit ironic though to see both Brahms and Wagner the only two composers in the program given their notorious relation in the past.
I'm not sure if MSO's staff read this blog, but certainly my hope for better concert is fulfilled. From the first few bars of Brahms' Schicksalslied, I have the assurance feeling that the concert will go fine. I have sung Schicksalslied earlier this year and have a fairly good knowledge about the piece. Inspired by a well-known poem by Friedrich Hoelderlin (pardon the absence of umlaut), it described two contrasting aspects of heavenly and earthly live. In the beginning of the piece, you can already feel a sense of doom or threat from the ever presence timpani stroke as the background to the heavenly melody. As a matter of fact, these timpani strokes very much reminded me of the famous obsessive timpani strokes in the 2nd movement of Brahms' Requiem - Den alles Fleisch, es ist wie gras which was written around the same time. The chorus then came in and describing the heavenly life, pictured perfectly by schmaltzy strings and woodwinds dominated music. MSO strings and chorus touched hearts here, beautiful interpretation. Trombones interrupted before the choir started singing the second stanza, perhaps signalling doom events that will come soon. No major complaints so far :).
The music makes a brief return to the opening of the piece, before it's interrupted by trombones, winds, and timpani. From there on, all hell broke loose. It is unmistakably the doomed fate. Definitely a worthy setting of the tragic third stanza from the poem, "A place to rest isn't given to us. Suffering humans decline and blindly fall from one hour to the next, like water thrown from cliff to cliff, year after year, down into the Unknown". I particularly like the setting of "Wie Wasser von Klippe Zu Klippe geworfen, Jahrlang ins Ungewisse hinab". Here, the choir sing aggressive steady rhythm against quaver note of the strings. My conductor mentioned that here Brahms is picturing the steady cliffs in the choir while the strings represented the water being thrown away from one cliff to the other. In terms of the performance, I perhaps desired more aggression from the choir at this stage, but otherwise, it was a great performance. After this violent section, the music reverts back to the opening heavenly theme and ended beautifully.
As an orchestra, MSO played well. However, from time to time, the discipline of coming in together was rather poor. I still remembered the LPO concert a few months ago where the whole orchestra really moved like one and came in at exactly the same time. In this performance, MSO players might come in half a beat early and it's really disappointing when this happened. Another thing that I noticed was there was a MSO chorister singing in a concert with a visual-disability. I commend her for her dedication to rehearse and sing in the concert (She was holding what looked like Braille annotated music). I also commend MSO chorus to have her on board although it might be difficult to accommodate such person.
Next program: the end of Wagner's Valkyrie. It opened with huge burst from the orchestra and I'm pretty sure at one point the brass played fragments of the main theme from the Ride of the Valkyries (I could be wrong or just imagining things here :) ). John Wegner as Wotan is seriously electrifying. With his intensity and gripping commanding voice, he captured the audience attention throughout the performance. His voice is capable of rising above orchestra's fortissimo. Magic fire music has this catchy tune that caught my attention. Wagner also did not allow the music to just simply slammed down to the home key without doing some tinkerings with it - I guess this is the part that influenced Mahler.
Finally, we're back to Brahms again. Often described the sunniest of all Brahms' symphonies, the 2nd symphony indeed contains plenty beautiful melodies. Tadaaki Otaka conducted from memory and gave a great performance out of it despite my nitpicking: the lack of warmth and gentleness of the main melody of the 1st movement. He also didn't take the repeat of the 1st movement to my delight (I think this movement will be too long if the repeat is taken and the momentum is lost). The 2nd movement is much better with woodwinds section executed gorgeous phrases throughout. The tempo is a bit slower than what I usually used to, but to great effect: it brings out the little melodies in the quaver notes in both strings and winds. The 3rd movement is much more interesting now as Otaka gave a very much contrasting reading of both the melodic and the playful section of this piece. The last movement started out as a straightforward reading until the coda section where the tempo is halved but Otaka did a good job in accelerating the music in the end to great effect. Full brass sections blared out the joyful nature of this symphony and the symphony ends with 4 chords not unlike the end of Brahms' 1st symphony. A good performance that was well-received by the 85% Hamer Hall capacity audience.
With this kind of performance, I can probably expect a lot from Tadaaki Otaka's performances with MSO next year. To be honest, I have doubts whether he is a worthy successor to Caetani. Although I still have some reservations, I am now more reassured that the quality of MSO playing won't drop significantly. Ganbatte Otaka-san!
This is also MSO's last concert this season. Here's hoping for a better year in 2010. Finally, I want to bid farewell to MSO retiring musicians, Anthony Smith (double bass) and especially Rudolf Osadnik (principal second violin).
Monday 7 December 2009
Wednesday 2 December 2009
Anton Bruckner's Motets
Lately, for my choir practice purpose, I have been listening and singing to Bruckner motets. Prior to the introduction of these motets by the choir conductor, I am unaware of their existence. The only Bruckner music that I know (and love) is his Seventh Symphony which consists of one of the most beautiful mournful Adagio and the incredibly "nervous" Scherzo. What I know is that Bruckner wrote awesome music and I love how he used the brass sections in those two movements.
Back to his motets. His motets are sacred choral music, written mainly for SATB choir, and sometimes would include a soloist, an organ or even trombones. I don't know all of them, but my choir has been working with 5 of them: Locus iste, Os Justi, Tota pulchra es Maria, Ecce sacerdos magnus, and Afferentur Regi.
Locus iste is perhaps the simplest out of those 5 motets. It's a short 4-part voices piece that is usually used for a congregation of a church. Tota pulchra es Maria is written for a tenor soloist, an organ, and believe it or not, 9-part voices during one fff choir phrase. Afferentur Regi is perhaps my least favourite out of the five motets listed, maybe because the tenor part is more challenging :), and the main tune is not incredibly beautiful compare to the others.
Ecce sacerdos magnus is a killer piece for a choir. You either do it big (sing on top of your lung), or don't even bother doing it. It's a piece that guarantees a rousing reception if done extremely well. To do this, you must overcome a fff passage that is repeated three times in the piece. The tenors are basically requires to hit 14 consecutive 'tenor A' notes, and 3 more after that. In total, they are required to sing more than 50 notes of their highest range. Compare that to say Haydn's Nelson Mass which if memory serves me right, only require the tenors to sing the top A for only 3 times. You might think of doing falsetto for all of them, but remember that those notes are marked either 'ff' or 'fff' by Bruckner, and therefore you'll be pretty much inaudible if other sections sing using their chest voice. This would pretty much be a complete let down during a performance.
I have been holding back from discussing 'Os Justi' - because simply I love this piece the most. It's written for 8-part voices and it is so incredibly beautiful, heavenly, and heartfelt. This 5 minutes of music is definitely something that I won't think twice to include in my desert island disc. What makes it more interesting is that Bruckner wrote this motet in Lydian mode which basically means that he did not use a single sharp or flat note. (Thanks to this website in bringing my attention to this).
Since I have pretty much obsessed with 'Os Justi', I have been trying to find videos of choir performing this piece in youtube. Basically, the performance can be categorised as either using a small choir or big choir. This size factor can dramatically change the interpretation of this piece. The difference can be seen in these two videos big choir and very small choir. Granted the very small choir is of very high standard and the big choir is probably amateur and a fair comparison probably cannot be made here. What I want to point is that, with the small choir, the main things that strikes you are the phrasing, the tone quality and the clarity of each voice. With the big choir, you have enough voices to make the big moment really big (e.g. the end of the 'et lingua' fugue). So, depending on your preference, you might find more pleasure in one version than the other.
To sum up, Bruckner motets are heavenly. If you enjoy listening to choral music, you won't be disappointed with any of them that I listed here. Also, in the short future - after I finish my conquest of Mahler 10 - I will start listening to Bruckner's symphonies. Hopefully I have time to write about them as I discover them one by one.
Back to his motets. His motets are sacred choral music, written mainly for SATB choir, and sometimes would include a soloist, an organ or even trombones. I don't know all of them, but my choir has been working with 5 of them: Locus iste, Os Justi, Tota pulchra es Maria, Ecce sacerdos magnus, and Afferentur Regi.
Locus iste is perhaps the simplest out of those 5 motets. It's a short 4-part voices piece that is usually used for a congregation of a church. Tota pulchra es Maria is written for a tenor soloist, an organ, and believe it or not, 9-part voices during one fff choir phrase. Afferentur Regi is perhaps my least favourite out of the five motets listed, maybe because the tenor part is more challenging :), and the main tune is not incredibly beautiful compare to the others.
Ecce sacerdos magnus is a killer piece for a choir. You either do it big (sing on top of your lung), or don't even bother doing it. It's a piece that guarantees a rousing reception if done extremely well. To do this, you must overcome a fff passage that is repeated three times in the piece. The tenors are basically requires to hit 14 consecutive 'tenor A' notes, and 3 more after that. In total, they are required to sing more than 50 notes of their highest range. Compare that to say Haydn's Nelson Mass which if memory serves me right, only require the tenors to sing the top A for only 3 times. You might think of doing falsetto for all of them, but remember that those notes are marked either 'ff' or 'fff' by Bruckner, and therefore you'll be pretty much inaudible if other sections sing using their chest voice. This would pretty much be a complete let down during a performance.
I have been holding back from discussing 'Os Justi' - because simply I love this piece the most. It's written for 8-part voices and it is so incredibly beautiful, heavenly, and heartfelt. This 5 minutes of music is definitely something that I won't think twice to include in my desert island disc. What makes it more interesting is that Bruckner wrote this motet in Lydian mode which basically means that he did not use a single sharp or flat note. (Thanks to this website in bringing my attention to this).
Since I have pretty much obsessed with 'Os Justi', I have been trying to find videos of choir performing this piece in youtube. Basically, the performance can be categorised as either using a small choir or big choir. This size factor can dramatically change the interpretation of this piece. The difference can be seen in these two videos big choir and very small choir. Granted the very small choir is of very high standard and the big choir is probably amateur and a fair comparison probably cannot be made here. What I want to point is that, with the small choir, the main things that strikes you are the phrasing, the tone quality and the clarity of each voice. With the big choir, you have enough voices to make the big moment really big (e.g. the end of the 'et lingua' fugue). So, depending on your preference, you might find more pleasure in one version than the other.
To sum up, Bruckner motets are heavenly. If you enjoy listening to choral music, you won't be disappointed with any of them that I listed here. Also, in the short future - after I finish my conquest of Mahler 10 - I will start listening to Bruckner's symphonies. Hopefully I have time to write about them as I discover them one by one.
Tuesday 1 December 2009
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra concert 30 November 2009 - Revolutions
Featuring:
- Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2
- Leif Segerstam Symphony No. 190 - UFO, under F & over World Premiere
- Beethoven Symphony No. 5
Stephen Kovacevich - Piano
Leif Segerstam - Conductor
This was one of the non-brainer concert that I picked when subscribing to MSO this season. Just look at the program: Brahms' masterpiece in piano concerto, Beethoven's 5th symphony; and finally Webern's piece Six Pieces for large orchestra. Oh well, they changed the Webern's to a strange symphony and replaced Caetani with the composer of this symphony. But, the soloist, world-renowned Stephen Kovacevich is still performing. The change in conductor shouldn't be that big of an impact to the concert, or so I thought.
My expectations were running high before the start of the concert, and yet I came out feeling bored and totally disappointed. This could be the worst MSO concert I attended this season. Very disappointing indeed when put in the context that the hall is quite full (I'd say 90% full).
Let's start with Brahms' second piano concerto. I've listened to some bits of Stephen Kovacevich's recording during the ABC concerto countdown few years back and I wasn't impressed at all. IIRC, I even turned off the radio at one stage because I couldn't stand his playing in the first movement anymore. He sounded like he was struggling with the technical demand of this piece and the natural flow of this piece was being taken away from it. Anyway, I kept my mind open during the performance, and within the first minute, I already felt a bit uneasy right after the opening cadenza of the soloist. There were a couple of wrong notes, and the playing was really insecure. It did not help also when the horn section fired some wrong notes after that. The tempo of this movement felt a little bit dragging and my favourite part of this movement -- right in the middle of this movement, when the soloist played a prayer-like melody accompanied by bass pizzicatos - was quite a let down. The rest of this movement was quite okay until we reached the end of this movement. I totally abhorred it when a conductor held the pause before the last chord too long for the sake of holding up the tension just for a bit more. The conductor did exactly that, and more after that in the later movements and in Beethoven's symphony. Instead of achieving a perfect tension-release moment, he succeeded making me utter 'ridiculous' and as a result, the home chord in the end felt underwhelming.
The soloist was better in the second movement; I actually enjoyed his agitated opening. However, the orchestra was rather tame in comparison to the soloist's aggression. "For god's sake", I thought, "come on, this music is in D MINOR. Where are all the tensions?". Fortunately, the central D major episode was much better. I loved how the soloist played the reverie-like passage here. The music now reverts back to D minor, and again, the orchestra sounded really tame. The coda of this movement is one of my favourite Brahms moment - the agitated piano and orchestra fighting each other with massive chords. The performance was okay, partly due to the piano swamped by the orchestra at that chord clashing moment.
Finally some gorgeous playing from the orchestra: David Berlin's cello solo in the third movement was glorious. Kovacevich shone for a few moments here, until he made a few mistakes during the long trills. I enjoyed the last movement the most, the dance like quality and cheerfulness was brought out wonderfully. I even commended Kovacevich for dramatically increased the tempo during the coda although the orchestra was lagging behind in the first few bars of its entry.
After the break, it was the time for Segerstam's 190th symphony. According to the note, he has composed 230 symphonies. Apparently the piece was inspired by a talk about UFO, and the interesting thing is that Segerstam did not conduct it during the performance. Instead, he played a piano in this piece which requires a super big orchestra with massive percussion section and a pair of harps and pianos. Markus Tomasi, the concertmaster of the evening, would some time stood up and gave indications to the orchestra. Other members who also stood up are the principals of piccolo and flute, although it wasn't clear why.
The piece itself was interesting in producing different sort of noises, especially the percussion section which included 2 sort of hammers: the big hammer that one would use in Mahler's 6th symphony; and the smaller hammer that you usually used in your household to fix stuff. Musically, I was bored after a few minutes, and the piece did not attract me at all. It went on for around 15-20 minutes (I did not look at the time) and through out the performance I was thinking that it's such a waste to use this massive size orchestra to play this sort of music. That pretty much sums up what I thought of this symphony.
Someone once said that Beethoven's symphonies are fool-proof. It's very hard to mess up a Beethoven symphony compare to a Brahms symphony. I totally agree with this opinion. With Beethoven, you can get away with okay performances and audience will still love the performance, but you can't do the same with say, Brahms' 4th symphony. It's either a great performance or a total boredom. Therefore, it will take a lot of mess ups to turn a Beethoven symphony into total boredom. Guess what, I was bored with this performance of Beethoven's 5th.
Let's start with the first movement. The opening motif was undramatic and definitely did not set up for all the tensions to come. The whole first movement did not even provoke me to bob my head once (during all the sfzs)! And yes, we're talking about Beethoven's 5th here! The second movement was a total boredom. The rubato used in the strings and woodwinds at the end of main theme phrases disgusted me to no end. Oh yes, add to that the misfired trumpets. The third movement tempo felt more like 'Allegro non troppo' or 'Andante' rather than the marked 'Allegro'.
One thing that I can praise about the conductor is how he was being patient in the end of the Scherzo leading up to the C major outburst in the finale. That I think, was when MSO played best and finally make some big noises during the whole concert. However, this glorious moment did not last long - till the conductor messed around too much with the sudden dynamics change in key phrases. He surprised me by putting lots of emphasis in the piccolo part, but other than that I have no good things to say about his interpretation. And finally, I don't know why, but he ended the symphony with that annoying too long pause before the last chord.
A few other things that annoyed the hell out of me during the concert. Did people really come to concert hall to listen to the music or just to unwrap candy during the first movement of Beethoven's 5th? Can't people just turn off their mobile phones during the performance? Can't people just be shut up and sit comfortably without tapping their shoes, not being restless, not loudly scratch their hands or heads, not SNORE, and not finger-tapping your programs during the rhythmic section of last movement of Beethoven's 5th? I can tolerate these behaviours if it's a young kid or young adult attending concert for the first time because they can still "grow up". However, if you are 50 years old plus and still do these things, it's probably a bit too late to ask you to "grow up". Probably a good idea if you don't come to concert at all. Buy a good recording of it, and listen to it while sitting at your comfy sofa in your living room. You'll probably enjoy it much better than sitting next to strangers in Hamer Hall's not so comfy seats.
I really hope MSO's next concert is much better than this one.
- Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2
- Leif Segerstam Symphony No. 190 - UFO, under F & over World Premiere
- Beethoven Symphony No. 5
Stephen Kovacevich - Piano
Leif Segerstam - Conductor
This was one of the non-brainer concert that I picked when subscribing to MSO this season. Just look at the program: Brahms' masterpiece in piano concerto, Beethoven's 5th symphony; and finally Webern's piece Six Pieces for large orchestra. Oh well, they changed the Webern's to a strange symphony and replaced Caetani with the composer of this symphony. But, the soloist, world-renowned Stephen Kovacevich is still performing. The change in conductor shouldn't be that big of an impact to the concert, or so I thought.
My expectations were running high before the start of the concert, and yet I came out feeling bored and totally disappointed. This could be the worst MSO concert I attended this season. Very disappointing indeed when put in the context that the hall is quite full (I'd say 90% full).
Let's start with Brahms' second piano concerto. I've listened to some bits of Stephen Kovacevich's recording during the ABC concerto countdown few years back and I wasn't impressed at all. IIRC, I even turned off the radio at one stage because I couldn't stand his playing in the first movement anymore. He sounded like he was struggling with the technical demand of this piece and the natural flow of this piece was being taken away from it. Anyway, I kept my mind open during the performance, and within the first minute, I already felt a bit uneasy right after the opening cadenza of the soloist. There were a couple of wrong notes, and the playing was really insecure. It did not help also when the horn section fired some wrong notes after that. The tempo of this movement felt a little bit dragging and my favourite part of this movement -- right in the middle of this movement, when the soloist played a prayer-like melody accompanied by bass pizzicatos - was quite a let down. The rest of this movement was quite okay until we reached the end of this movement. I totally abhorred it when a conductor held the pause before the last chord too long for the sake of holding up the tension just for a bit more. The conductor did exactly that, and more after that in the later movements and in Beethoven's symphony. Instead of achieving a perfect tension-release moment, he succeeded making me utter 'ridiculous' and as a result, the home chord in the end felt underwhelming.
The soloist was better in the second movement; I actually enjoyed his agitated opening. However, the orchestra was rather tame in comparison to the soloist's aggression. "For god's sake", I thought, "come on, this music is in D MINOR. Where are all the tensions?". Fortunately, the central D major episode was much better. I loved how the soloist played the reverie-like passage here. The music now reverts back to D minor, and again, the orchestra sounded really tame. The coda of this movement is one of my favourite Brahms moment - the agitated piano and orchestra fighting each other with massive chords. The performance was okay, partly due to the piano swamped by the orchestra at that chord clashing moment.
Finally some gorgeous playing from the orchestra: David Berlin's cello solo in the third movement was glorious. Kovacevich shone for a few moments here, until he made a few mistakes during the long trills. I enjoyed the last movement the most, the dance like quality and cheerfulness was brought out wonderfully. I even commended Kovacevich for dramatically increased the tempo during the coda although the orchestra was lagging behind in the first few bars of its entry.
After the break, it was the time for Segerstam's 190th symphony. According to the note, he has composed 230 symphonies. Apparently the piece was inspired by a talk about UFO, and the interesting thing is that Segerstam did not conduct it during the performance. Instead, he played a piano in this piece which requires a super big orchestra with massive percussion section and a pair of harps and pianos. Markus Tomasi, the concertmaster of the evening, would some time stood up and gave indications to the orchestra. Other members who also stood up are the principals of piccolo and flute, although it wasn't clear why.
The piece itself was interesting in producing different sort of noises, especially the percussion section which included 2 sort of hammers: the big hammer that one would use in Mahler's 6th symphony; and the smaller hammer that you usually used in your household to fix stuff. Musically, I was bored after a few minutes, and the piece did not attract me at all. It went on for around 15-20 minutes (I did not look at the time) and through out the performance I was thinking that it's such a waste to use this massive size orchestra to play this sort of music. That pretty much sums up what I thought of this symphony.
Someone once said that Beethoven's symphonies are fool-proof. It's very hard to mess up a Beethoven symphony compare to a Brahms symphony. I totally agree with this opinion. With Beethoven, you can get away with okay performances and audience will still love the performance, but you can't do the same with say, Brahms' 4th symphony. It's either a great performance or a total boredom. Therefore, it will take a lot of mess ups to turn a Beethoven symphony into total boredom. Guess what, I was bored with this performance of Beethoven's 5th.
Let's start with the first movement. The opening motif was undramatic and definitely did not set up for all the tensions to come. The whole first movement did not even provoke me to bob my head once (during all the sfzs)! And yes, we're talking about Beethoven's 5th here! The second movement was a total boredom. The rubato used in the strings and woodwinds at the end of main theme phrases disgusted me to no end. Oh yes, add to that the misfired trumpets. The third movement tempo felt more like 'Allegro non troppo' or 'Andante' rather than the marked 'Allegro'.
One thing that I can praise about the conductor is how he was being patient in the end of the Scherzo leading up to the C major outburst in the finale. That I think, was when MSO played best and finally make some big noises during the whole concert. However, this glorious moment did not last long - till the conductor messed around too much with the sudden dynamics change in key phrases. He surprised me by putting lots of emphasis in the piccolo part, but other than that I have no good things to say about his interpretation. And finally, I don't know why, but he ended the symphony with that annoying too long pause before the last chord.
A few other things that annoyed the hell out of me during the concert. Did people really come to concert hall to listen to the music or just to unwrap candy during the first movement of Beethoven's 5th? Can't people just turn off their mobile phones during the performance? Can't people just be shut up and sit comfortably without tapping their shoes, not being restless, not loudly scratch their hands or heads, not SNORE, and not finger-tapping your programs during the rhythmic section of last movement of Beethoven's 5th? I can tolerate these behaviours if it's a young kid or young adult attending concert for the first time because they can still "grow up". However, if you are 50 years old plus and still do these things, it's probably a bit too late to ask you to "grow up". Probably a good idea if you don't come to concert at all. Buy a good recording of it, and listen to it while sitting at your comfy sofa in your living room. You'll probably enjoy it much better than sitting next to strangers in Hamer Hall's not so comfy seats.
I really hope MSO's next concert is much better than this one.
Wednesday 18 November 2009
Australian Chamber Orchestra concert 16 November 2009 - Beethoven 4
Featuring:
- Brett Dean Testament
- Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4
- Beethoven Symphony No. 4
Dejan Lazic - Piano
Richard Tognetti - Artistic Director and Lead Violin
This was a Beethoven-flavoured concert, with 2 major Beethoven pieces and a piece by Brett Dean who was inspired by Beethoven's Heiligenstadt Testament. The piece - Testament - started off with unison strings playing what was described as 'sound losing grip' in the program. This was emphasised by similar idea in the woodwinds. The piece was really slow in the beginning and I lost interest as the music progressed. It doesn't help that I'm not familiar with any Beethoven's String Quartet, and therefore couldn't notice where Brett Dean quoted the slow movement of Op. 59 No. 1 in this piece. I can't honestly say I was impressed with the music. However, the problem might not be with the music; I was a bit tired that day and my concentration was wobbly that day. The finale was much better, although again, the piece in general didn't have any strong impression on me.
Dejan Lazic gave a very refreshing performance of Beethoven's 4th piano concerto. Although the opening did not convince me, due to Dejan did not play the full note value of the opening chords, he compensated it with a few interesting things. The most notable aspect is he played his own cadenza (which I confirmed when I talked to him after the concert). The cadenza is a unique blend of Chopin, Rachmaninov, Scarlatti, and possibly a bit of Beethoven himself (Dejan told me that Busoni is one of the composer in the mix). The other notable aspect is the use of rubato, and the playing of a high degree of freedom in the tempo. He would slow down the tempo in a beautiful cadence, only to do an accelerando in the following phrases. His phrasings are delicate, while the ever present bass line provides the overall balance. The ACO accompanied Dejan's freedom of tempo dutifully, and overall provided a wonderful accompaniment throughout. ACO really shone in the second movement - a small chamber orchestra producing big sfz and accented notes effortlessly. While Dejan's playing in this movement is fine, it did not manage to move me as much as other recordings that I know of. The third movement rises out from the depths of hell in second movement into the exuberance of joy. I loved the balance of the counter melodies of violas and cellos against the violins in the opening of this finale. Again, Dejan played his own cadenza in this movement in the style as far removed as from Beethoven's own cadenza. The coda was exciting and played prestissimo to a thunderous applause. After several curtain calls, Dejan gave an encore - a rather fast Chopin's Minute Waltz. Not my favourite rendition, but I won't complain when a soloist gave an encore in the concert.
One more note about Dejan. I noticed he's very much down-earthed guy when signing autographs for the audiences. Every time an audience came up and praised him for a wonderful performance, he would bow down deeply to express his gratitude. Also, he stood up all the time during his interactions with the audience although he could have easily sat down.
The final piece of the concert is Beethoven's much neglected 4th symphony. This, along with the 8th symphony, are my favourite Beethoven symphonies. I'm not saying that they are the greatest piece of music that Beethoven wrote, but I just feel extremely happy when listening to both of them. I commend ACO to have the balls to program this underrated symphony. At first, I was a bit skeptical on how ACO can successfully play this piece with only small number of double basses (only 2). Could they possibly sustain this piece? Turns out that they can, and coupled that with beautiful playings of every sections of the orchestra (esp. the woodwinds!), you'll get a knock out performance. Richard's choice of tempo is on the fast side (as usual for his Beethoven), and it works out really well with the energy that ACO put for this performance. I still can't get over the way Richard conducted with his bow though. The audience seemed to love the performance, and it's a good advertisement for this much neglected symphony. Thumbs up for programming this ACO!
- Brett Dean Testament
- Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4
- Beethoven Symphony No. 4
Dejan Lazic - Piano
Richard Tognetti - Artistic Director and Lead Violin
This was a Beethoven-flavoured concert, with 2 major Beethoven pieces and a piece by Brett Dean who was inspired by Beethoven's Heiligenstadt Testament. The piece - Testament - started off with unison strings playing what was described as 'sound losing grip' in the program. This was emphasised by similar idea in the woodwinds. The piece was really slow in the beginning and I lost interest as the music progressed. It doesn't help that I'm not familiar with any Beethoven's String Quartet, and therefore couldn't notice where Brett Dean quoted the slow movement of Op. 59 No. 1 in this piece. I can't honestly say I was impressed with the music. However, the problem might not be with the music; I was a bit tired that day and my concentration was wobbly that day. The finale was much better, although again, the piece in general didn't have any strong impression on me.
Dejan Lazic gave a very refreshing performance of Beethoven's 4th piano concerto. Although the opening did not convince me, due to Dejan did not play the full note value of the opening chords, he compensated it with a few interesting things. The most notable aspect is he played his own cadenza (which I confirmed when I talked to him after the concert). The cadenza is a unique blend of Chopin, Rachmaninov, Scarlatti, and possibly a bit of Beethoven himself (Dejan told me that Busoni is one of the composer in the mix). The other notable aspect is the use of rubato, and the playing of a high degree of freedom in the tempo. He would slow down the tempo in a beautiful cadence, only to do an accelerando in the following phrases. His phrasings are delicate, while the ever present bass line provides the overall balance. The ACO accompanied Dejan's freedom of tempo dutifully, and overall provided a wonderful accompaniment throughout. ACO really shone in the second movement - a small chamber orchestra producing big sfz and accented notes effortlessly. While Dejan's playing in this movement is fine, it did not manage to move me as much as other recordings that I know of. The third movement rises out from the depths of hell in second movement into the exuberance of joy. I loved the balance of the counter melodies of violas and cellos against the violins in the opening of this finale. Again, Dejan played his own cadenza in this movement in the style as far removed as from Beethoven's own cadenza. The coda was exciting and played prestissimo to a thunderous applause. After several curtain calls, Dejan gave an encore - a rather fast Chopin's Minute Waltz. Not my favourite rendition, but I won't complain when a soloist gave an encore in the concert.
One more note about Dejan. I noticed he's very much down-earthed guy when signing autographs for the audiences. Every time an audience came up and praised him for a wonderful performance, he would bow down deeply to express his gratitude. Also, he stood up all the time during his interactions with the audience although he could have easily sat down.
The final piece of the concert is Beethoven's much neglected 4th symphony. This, along with the 8th symphony, are my favourite Beethoven symphonies. I'm not saying that they are the greatest piece of music that Beethoven wrote, but I just feel extremely happy when listening to both of them. I commend ACO to have the balls to program this underrated symphony. At first, I was a bit skeptical on how ACO can successfully play this piece with only small number of double basses (only 2). Could they possibly sustain this piece? Turns out that they can, and coupled that with beautiful playings of every sections of the orchestra (esp. the woodwinds!), you'll get a knock out performance. Richard's choice of tempo is on the fast side (as usual for his Beethoven), and it works out really well with the energy that ACO put for this performance. I still can't get over the way Richard conducted with his bow though. The audience seemed to love the performance, and it's a good advertisement for this much neglected symphony. Thumbs up for programming this ACO!
Saturday 14 November 2009
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra concert 13 November 2009 - Coloratura Showcase
Featuring:
- Bellini The Capulets and the Montagues: Sinfonia
- Bellini The Capulets and the Montagues: Eccomi in lieta vesta..O quante volte
- Respighi Fountains of Rome
- Puccini Gianni Schicchi: O mio babbino caro
- Rossini The Barber of Seville: Overture
- Donizetti Lucia di Lammermoor: Regnava nel silenzio..Quando rapito in estasi
- Berlioz Romeo and Juliet: Romeo alone - Festivities at the Capulets'
- Gounod Romeo and Juliet: Je veux vivre
- Debussy Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
- Ambroise Thomas Hamlet: Ophelia's Mad Scene
Emma Matthews - Soprano
Alexander Shelley - Conductor
The star of this 'Celebrity concert' is supposed to be Sumi Jo. However, due to last minute injury, she cancelled her appearance in this concert to my disappointment. There are 10 programs on offer, with an orchestral piece alternating with a soprano aria sung by the replacement soloist, Emma Matthews. Emma is currently the principal artist of Opera Australia and should be a fair substitute to Sumi Jo. On top of that, Alexander Shelley who did a wonderful job conducting Rimsky Korsakov's Scheherazade MSO during last year's Sidney Myer free concert is the conductor of the night. Needless to say, my expectation of this concert is high.
Unfortunately though, my expectation was not met. The orchestra sounded a little bit uninspired in some of the opera numbers (maybe partly of the music itself?), but did a fair job in Rossini's Barber of Seville overture. I enjoyed Debussy's Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun despite some unclean entries from some members of the orchestra. Also, the climax in the piece was a bit underwhelming.
Emma Matthews is a soprano who behaved like one on stage. She even changed her dress during the interval, and did plenty of what I called over-the-top gestures (esp. when she acted very girlishly in Gounod's aria). I guess, she's a prima donna after all and most of them act like one. Or maybe, she needs to act like that to be in the right mood for the character she's singing (she certainly acts like a deranged person in Ophelia's mad scene). Anyway, seeing someone's gestures or attitudes on stage is not the reason why I attended classical music concert - I can go to opera instead - , and I'm fine with all of that as long as the artist has the talent to match it. In Emma case, she definitely has a wonderful voice, a great range and control on the higher pitch, although her voice was occasionally swamped by the orchestra's fortissimo. Her notes ornamentation in particular (which is really the most important thing in the bel canto repertoire) impressed me. She's especially impressive at Donizetti's and Thomas' arias and the audience loved that high (C?) notes that she produced in the climaxes. Her other arias were fine, but not particularly impressive.
I guess the main reason why I did not enjoy this concert very much is the program. Bel canto music is not my cup of tea (at least not yet), and there were just too much of them that night. I'm looking forward to entirely different programs in ACO's Beethoven 4 concert.
- Bellini The Capulets and the Montagues: Sinfonia
- Bellini The Capulets and the Montagues: Eccomi in lieta vesta..O quante volte
- Respighi Fountains of Rome
- Puccini Gianni Schicchi: O mio babbino caro
- Rossini The Barber of Seville: Overture
- Donizetti Lucia di Lammermoor: Regnava nel silenzio..Quando rapito in estasi
- Berlioz Romeo and Juliet: Romeo alone - Festivities at the Capulets'
- Gounod Romeo and Juliet: Je veux vivre
- Debussy Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
- Ambroise Thomas Hamlet: Ophelia's Mad Scene
Emma Matthews - Soprano
Alexander Shelley - Conductor
The star of this 'Celebrity concert' is supposed to be Sumi Jo. However, due to last minute injury, she cancelled her appearance in this concert to my disappointment. There are 10 programs on offer, with an orchestral piece alternating with a soprano aria sung by the replacement soloist, Emma Matthews. Emma is currently the principal artist of Opera Australia and should be a fair substitute to Sumi Jo. On top of that, Alexander Shelley who did a wonderful job conducting Rimsky Korsakov's Scheherazade MSO during last year's Sidney Myer free concert is the conductor of the night. Needless to say, my expectation of this concert is high.
Unfortunately though, my expectation was not met. The orchestra sounded a little bit uninspired in some of the opera numbers (maybe partly of the music itself?), but did a fair job in Rossini's Barber of Seville overture. I enjoyed Debussy's Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun despite some unclean entries from some members of the orchestra. Also, the climax in the piece was a bit underwhelming.
Emma Matthews is a soprano who behaved like one on stage. She even changed her dress during the interval, and did plenty of what I called over-the-top gestures (esp. when she acted very girlishly in Gounod's aria). I guess, she's a prima donna after all and most of them act like one. Or maybe, she needs to act like that to be in the right mood for the character she's singing (she certainly acts like a deranged person in Ophelia's mad scene). Anyway, seeing someone's gestures or attitudes on stage is not the reason why I attended classical music concert - I can go to opera instead - , and I'm fine with all of that as long as the artist has the talent to match it. In Emma case, she definitely has a wonderful voice, a great range and control on the higher pitch, although her voice was occasionally swamped by the orchestra's fortissimo. Her notes ornamentation in particular (which is really the most important thing in the bel canto repertoire) impressed me. She's especially impressive at Donizetti's and Thomas' arias and the audience loved that high (C?) notes that she produced in the climaxes. Her other arias were fine, but not particularly impressive.
I guess the main reason why I did not enjoy this concert very much is the program. Bel canto music is not my cup of tea (at least not yet), and there were just too much of them that night. I'm looking forward to entirely different programs in ACO's Beethoven 4 concert.
Sunday 25 October 2009
Australian Chamber Orchestra concert 25 October 2009 - The Girl with Golden Flute
Featuring:
- Handel Concerto Gross, Op. 6 No. 7
- Peteris Vasks Vox amoris: Fantasy for violin and strings - World Premiere
- Carl Vine Pipe Dreams
- Jose Serebrier Flute Concerto - World Premiere
- Tchaikovsky Serenade for Strings
Sharon Bezaly - Flute
Richard Tognetti - Artistic Director and Lead Violin
Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings was the reason I looked forward to this concert. This little gem has a particular charm of it that I can't resist. ACO's trademark sound worked well and it's always nice to hear the counterpoints and accompanying melodies clearly in this melodic driven piece. The players seemed to enjoy themselves while playing this, I caught a few smiles here and there during a delightful passage.
Another high point of the concert is Peteris Vasks' Vox Amoris. Richard Tognetti's solo violin was at the highest intensity and soared above the orchestra. The performance was even more heartfelt with a beautiful writing by Vasks. While the technical demand was enormous for the solo violin in both cadenzas, Vasks avoid turning this piece to a virtuoso showpiece by carefully injecting a gorgeous cantabile melody in the end. The composer who was present, took a couple of deserved bows from an enthusiastic audience.
The rest of the programs were a bit of a let down in one way or another. While Handel's Concerto Grosso contain some fine passages, the piece itself is not that eventful. The biggest let down for me was the performance of the two flute pieces by Sharon Bezaly. Both pieces failed to catch my attention and left me cold. I wasn't sure why, maybe I paid too much attention to the flautist herself. I do not have any idea on how to play a flute, and failed to see her virtuosity in both pieces. Sure, there are long passages with plenty of running semiquavers, and they're executed brilliantly, but I have some reservations with the tone of the flute. I was expecting a clear, sharp articulation but most of the time I was troubled by a muffled tone from the soloist. It also doesn't help when the orchestra overwhelms it. I was impressed however, at one point, Bezaly could hold a particular note for a seemingly long time (due to circular breathing, I presume). And for what it's worth, I was more impressed with Bezaly's performance during the slower section where I can appreciate the 'warmth' tone of her flute. Due to all of the factors above, I couldn't say that I enjoyed this concert very much.
- Handel Concerto Gross, Op. 6 No. 7
- Peteris Vasks Vox amoris: Fantasy for violin and strings - World Premiere
- Carl Vine Pipe Dreams
- Jose Serebrier Flute Concerto - World Premiere
- Tchaikovsky Serenade for Strings
Sharon Bezaly - Flute
Richard Tognetti - Artistic Director and Lead Violin
Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings was the reason I looked forward to this concert. This little gem has a particular charm of it that I can't resist. ACO's trademark sound worked well and it's always nice to hear the counterpoints and accompanying melodies clearly in this melodic driven piece. The players seemed to enjoy themselves while playing this, I caught a few smiles here and there during a delightful passage.
Another high point of the concert is Peteris Vasks' Vox Amoris. Richard Tognetti's solo violin was at the highest intensity and soared above the orchestra. The performance was even more heartfelt with a beautiful writing by Vasks. While the technical demand was enormous for the solo violin in both cadenzas, Vasks avoid turning this piece to a virtuoso showpiece by carefully injecting a gorgeous cantabile melody in the end. The composer who was present, took a couple of deserved bows from an enthusiastic audience.
The rest of the programs were a bit of a let down in one way or another. While Handel's Concerto Grosso contain some fine passages, the piece itself is not that eventful. The biggest let down for me was the performance of the two flute pieces by Sharon Bezaly. Both pieces failed to catch my attention and left me cold. I wasn't sure why, maybe I paid too much attention to the flautist herself. I do not have any idea on how to play a flute, and failed to see her virtuosity in both pieces. Sure, there are long passages with plenty of running semiquavers, and they're executed brilliantly, but I have some reservations with the tone of the flute. I was expecting a clear, sharp articulation but most of the time I was troubled by a muffled tone from the soloist. It also doesn't help when the orchestra overwhelms it. I was impressed however, at one point, Bezaly could hold a particular note for a seemingly long time (due to circular breathing, I presume). And for what it's worth, I was more impressed with Bezaly's performance during the slower section where I can appreciate the 'warmth' tone of her flute. Due to all of the factors above, I couldn't say that I enjoyed this concert very much.
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra concert 23 October 2009 - Serenity and Spectacle
Featuring:
- Faure Requiem
- Saint-Saens Symphony No. 3 'Organ'
Antoinette Halloran Soprano
Samuel Dundas Baritone
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus - Jonathan Grieves-Smith Chorus Master
Richard Gill Conductor
Fresh from his massive all Bach works organ recital for Melbourne International Arts Festival, Calvin Bowman presented an all Bach program which I won't go to details. There are 4 pieces, BWV 680, 639, 645 (the transcription of 'Sleepers, Wake') and finally 768 which is a very long "theme and variations".
I am fond of Faure's Requiem. The serenity and peaceful nature of this piece will always be its advantages. I have probably discussed this, but I really like the 'Sanctus'; a very simple movement with simple melody with harp accompaniment; a perfect picture of what we think of as 'Heaven'. MSO and MSO chorus, under Richard Gill gave straightforward reading of it. The choir sang beautifully although I would prefer the sopranos to sing more angelic-like in the Sanctus and In Paradisum. The performance could've been more effective with better soloists though; Antoinette Halloran has a fine voice but her vibrato is probably a bit too much for the angelic 'Pie Jesu'; Samuel Dundas has a darker timbre voice than what I would've liked. I prefer a baritone with 'lighter' timbre to deliver the solo in the Offertoire and Libera Me. All of this just comes down to your personal preference.
I noticed the following things when I was following the score while listening to Faure's Requiem before the concert and confirming it in the concert: the violins are not frequently used. Viola players would absolutely love this piece as they have all the spotlights and become the main driving force of the melody most of the time (with Cello).
After the break, it's time for Saint-Saens' Organ symphony. Richard Gill's tempo was on the slow side in the first movement, and therefore I felt that the orchestra did not really jump on the momentum to push the piece forward. The second movement was different; and it was heartfelt performance. Actually, come to think about it, I always prefer the 2nd movement compared to the last big movement which starts with a big chord from the organ. Richard Gill finally pushed the tempo towards the end of the piece. Combined that with well-executed fast runs from the orchestra, a timpani being thumped out, fanfare from the brass, and a massive C chord from the organ, you'll definitely will have the audience on loud cheers.
The encore of the night is Ravel's Pavane for Dead Princess. I rue another Pavane for encore. Why can't they play like one of Saint-Saens rarely heard tone poem as the encore? Sigh.
- Faure Requiem
- Saint-Saens Symphony No. 3 'Organ'
Antoinette Halloran Soprano
Samuel Dundas Baritone
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus - Jonathan Grieves-Smith Chorus Master
Richard Gill Conductor
Fresh from his massive all Bach works organ recital for Melbourne International Arts Festival, Calvin Bowman presented an all Bach program which I won't go to details. There are 4 pieces, BWV 680, 639, 645 (the transcription of 'Sleepers, Wake') and finally 768 which is a very long "theme and variations".
I am fond of Faure's Requiem. The serenity and peaceful nature of this piece will always be its advantages. I have probably discussed this, but I really like the 'Sanctus'; a very simple movement with simple melody with harp accompaniment; a perfect picture of what we think of as 'Heaven'. MSO and MSO chorus, under Richard Gill gave straightforward reading of it. The choir sang beautifully although I would prefer the sopranos to sing more angelic-like in the Sanctus and In Paradisum. The performance could've been more effective with better soloists though; Antoinette Halloran has a fine voice but her vibrato is probably a bit too much for the angelic 'Pie Jesu'; Samuel Dundas has a darker timbre voice than what I would've liked. I prefer a baritone with 'lighter' timbre to deliver the solo in the Offertoire and Libera Me. All of this just comes down to your personal preference.
I noticed the following things when I was following the score while listening to Faure's Requiem before the concert and confirming it in the concert: the violins are not frequently used. Viola players would absolutely love this piece as they have all the spotlights and become the main driving force of the melody most of the time (with Cello).
After the break, it's time for Saint-Saens' Organ symphony. Richard Gill's tempo was on the slow side in the first movement, and therefore I felt that the orchestra did not really jump on the momentum to push the piece forward. The second movement was different; and it was heartfelt performance. Actually, come to think about it, I always prefer the 2nd movement compared to the last big movement which starts with a big chord from the organ. Richard Gill finally pushed the tempo towards the end of the piece. Combined that with well-executed fast runs from the orchestra, a timpani being thumped out, fanfare from the brass, and a massive C chord from the organ, you'll definitely will have the audience on loud cheers.
The encore of the night is Ravel's Pavane for Dead Princess. I rue another Pavane for encore. Why can't they play like one of Saint-Saens rarely heard tone poem as the encore? Sigh.
Sunday 11 October 2009
London Philharmonic Orchestra concert 11 October 2009 - Program Two
Featuring:
- Wagner Prelude to Act 1 of Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg
- Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto
- Beethoven Symphony No. 3 'Eroica'
Vadim Repin - Violin
Vladimir Jurowski - Conductor
So, how did this concert go after a mind-blowing concert the day before? To be honest, I thought the Saturday's concert was better than the Sunday's.
The concert hall was full for this performance, probably due to the strong words from yesterday's concert goers. And for the first time since I started attending concerts, all audience are required to stand up to 'God Save the Queen' and 'Advance Australia Fair' played by the orchestra. Wagner's Prelude to act 1 of Die Meistersinger opened up the concert. As the programs suggested, there are plenty of counter melodies and counter points throughout the piece, especially in the cello. The finale where all melodies and a choral-like melody combined together proved to be the highlight of the concert for me.
Tchaikovsky's violin concerto is a warhorse that will always please the audience. Vadim Repin delivered a solid playing of it, and there's no point discussing his techniques. His recording of this concerto with Gergiev is my favourite recording of this piece, and he delivered similar reading of it in the concert. I was disappointed when he did the pizzicato in the solo violin passage after the burst in the beginning of the last movement. He plucked all the strings at once, yes, that was indicated at score, but I was hoping he would pluck them one by one, just like he did in his recording. Anyway, the finale was hot, although I enjoyed the second movement the best. The intimate woodwind melodies came out nicely, and I should commend LPO woodwinds for this. For the maestro, he brought out some little details that again went unnoticed by me, stressing some passages which feel unimportant, but were actually very effective. His trademark big gestures are still there. I mentioned something about his left hand on my previous post, so let me comment on his right hand. He hold his baton in his right hand, and prefer to 'jab' the baton to indicate entries in the orchestra. Also he occasionally joined both of his hands, gripping tight to the baton when he wanted the orchestra to play a big forte chord.
The opening movement of the Eroica was taken at a brisk pace, although not as fast as Gardiner's recording. The big chords weren't as loud and dramatic as I would have expected, but I'm pretty sure Jurowski was trying to hold the orchestra until the big climaxes in the second and fourth movements. This proved to be true, the second movement is one of the most morbid funeral march that I've ever listened to and with amazing development section in the passages before the famous fugue in the middle. The clarity from the strings (I can listen to the violas without actually paying special attention to them!) helped enhancing the effect in the fugue. Big moment in the opening of the last movement was a bit unclean, but the variations were brought out nicely. Overall, the performance was of high quality, but not as thought-provoking as last night's Tchaikovsky's 4th. Huge applause followed, but with less standing ovations this time. The encore is...a piece that I'm not familiar with. I know the cellos started it, and the horns were prominent. After the concert, I was too shy to approach any of the orchestral players to ask them what the piece was, until I finally brace myself to talk to, surprise surprise, the leader of the second violin (I believe his name is Fredrik Paulsson), who I was so excited about. I thanked him for a great concert, and commented on his passionate playing. He also mentioned that the orchestra is going back to London tonight. And yes, he informed me that the encore piece was the Prelude to the third act of Die Meistersinger.
A person that I would have loved to meet is the principal cello. She is this gorgeous blonde woman who played with the upmost passion. Unfortunately, I didn't see her after the concert.
Summing up, I really enjoyed both concerts (esp. the Saturday's) and Vladimir Jurowski successfully brought out little details that are as important as the obvious themes in the music. This alone, have enhanced my experience by multiple levels. The enjoyment of hearing counter melodies and counterpoints from the orchestra and when played with such presence and clarity that you can't help but noticing them is a no easy feat and I should commend Jurowski for producing this effect. Orchestra discipline is another important point, when the orchestra moved and played as one, it will make a big impact to the audience (although I need to mention that the orchestra is less discipline on Sunday, as I can detect some hurried and unclean entries). Another point that I need to mention is the quality of the woodwinds section. Often the sound coming out from the winds are blended, and often it's hard to distinguish one from the other when playing unison. In both performances, I could effortlessly do this because of such different colours produced by each player. I don't need to make comments on the brass section: they're just mad. In the fiendishly difficult brass writing in Tchaikovsky's 4th, they produced those crazy fanfares to perfection. Credit also to the percussion section for their awesome performance in Koehne's piece.
Finally, I'll take the bullet asking this question: which orchestra is better? MSO or LPO? Right now, for me, the answer is easy: LPO. However, comparing an orchestra is not that easy: it might be the conductor who made the difference in the level of orchestra playing. I would certainly be able to make better judgement if Jurowski conducts the MSO in, let's say the Tchaikovsky's 4th symphony again.
- Wagner Prelude to Act 1 of Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg
- Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto
- Beethoven Symphony No. 3 'Eroica'
Vadim Repin - Violin
Vladimir Jurowski - Conductor
So, how did this concert go after a mind-blowing concert the day before? To be honest, I thought the Saturday's concert was better than the Sunday's.
The concert hall was full for this performance, probably due to the strong words from yesterday's concert goers. And for the first time since I started attending concerts, all audience are required to stand up to 'God Save the Queen' and 'Advance Australia Fair' played by the orchestra. Wagner's Prelude to act 1 of Die Meistersinger opened up the concert. As the programs suggested, there are plenty of counter melodies and counter points throughout the piece, especially in the cello. The finale where all melodies and a choral-like melody combined together proved to be the highlight of the concert for me.
Tchaikovsky's violin concerto is a warhorse that will always please the audience. Vadim Repin delivered a solid playing of it, and there's no point discussing his techniques. His recording of this concerto with Gergiev is my favourite recording of this piece, and he delivered similar reading of it in the concert. I was disappointed when he did the pizzicato in the solo violin passage after the burst in the beginning of the last movement. He plucked all the strings at once, yes, that was indicated at score, but I was hoping he would pluck them one by one, just like he did in his recording. Anyway, the finale was hot, although I enjoyed the second movement the best. The intimate woodwind melodies came out nicely, and I should commend LPO woodwinds for this. For the maestro, he brought out some little details that again went unnoticed by me, stressing some passages which feel unimportant, but were actually very effective. His trademark big gestures are still there. I mentioned something about his left hand on my previous post, so let me comment on his right hand. He hold his baton in his right hand, and prefer to 'jab' the baton to indicate entries in the orchestra. Also he occasionally joined both of his hands, gripping tight to the baton when he wanted the orchestra to play a big forte chord.
The opening movement of the Eroica was taken at a brisk pace, although not as fast as Gardiner's recording. The big chords weren't as loud and dramatic as I would have expected, but I'm pretty sure Jurowski was trying to hold the orchestra until the big climaxes in the second and fourth movements. This proved to be true, the second movement is one of the most morbid funeral march that I've ever listened to and with amazing development section in the passages before the famous fugue in the middle. The clarity from the strings (I can listen to the violas without actually paying special attention to them!) helped enhancing the effect in the fugue. Big moment in the opening of the last movement was a bit unclean, but the variations were brought out nicely. Overall, the performance was of high quality, but not as thought-provoking as last night's Tchaikovsky's 4th. Huge applause followed, but with less standing ovations this time. The encore is...a piece that I'm not familiar with. I know the cellos started it, and the horns were prominent. After the concert, I was too shy to approach any of the orchestral players to ask them what the piece was, until I finally brace myself to talk to, surprise surprise, the leader of the second violin (I believe his name is Fredrik Paulsson), who I was so excited about. I thanked him for a great concert, and commented on his passionate playing. He also mentioned that the orchestra is going back to London tonight. And yes, he informed me that the encore piece was the Prelude to the third act of Die Meistersinger.
A person that I would have loved to meet is the principal cello. She is this gorgeous blonde woman who played with the upmost passion. Unfortunately, I didn't see her after the concert.
Summing up, I really enjoyed both concerts (esp. the Saturday's) and Vladimir Jurowski successfully brought out little details that are as important as the obvious themes in the music. This alone, have enhanced my experience by multiple levels. The enjoyment of hearing counter melodies and counterpoints from the orchestra and when played with such presence and clarity that you can't help but noticing them is a no easy feat and I should commend Jurowski for producing this effect. Orchestra discipline is another important point, when the orchestra moved and played as one, it will make a big impact to the audience (although I need to mention that the orchestra is less discipline on Sunday, as I can detect some hurried and unclean entries). Another point that I need to mention is the quality of the woodwinds section. Often the sound coming out from the winds are blended, and often it's hard to distinguish one from the other when playing unison. In both performances, I could effortlessly do this because of such different colours produced by each player. I don't need to make comments on the brass section: they're just mad. In the fiendishly difficult brass writing in Tchaikovsky's 4th, they produced those crazy fanfares to perfection. Credit also to the percussion section for their awesome performance in Koehne's piece.
Finally, I'll take the bullet asking this question: which orchestra is better? MSO or LPO? Right now, for me, the answer is easy: LPO. However, comparing an orchestra is not that easy: it might be the conductor who made the difference in the level of orchestra playing. I would certainly be able to make better judgement if Jurowski conducts the MSO in, let's say the Tchaikovsky's 4th symphony again.
London Philharmonic Orchestra concert 10 October 2009 - Program One
Featuring:
- Graeme Koehne Powerhouse - Rhumba for orchestra
- Ravel Piano Concerto in G major
- Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4
Jean-Yves Thibaudet - Piano
Vladimir Jurowski - Conductor
Holy crap. I was so looking forward to this concert and the concert met my every expectation. Let me just declare this: I have never heard an orchestra whose members are on the edge of their seats on every second of the concert. To plagiarise someone else's word on LPO: 'This is an orchestra on fire'. I bought the program; it costs 20 bucks - a bit expensive, but I'm quite happy with the quality of it. Another way to think about this is: I got a circle seat for both concerts for $25 each. That's pretty much unbeatable price. Paying extra $20 for the program won't hurt me at all after that.
So, let's start with the concert: Graeme Koehne's Powerhouse, subtitled Rhumba for orchestra, is a piece for large orchestra and clearly obsessed with the Rumba dance. A good piece, although with some popular tunes in it. Although inspired by some popular musics, the pieces itself contained considerable amount of good ideas. Vladimir Jurowski gave a very exciting reading LPO executed music passages effortlessly. One musician that caught my eye immediately was the leader of the second violin who was really into the music. The orchestra never seem to run out of energy and stamina, and always delivered the extra punch during climaxes to heighten the effect.
A very stylish Jean-Yves Thibaudet came out as the soloist for Ravel's masterpiece - Piano Concerto in G major. The orchestra size is much smaller compared to the massive force required in the Koehne's piece. The playfulness of the first movement was brought out successfully and Jurowski impressed me again by bringing out little details that I never noticed before. Jean-Yves executed the piano glissandos in the beginning wonderfully. He also listened attentively to the orchestra and made the performance much more intimate for the soloist and orchestra. I enjoyed all of the movements very much, but the 2nd movement, as beautiful as it was played, fell a bit short of my expectation. The third movement made up for it, and it was played with such energy. A very solid performance.
The main program of the night is Tchaikovsky's 4th symphony. This is the piece that I can hum from beginning to end, and so I thought I know all the details. I was wrong. Jurowski revealed that there's a lot more to this symphony than what I know. The first movement began with a big fanfare which was brilliantly played by LPO brass. Jurowski took a slower tempo than what I normally comfortable with, especially in the sections before the fate motif reappears in the middle and the end of the movement. The tempo was so dangerously slow that it can bore the audience if not executed to perfection. Jurowski maintained the intensity throughout and used the slow tempo that he maintained throughout the development section to do a big contrast during the recapitulation of both reappearances of the fate motif when he did an accelerando. That was seriously glorious. The 2nd movement was poignant, as it should be, and I am seriously impressed with the reading of the second theme of this movement. The 3rd movement is an orchestral showcase for pizzicato strings, and excruciating part for the piccolo. No trouble at all here. Each pizzicato was clear as crystal and the dynamic and colour contrast between each of them are ultimately brought out. Allegro con fuoco is the marking of the 4th movement and that's how Jurowski interpreted it: furious with neck-breaking speed. All players are on the edge of their seats, the climaxes were overwhelming and I heard more stuff that I never heard before. The finale is just otherworldly and ultimately brought down the house. After a prolonged applause and standing ovations, we were given the Russian Dance from the Nutcracker suite as an encore.
This concert was seriously awesome. Let me comment on Vladimir Jurowski. He's such magnetic and charismatic on the podium. His gestures are precise, grandeur and just so exciting to watch. His left hand is just crazy, he probably showed other conductors so many interesting things one can do with that hand only. His musical interpretation is superb. Details are being attended to, climaxes are overwhelming. His reading of Tchaikovsky's 4th symphony, especially the 1st movement is thought-provoking for me. This is the first time I felt this way about a performance. Also, he never underestimated the importance of a phrase in the entire 4th symphony. Each musical phrase is treated at utmost respect and executing them brilliantly throughout is a huge feat.
I seriously can't wait for tomorrow's concert. Tchaikovsky's violin concerto and Beethoven's Eroica are pieces that I'm too familiar with. Gave another thought-provoking reading of them tomorrow, Maestro Jurowski!
Finally, it's a bit disappointing not to have full house in Hamer Hall, although both seats in the Circle and Stalls are at capacity. So if you want to go tomorrow and wonder if there are any seats left, the answer is yes.
On a personal note, I sat next to a Russian lady in the audience. We chatted a little, and more when I found out that her musical knowledge is pretty good. She loved Mahler, and complained about the conservative taste of Australian audience. When discussing about piano concerto, she mentioned she enjoyed Saint-Saens' 2nd piano concerto and Prokofiev's. 'Which one (of the Prokofiev)?' I asked. '2nd or 3rd?'. To my surprise, she said she loved the 2nd! And to her surprise, I responded, 'Yes! finally someone who loved that piece!'. And finally, she impressed me again by saying, 'You know..there are some composers who don't like Tchaikovsky's music. Brahms doesn't like Tchaikovsky'. To which I replied, 'Yes, Tchaikovsky hates Brahms too. The feeling is mutual there'. She apparently loved my reply :). Aaaahhhhhh, how I wish everyone is as knowledgeable as this old Russian lady.
- Graeme Koehne Powerhouse - Rhumba for orchestra
- Ravel Piano Concerto in G major
- Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4
Jean-Yves Thibaudet - Piano
Vladimir Jurowski - Conductor
Holy crap. I was so looking forward to this concert and the concert met my every expectation. Let me just declare this: I have never heard an orchestra whose members are on the edge of their seats on every second of the concert. To plagiarise someone else's word on LPO: 'This is an orchestra on fire'. I bought the program; it costs 20 bucks - a bit expensive, but I'm quite happy with the quality of it. Another way to think about this is: I got a circle seat for both concerts for $25 each. That's pretty much unbeatable price. Paying extra $20 for the program won't hurt me at all after that.
So, let's start with the concert: Graeme Koehne's Powerhouse, subtitled Rhumba for orchestra, is a piece for large orchestra and clearly obsessed with the Rumba dance. A good piece, although with some popular tunes in it. Although inspired by some popular musics, the pieces itself contained considerable amount of good ideas. Vladimir Jurowski gave a very exciting reading LPO executed music passages effortlessly. One musician that caught my eye immediately was the leader of the second violin who was really into the music. The orchestra never seem to run out of energy and stamina, and always delivered the extra punch during climaxes to heighten the effect.
A very stylish Jean-Yves Thibaudet came out as the soloist for Ravel's masterpiece - Piano Concerto in G major. The orchestra size is much smaller compared to the massive force required in the Koehne's piece. The playfulness of the first movement was brought out successfully and Jurowski impressed me again by bringing out little details that I never noticed before. Jean-Yves executed the piano glissandos in the beginning wonderfully. He also listened attentively to the orchestra and made the performance much more intimate for the soloist and orchestra. I enjoyed all of the movements very much, but the 2nd movement, as beautiful as it was played, fell a bit short of my expectation. The third movement made up for it, and it was played with such energy. A very solid performance.
The main program of the night is Tchaikovsky's 4th symphony. This is the piece that I can hum from beginning to end, and so I thought I know all the details. I was wrong. Jurowski revealed that there's a lot more to this symphony than what I know. The first movement began with a big fanfare which was brilliantly played by LPO brass. Jurowski took a slower tempo than what I normally comfortable with, especially in the sections before the fate motif reappears in the middle and the end of the movement. The tempo was so dangerously slow that it can bore the audience if not executed to perfection. Jurowski maintained the intensity throughout and used the slow tempo that he maintained throughout the development section to do a big contrast during the recapitulation of both reappearances of the fate motif when he did an accelerando. That was seriously glorious. The 2nd movement was poignant, as it should be, and I am seriously impressed with the reading of the second theme of this movement. The 3rd movement is an orchestral showcase for pizzicato strings, and excruciating part for the piccolo. No trouble at all here. Each pizzicato was clear as crystal and the dynamic and colour contrast between each of them are ultimately brought out. Allegro con fuoco is the marking of the 4th movement and that's how Jurowski interpreted it: furious with neck-breaking speed. All players are on the edge of their seats, the climaxes were overwhelming and I heard more stuff that I never heard before. The finale is just otherworldly and ultimately brought down the house. After a prolonged applause and standing ovations, we were given the Russian Dance from the Nutcracker suite as an encore.
This concert was seriously awesome. Let me comment on Vladimir Jurowski. He's such magnetic and charismatic on the podium. His gestures are precise, grandeur and just so exciting to watch. His left hand is just crazy, he probably showed other conductors so many interesting things one can do with that hand only. His musical interpretation is superb. Details are being attended to, climaxes are overwhelming. His reading of Tchaikovsky's 4th symphony, especially the 1st movement is thought-provoking for me. This is the first time I felt this way about a performance. Also, he never underestimated the importance of a phrase in the entire 4th symphony. Each musical phrase is treated at utmost respect and executing them brilliantly throughout is a huge feat.
I seriously can't wait for tomorrow's concert. Tchaikovsky's violin concerto and Beethoven's Eroica are pieces that I'm too familiar with. Gave another thought-provoking reading of them tomorrow, Maestro Jurowski!
Finally, it's a bit disappointing not to have full house in Hamer Hall, although both seats in the Circle and Stalls are at capacity. So if you want to go tomorrow and wonder if there are any seats left, the answer is yes.
On a personal note, I sat next to a Russian lady in the audience. We chatted a little, and more when I found out that her musical knowledge is pretty good. She loved Mahler, and complained about the conservative taste of Australian audience. When discussing about piano concerto, she mentioned she enjoyed Saint-Saens' 2nd piano concerto and Prokofiev's. 'Which one (of the Prokofiev)?' I asked. '2nd or 3rd?'. To my surprise, she said she loved the 2nd! And to her surprise, I responded, 'Yes! finally someone who loved that piece!'. And finally, she impressed me again by saying, 'You know..there are some composers who don't like Tchaikovsky's music. Brahms doesn't like Tchaikovsky'. To which I replied, 'Yes, Tchaikovsky hates Brahms too. The feeling is mutual there'. She apparently loved my reply :). Aaaahhhhhh, how I wish everyone is as knowledgeable as this old Russian lady.
Tuesday 6 October 2009
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra concert 6 October 2009 - Tchaikovsky's Pathetique
Featuring:
- Kats-Chernin Re-Collecting ASTORoids - World Premiere
- Bartok Music for Strings, Percussion and Celeste
- Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6 'Pathetique'
Paul Daniel - Conductor
Kats-Chernin's Re-Collecting ASTORoids is a 5 movements piece that were written with direct inspiration from Astor Piazzolla, a famous Argentinian composer. Although advertised as a 5 movements piece, we were only presented with the 1st, 2nd, and 5th movements. All three movements are very much tango influenced. The first movement has a memorable muted trumpet solo and the orchestration was very sparse. Fast dance is the characteristic of the 2nd movement with a hint of nostalgia touch. In contrast to the first movement, the orchestra was used brilliantly and provided plenty of additional colour. The last movement mostly scored for strings and opened with a string quartet. I quite enjoyed this piece, and would probably love the performance better if I have been presented the whole piece. Oh yeah, the composer was in the audience, and actually introduced us to the music while being interviewed by a first violin, Sarah Curro.
Bartok's music for Strings, Percussion and Celeste didn't leave any big impressions on me when it was performed by ACO 2 (?) months ago. I think a comparison needs to be made here with MSO performance. I'll just say plainly, that afternoon MSO performance blew off ACO's of the same piece. I guess the main difference is having an actual conductor to conduct the piece. I think this piece is just too complex to be conducted by Richard Tognetti with one hand holding the violin, one hand holding the bow (instead of baton) and constantly switching his mind from conducting to playing the first violin part. The size of the orchestra also matters; MSO produced a bigger sound while maintaining the high level of virtuosity and precision required by this music. While ACO's performance was okay; MSO performance convinced me that this piece is a masterpiece. I don't want to go to the details of each movement, but the whole performance was just very intense, gripping, and each second of the performance make me breath faster and hungry for more. That's how good the performance was.
Tchaikovsky's Pathetique symphony always had an ability to nick my nerve and provoked me into a state of madness during the orchestral outburst in the middle of the first movement right after the famous pppppp for a woodwind (I'm sure it was played by the bass clarinet in the performance). Paul Daniel presented a no non-sense reading of it, and just let the music speaks for itself. The 2nd movement was lovely and the march of the third movement was very very good (this coming from an avid Tchaikovsky listener who have listened to quite a number of 'Pathetique' recordings) that I can't blame more than half of the audience committed one of the biggest mistake of clapping at the wrong place: right after the last boom of the 3rd movement of the Pathetique. The last movement was heartfelt; passionate farewell to life that I always hold dear. Superb performance although not without some imperfections from the orchestra: the first entry of the horn in the first movement is unclean for example and I probably would prefer louder brass during the outburst in the first movement, but that's just me.
Next concert: LPO. Yes, you read that right; London Philharmonic Orchestra coming to Melbourne this weekend. Can't wait to see them performing Ravel's Piano Concerto in G major; Tchaikovsky's 4th symphony (another Tchaikovsky?); Tchaikovsky's violin concerto (why is this composer so familiar?) with Vadim Repin; and Beethoven's Eroica. It'll be interesting how they performed compared to MSO. Can't wait!!!
- Kats-Chernin Re-Collecting ASTORoids - World Premiere
- Bartok Music for Strings, Percussion and Celeste
- Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6 'Pathetique'
Paul Daniel - Conductor
Kats-Chernin's Re-Collecting ASTORoids is a 5 movements piece that were written with direct inspiration from Astor Piazzolla, a famous Argentinian composer. Although advertised as a 5 movements piece, we were only presented with the 1st, 2nd, and 5th movements. All three movements are very much tango influenced. The first movement has a memorable muted trumpet solo and the orchestration was very sparse. Fast dance is the characteristic of the 2nd movement with a hint of nostalgia touch. In contrast to the first movement, the orchestra was used brilliantly and provided plenty of additional colour. The last movement mostly scored for strings and opened with a string quartet. I quite enjoyed this piece, and would probably love the performance better if I have been presented the whole piece. Oh yeah, the composer was in the audience, and actually introduced us to the music while being interviewed by a first violin, Sarah Curro.
Bartok's music for Strings, Percussion and Celeste didn't leave any big impressions on me when it was performed by ACO 2 (?) months ago. I think a comparison needs to be made here with MSO performance. I'll just say plainly, that afternoon MSO performance blew off ACO's of the same piece. I guess the main difference is having an actual conductor to conduct the piece. I think this piece is just too complex to be conducted by Richard Tognetti with one hand holding the violin, one hand holding the bow (instead of baton) and constantly switching his mind from conducting to playing the first violin part. The size of the orchestra also matters; MSO produced a bigger sound while maintaining the high level of virtuosity and precision required by this music. While ACO's performance was okay; MSO performance convinced me that this piece is a masterpiece. I don't want to go to the details of each movement, but the whole performance was just very intense, gripping, and each second of the performance make me breath faster and hungry for more. That's how good the performance was.
Tchaikovsky's Pathetique symphony always had an ability to nick my nerve and provoked me into a state of madness during the orchestral outburst in the middle of the first movement right after the famous pppppp for a woodwind (I'm sure it was played by the bass clarinet in the performance). Paul Daniel presented a no non-sense reading of it, and just let the music speaks for itself. The 2nd movement was lovely and the march of the third movement was very very good (this coming from an avid Tchaikovsky listener who have listened to quite a number of 'Pathetique' recordings) that I can't blame more than half of the audience committed one of the biggest mistake of clapping at the wrong place: right after the last boom of the 3rd movement of the Pathetique. The last movement was heartfelt; passionate farewell to life that I always hold dear. Superb performance although not without some imperfections from the orchestra: the first entry of the horn in the first movement is unclean for example and I probably would prefer louder brass during the outburst in the first movement, but that's just me.
Next concert: LPO. Yes, you read that right; London Philharmonic Orchestra coming to Melbourne this weekend. Can't wait to see them performing Ravel's Piano Concerto in G major; Tchaikovsky's 4th symphony (another Tchaikovsky?); Tchaikovsky's violin concerto (why is this composer so familiar?) with Vadim Repin; and Beethoven's Eroica. It'll be interesting how they performed compared to MSO. Can't wait!!!
Sunday 20 September 2009
ABC Classic FM - The Classic 100 Symphony
If you've been listening to ABC Classic FM in the past week or so, you must know that ABC is doing a poll on which symphony is Australia's favourite. As with any 'top-100' surveys, there'll be bias in the final result. However, it's still interesting to see the result.
I'm very surprised to find out that Beethoven 9 did not take the title, and instead the other 9th symphony, by Dvorak that is, actually occupied the number one spot. IMHO, Dvorak 9 is NOT as interesting as his 7th or 8th symphonies. Sure, the 2nd movement is lovely, but I've always been more attracted to the opening of the last movement of the symphony. Anyway, as much as I love Dvorak 9, I don't think it's better than say Mozart's Jupiter (finishes at #12), Brahms' 4 (#20), or Beethoven 3 (#8) or 5 (#6). Call me a snob, I don't think Saint-Saens' Organ symphony should be at #4 too. Again, I love that symphony very much, but it's less sophisticated than any of Mahler's symphonies, dare I say.
I am more interested in the final ranking of a particular composer's symphonies. Let's start with Beethoven: almost all his symphonies made into the list, only the 1st missed out. The final finishing order is: 9, 6, 7, 5, 3, 8, 4 and 2. It's pretty accurate with popular myth: the odd numbered symphonies are better than the even ones (apart from the Pastorale). No one would agree with me but I enjoy the 4th and 8th symphonies better than Beethoven 7. And I think Beethoven 1 is good enough to squeeze in to top 100.
What about Mahler? There has been large number of discussions in ABC message boards regarding Mahler and opinions range from him creating random noise to the best masterpieces ever. Again, almost all of his completed symphonies (the 7 missed out) made it into the top 100, and the final order is: 2, 5, 1, 4, 8, 3, 9, 6, and Das Lied von der Erde. This for me is a controversy. Being a Mahlerian (or Mahlerite), I cannot take an order which lists the 1st and the 4th symphonies to be better than the 9th (!), 6th (!!) and Das Lied von der Erde (!!!). Having said that, I couldn't come up with any personal ranking of Mahler's symphonies. My way of classifying Mahler's symphonies are to categorise the symphonies as a Masterpiece, Great, or Good symphony. The Masterpieces are: (based on the order of composition) 2, 5, 6, Das Lied von Der Erde, and 9. The Greats are: 1, 3 (the last movement is a Masterpiece), 4 (the slow movement is a Masterpiece). Finally, the Goods are the rest: 7 and 8. I can sort of understand why people don't really like the pessimistic symphonies of Mahler: 6, DLvdE, and 9 just simply because of their pessimist nature. For me, these symphonies are the hardest for me to 'get', and it's easy to give up on listening to them after only one or two tries. Let me just say this: you're missing out on some of the most sublime music ever written if you gave up on this piece too soon.
Mozart? I'm always happy with a ranking that ranks the Jupiter higher than the 40th :). In the list, the final order is: 41, 40, 39, 38, 29, 25, 35 and 36. Fair ranking, although if I would to come up with the ranking based on those 8 symphonies, I would rank them in reverse order of their numbers.
I'm disappointed to see Brahms and Bruckner to be outside top 20. Another heart break is not to see Schumann's 2nd and 4th symphonies, and Kalinnikov's 1st symphony in the list.
I'm very surprised to find out that Beethoven 9 did not take the title, and instead the other 9th symphony, by Dvorak that is, actually occupied the number one spot. IMHO, Dvorak 9 is NOT as interesting as his 7th or 8th symphonies. Sure, the 2nd movement is lovely, but I've always been more attracted to the opening of the last movement of the symphony. Anyway, as much as I love Dvorak 9, I don't think it's better than say Mozart's Jupiter (finishes at #12), Brahms' 4 (#20), or Beethoven 3 (#8) or 5 (#6). Call me a snob, I don't think Saint-Saens' Organ symphony should be at #4 too. Again, I love that symphony very much, but it's less sophisticated than any of Mahler's symphonies, dare I say.
I am more interested in the final ranking of a particular composer's symphonies. Let's start with Beethoven: almost all his symphonies made into the list, only the 1st missed out. The final finishing order is: 9, 6, 7, 5, 3, 8, 4 and 2. It's pretty accurate with popular myth: the odd numbered symphonies are better than the even ones (apart from the Pastorale). No one would agree with me but I enjoy the 4th and 8th symphonies better than Beethoven 7. And I think Beethoven 1 is good enough to squeeze in to top 100.
What about Mahler? There has been large number of discussions in ABC message boards regarding Mahler and opinions range from him creating random noise to the best masterpieces ever. Again, almost all of his completed symphonies (the 7 missed out) made it into the top 100, and the final order is: 2, 5, 1, 4, 8, 3, 9, 6, and Das Lied von der Erde. This for me is a controversy. Being a Mahlerian (or Mahlerite), I cannot take an order which lists the 1st and the 4th symphonies to be better than the 9th (!), 6th (!!) and Das Lied von der Erde (!!!). Having said that, I couldn't come up with any personal ranking of Mahler's symphonies. My way of classifying Mahler's symphonies are to categorise the symphonies as a Masterpiece, Great, or Good symphony. The Masterpieces are: (based on the order of composition) 2, 5, 6, Das Lied von Der Erde, and 9. The Greats are: 1, 3 (the last movement is a Masterpiece), 4 (the slow movement is a Masterpiece). Finally, the Goods are the rest: 7 and 8. I can sort of understand why people don't really like the pessimistic symphonies of Mahler: 6, DLvdE, and 9 just simply because of their pessimist nature. For me, these symphonies are the hardest for me to 'get', and it's easy to give up on listening to them after only one or two tries. Let me just say this: you're missing out on some of the most sublime music ever written if you gave up on this piece too soon.
Mozart? I'm always happy with a ranking that ranks the Jupiter higher than the 40th :). In the list, the final order is: 41, 40, 39, 38, 29, 25, 35 and 36. Fair ranking, although if I would to come up with the ranking based on those 8 symphonies, I would rank them in reverse order of their numbers.
I'm disappointed to see Brahms and Bruckner to be outside top 20. Another heart break is not to see Schumann's 2nd and 4th symphonies, and Kalinnikov's 1st symphony in the list.
Monday 14 September 2009
Australian Chamber Orchestra concert 13 September 2009 - Marwood, Mozart & Mendelssohn
Featuring:
- Mozart Serenata notturna, K. 239
- John Kinsella Prelude and Toccata - Australian Premiere
- Mendelssohn Sinfonia No. 12 in G minor
- Carl Vine XX
- Schumann Cello concerto (arr. as Violin Concerto by Orlando Jopling) - Australian Premiere
- Osvaldo Golijov - Last Round (first movement)
In contrast to the MSO concert which I was very much looking forward to yesterday, this ACO concert is at the bottom of my excitement list out of ACO concerts this season. There are several reasons to this: (1) I don't know any of the music advertised apart from Schumann's Cello concerto - which is not my favourite cello concerto. (2) Compositions by young Mozart and Mendelssohn are usually, simply put, boring. (3) I have never heard about Kinsella. (4) Schumann Cello Concerto transcribed as Violin Concerto for some reason, doesn't appeal much to me. Despite all of these reasons, this concert proved that I was a fool to prejudge music before listening to them and I enjoyed this concert immensely. Add to that, ACO actually played 2 more programs (Carl Vine's and Golijov's pieces) than the advertised program in the season brochure. Good on them!
Mozart's youth work, Serenata notturna, K. 239 opened up the concert. From the bouncy opening rhythms, quite similar to his 4th Violin Concerto I should point out, this piece delights the audience by its playful main theme which comes back several times in the first movement. Scored for strings and timpani, it's very captivating to listen to the timpani sound contrasted against the rest of the strings. Particularly striking is the timpani solo played on top of pizzicato strings. While the 2nd movement is charming with a lovely trio for string quartet accompanied by the rest of the orchestra, I'm sure the audience will remember the last movement the most. The main theme, which was stated a couple of times in this Rondo movement, is followed by several dramatic pauses, in which the leader of each section would improvise playing musical jokes on their own or play little duets, trios, or even quartets amongst them. My favourites are the double bass and the timpani improvisations. The good thing about these improvisations is that most audience understand that they're supposed to be jokes, and gave a few chuckles after each improvisation.
After the playful and light-hearted Mozart, we're treated with John Kinsella's Prelude and Toccata. A much more serious tone piece, I was really impressed with the Toccata section in which seemingly endless ostinato passages full of running semiquavers are played with extreme contrast of each other, sometimes pianissimo, other times fortissimo. This piece certainly requires a considerable virtuosity from every orchestra players and ACO nailed every fugal-like entry to perfection. The big question mark of unresolved chord that ended the piece is the only bar of music that I don't really like from this piece.
Probably the weakest performance of this concert is of Mendelssohn's String Symphony No. 12. I'm not really fond of the fugue in the first movement of the piece, but I enjoyed the 2nd movement immensely due to the creative writing of a solo viola and cello playing a counter melody against the main theme of the movement played by the rest of the strings. The final movement is fast paced, ending with breakneck speed in the coda and the work ended with the same 3 notes of the first movement of Mozart's 40th Symphony, which is written in the same key (a tribute from Mendelssohn?)
Carl Vine's XX (pronounced eiks-eiks) is a piece written for a solo violin and strings. Marwood stepped in as the solo violin, playing a short passage, echoed by the orchestra, another passage (more complex this time), another echo, and yet another passage (and even more complex) and echo. After that, the solo violin plays a rhapsody-like passage on top of the orchestra accompaniment before it joins back with the orchestra playing unison. Rhythmic is an accurate word to describe this piece and there's even a passage so similar to the opening of Stravinsky's march in the Rite of Spring (right after the introduction). You can watch an ABC short news about this piece here. The Stravinsky bit that I was referring to is played by the orchestra at 01:45 mark. As you can gather from the ABC feature, Carl Vine meant this piece to be a tongue-in-cheek piece, and the end of this piece is a rather unexpected musical joke.
The advertised heart of this concert is Schumann's Cello Concerto arranged as Violin Concerto and reduced set of instruments (no woodwinds or brass). Marwood played the solo part beautifully without going too overly sentimental. I loved the duets between the violin solo and the principal cello in the second movement, while at the same time feeling slightly awkward with woodwind melodies played by the strings. In the finale, Marwood's gorgeous playing and tone really enhanced the enjoyment of those highly lyrical passages. Murray Black wrote a very good review on this in The Australian.
Finally, the audience was served with the first movement of Golijov's Last Round. The marking of this Argentinian composer is an interesting one: Movido, urgente: Macho, cool and dangerous in the program notes. The whole work is based on this simple theme, which was varied with different rhythm, tempo, texture, and colour. As a musical portrayal of a wild tango, ACO attacked this music in a similar fashion with plenty of energy without losing their focus. A great performance to end the concert.
Summing up, I enjoyed this concert very much. ACO's wonderful programming really shone through here with audience being lead away from their comfort zone to try listening to some more challenging works. This would probably convince me enough to renew my subscription next year.
- Mozart Serenata notturna, K. 239
- John Kinsella Prelude and Toccata - Australian Premiere
- Mendelssohn Sinfonia No. 12 in G minor
- Carl Vine XX
- Schumann Cello concerto (arr. as Violin Concerto by Orlando Jopling) - Australian Premiere
- Osvaldo Golijov - Last Round (first movement)
In contrast to the MSO concert which I was very much looking forward to yesterday, this ACO concert is at the bottom of my excitement list out of ACO concerts this season. There are several reasons to this: (1) I don't know any of the music advertised apart from Schumann's Cello concerto - which is not my favourite cello concerto. (2) Compositions by young Mozart and Mendelssohn are usually, simply put, boring. (3) I have never heard about Kinsella. (4) Schumann Cello Concerto transcribed as Violin Concerto for some reason, doesn't appeal much to me. Despite all of these reasons, this concert proved that I was a fool to prejudge music before listening to them and I enjoyed this concert immensely. Add to that, ACO actually played 2 more programs (Carl Vine's and Golijov's pieces) than the advertised program in the season brochure. Good on them!
Mozart's youth work, Serenata notturna, K. 239 opened up the concert. From the bouncy opening rhythms, quite similar to his 4th Violin Concerto I should point out, this piece delights the audience by its playful main theme which comes back several times in the first movement. Scored for strings and timpani, it's very captivating to listen to the timpani sound contrasted against the rest of the strings. Particularly striking is the timpani solo played on top of pizzicato strings. While the 2nd movement is charming with a lovely trio for string quartet accompanied by the rest of the orchestra, I'm sure the audience will remember the last movement the most. The main theme, which was stated a couple of times in this Rondo movement, is followed by several dramatic pauses, in which the leader of each section would improvise playing musical jokes on their own or play little duets, trios, or even quartets amongst them. My favourites are the double bass and the timpani improvisations. The good thing about these improvisations is that most audience understand that they're supposed to be jokes, and gave a few chuckles after each improvisation.
After the playful and light-hearted Mozart, we're treated with John Kinsella's Prelude and Toccata. A much more serious tone piece, I was really impressed with the Toccata section in which seemingly endless ostinato passages full of running semiquavers are played with extreme contrast of each other, sometimes pianissimo, other times fortissimo. This piece certainly requires a considerable virtuosity from every orchestra players and ACO nailed every fugal-like entry to perfection. The big question mark of unresolved chord that ended the piece is the only bar of music that I don't really like from this piece.
Probably the weakest performance of this concert is of Mendelssohn's String Symphony No. 12. I'm not really fond of the fugue in the first movement of the piece, but I enjoyed the 2nd movement immensely due to the creative writing of a solo viola and cello playing a counter melody against the main theme of the movement played by the rest of the strings. The final movement is fast paced, ending with breakneck speed in the coda and the work ended with the same 3 notes of the first movement of Mozart's 40th Symphony, which is written in the same key (a tribute from Mendelssohn?)
Carl Vine's XX (pronounced eiks-eiks) is a piece written for a solo violin and strings. Marwood stepped in as the solo violin, playing a short passage, echoed by the orchestra, another passage (more complex this time), another echo, and yet another passage (and even more complex) and echo. After that, the solo violin plays a rhapsody-like passage on top of the orchestra accompaniment before it joins back with the orchestra playing unison. Rhythmic is an accurate word to describe this piece and there's even a passage so similar to the opening of Stravinsky's march in the Rite of Spring (right after the introduction). You can watch an ABC short news about this piece here. The Stravinsky bit that I was referring to is played by the orchestra at 01:45 mark. As you can gather from the ABC feature, Carl Vine meant this piece to be a tongue-in-cheek piece, and the end of this piece is a rather unexpected musical joke.
The advertised heart of this concert is Schumann's Cello Concerto arranged as Violin Concerto and reduced set of instruments (no woodwinds or brass). Marwood played the solo part beautifully without going too overly sentimental. I loved the duets between the violin solo and the principal cello in the second movement, while at the same time feeling slightly awkward with woodwind melodies played by the strings. In the finale, Marwood's gorgeous playing and tone really enhanced the enjoyment of those highly lyrical passages. Murray Black wrote a very good review on this in The Australian.
Finally, the audience was served with the first movement of Golijov's Last Round. The marking of this Argentinian composer is an interesting one: Movido, urgente: Macho, cool and dangerous in the program notes. The whole work is based on this simple theme, which was varied with different rhythm, tempo, texture, and colour. As a musical portrayal of a wild tango, ACO attacked this music in a similar fashion with plenty of energy without losing their focus. A great performance to end the concert.
Summing up, I enjoyed this concert very much. ACO's wonderful programming really shone through here with audience being lead away from their comfort zone to try listening to some more challenging works. This would probably convince me enough to renew my subscription next year.
Sunday 13 September 2009
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra concert 12 September 2009 - Unquiet Hearts
Featuring:
- Beethoven Coriolan Overture
- Mozart Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola, K. 364
- Brahms Symphony No. 3
Thomas Zehetmair - Violin/Director
Ruth Killius - Viola
This is one of the concerts that I've looked forward to attending this season. How can I not when the program consists of one of Beethoven's finest overtures, my favourite Mozart's concerto, and a Brahms symphony (although the 3rd is my least favourite). Combination of these masterpieces proved enough to attract large crowds at the recital centre with the upper seats were fully packed.
The concert started with heavy chords from Beethoven's aggressive Coriolan overture. Portraying a general going into the battle and his death at last, I think it's just appropriate playing this piece aggressively and attack those accented notes, which is exactly what Zehetmair did. Conducting with big gestures, Zehetmair also made effective use of the dramatic silence between chords to intensify the performance. The trimmed down MSO (only 4 rows of first violin instead of usual 5 or 6) played well and set up the playing standard for the rest of the concert.
A lovely Ruth Killius accompanied Zehetmair in Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante. This piece has a special place in my heart because of the gorgeous melody in the first movement, the depth and pathos of the second, and the cheeriness of the third. Most importantly, it's the interplay between the two soloists that I treasure the most. Listening to them is like listening to the most intimate conversation between two best friends.
Zehetmair, now acting as both soloist and conductor, started the first movement slower than what I accustomed to but to a great effect as it brings more majestic touch to this movement. Both the soloists then emerged from out of nowhere (one of the best moment in this piece!) and not facing each other, played the solo part. In fact they stayed that way until the cadenza when finally both soloists faced each other. It's almost like watching a courting act from Zehetmair to Killius. I'll spare the details of each movement and just say that they played brilliantly although Killius' viola sound was harder to pick up as it occasionally was dominated by the rest of the strings from both soloists and orchestra. Long applause followed.
I love all 4 Brahms' symphonies. But, the 3rd is my least favourite for a reason that I can't explain myself. I feel personal affinity towards the 1st, can't resist the beauty and the lyrical of the 2nd (esp. the arousing finale), and what can I do but be in awe of Brahms' genius in his 4th. Or maybe the recordings that I have? I don't know, but I can certainly say that this concert changed my opinion of this symphony in a positive way.
Zehetmair gave this symphony a grandeur, majestic, full-on lush romantic treatment and boy did it make a difference. Phrases were executed to perfection while losing none of the overall picture of the symphony. Extreme dynamics contrast was another feature of this performance. Those big moments in both first and last movements were more effective and gained additional majesty during those loud passages. It's easy to say that this might be an overblown interpretation, but it's not. It's intelligent, well-controlled reading and all the details are brought up. The performance was also helped by marvelous solos by MSO's woodwind section, and the main theme of the 3rd movement is nailed perfectly by the horns. Let me just talk a bit of the contrabassoon, which only joins the fun in the last movement. Its first entry provided extra colour to the symphony and for me that is the decisive point. Also, for the first time ever, I really felt the `letting go` passages that starts right after the big majestic chords ended. It's so good, that I think it has a Mahler-like quality to it. Although the symphony ended quietly, it was followed by an arousing applause. This is one performance that I will always remember when I listen to this symphony in the future.
To sum up, this concert delivered its potential and I thoroughly enjoyed every piece programmed. I have no problem with the hall acoustic (I was sitting at one of the seats in the balcony). Unfortunately I can't go to the next MSO concert in the Recital Centre series on November due to a positive unforeseeable circumstances. I'll look forward to MSO next appearances in this hall next year.
- Beethoven Coriolan Overture
- Mozart Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola, K. 364
- Brahms Symphony No. 3
Thomas Zehetmair - Violin/Director
Ruth Killius - Viola
This is one of the concerts that I've looked forward to attending this season. How can I not when the program consists of one of Beethoven's finest overtures, my favourite Mozart's concerto, and a Brahms symphony (although the 3rd is my least favourite). Combination of these masterpieces proved enough to attract large crowds at the recital centre with the upper seats were fully packed.
The concert started with heavy chords from Beethoven's aggressive Coriolan overture. Portraying a general going into the battle and his death at last, I think it's just appropriate playing this piece aggressively and attack those accented notes, which is exactly what Zehetmair did. Conducting with big gestures, Zehetmair also made effective use of the dramatic silence between chords to intensify the performance. The trimmed down MSO (only 4 rows of first violin instead of usual 5 or 6) played well and set up the playing standard for the rest of the concert.
A lovely Ruth Killius accompanied Zehetmair in Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante. This piece has a special place in my heart because of the gorgeous melody in the first movement, the depth and pathos of the second, and the cheeriness of the third. Most importantly, it's the interplay between the two soloists that I treasure the most. Listening to them is like listening to the most intimate conversation between two best friends.
Zehetmair, now acting as both soloist and conductor, started the first movement slower than what I accustomed to but to a great effect as it brings more majestic touch to this movement. Both the soloists then emerged from out of nowhere (one of the best moment in this piece!) and not facing each other, played the solo part. In fact they stayed that way until the cadenza when finally both soloists faced each other. It's almost like watching a courting act from Zehetmair to Killius. I'll spare the details of each movement and just say that they played brilliantly although Killius' viola sound was harder to pick up as it occasionally was dominated by the rest of the strings from both soloists and orchestra. Long applause followed.
I love all 4 Brahms' symphonies. But, the 3rd is my least favourite for a reason that I can't explain myself. I feel personal affinity towards the 1st, can't resist the beauty and the lyrical of the 2nd (esp. the arousing finale), and what can I do but be in awe of Brahms' genius in his 4th. Or maybe the recordings that I have? I don't know, but I can certainly say that this concert changed my opinion of this symphony in a positive way.
Zehetmair gave this symphony a grandeur, majestic, full-on lush romantic treatment and boy did it make a difference. Phrases were executed to perfection while losing none of the overall picture of the symphony. Extreme dynamics contrast was another feature of this performance. Those big moments in both first and last movements were more effective and gained additional majesty during those loud passages. It's easy to say that this might be an overblown interpretation, but it's not. It's intelligent, well-controlled reading and all the details are brought up. The performance was also helped by marvelous solos by MSO's woodwind section, and the main theme of the 3rd movement is nailed perfectly by the horns. Let me just talk a bit of the contrabassoon, which only joins the fun in the last movement. Its first entry provided extra colour to the symphony and for me that is the decisive point. Also, for the first time ever, I really felt the `letting go` passages that starts right after the big majestic chords ended. It's so good, that I think it has a Mahler-like quality to it. Although the symphony ended quietly, it was followed by an arousing applause. This is one performance that I will always remember when I listen to this symphony in the future.
To sum up, this concert delivered its potential and I thoroughly enjoyed every piece programmed. I have no problem with the hall acoustic (I was sitting at one of the seats in the balcony). Unfortunately I can't go to the next MSO concert in the Recital Centre series on November due to a positive unforeseeable circumstances. I'll look forward to MSO next appearances in this hall next year.
Tuesday 25 August 2009
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra concert 24 August 2009 - Davis Conducts Elgar
Featuring:
- Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4
- Vaughan Williams Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
- Elgar Falstaff
Jonathan Biss - Piano
Sir Andrew Davis - Conductor
Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major has long been my favourite Beethoven piano concerto. Its introvert nature made this piece feel more intimate and personal when compared to the extrovert and extravaganza of the first movement of the Emperor concerto (Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5). Jonathan Biss presented a delightful reading of this concerto, but I withheld some reservations of his performance. The magical opening chords were not so magical, but still okay. Both the orchestra and piano in the first movement sounded a bit muffled, lacking crisp and clarity in tone. Jonathan's performance is highlighted by strong bass chords presence and plenty of body gestures, and wonderful uses of rubato. I think Jonathan offered Beethoven's cadenzas for both first and last movement, but I could be wrong. In second movement, both the pianist and orchestra seemed like clicked into gear and producing wonderful tone. I enjoyed this movement a lot except from a slight moment during the not-so-together pizzicato entry of the orchestra and the soloist when the soloist played the second wistful theme which leads directly to a mini-cadenza. The conductor picked up the tempo in the last movement, and when Jonathan started his solo part, David Berlin accompanied him with his cello. Jonathan dashed through the coda, bringing the whole piece into an exhilarating ending. Huge applause followed and after several curtain calls, Jonathan gave the 2nd movement of Mozart's sonata in C major, K. 545 'Sonata Semplice' as the encore.
As the title probably suggests, the star of the concert is not Jonathan, but the conductor Andrew Davis. He showed his capability as a world class conductor in the second piece, Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis. The 'echo' group consisting of small number of strings is placed on top of the stage, where the percussion usually is. It's hard not to compare this performance to ACO's performance 2 weeks ago. IMHO, ACO's performance is very crisp while MSO's is very airy - perhaps due to significantly larger amount of strings that MSO use in the performance. Sir Andrew's masterfully build up the layers of wonderful melodies and the climax is very satisfying. Not to be outdone by ACO's section leaders, MSO's string section leaders also provided gorgeous solos. Nice, solid performance.
After the other players come in (Vaughan William's piece is only scored for strings), Sir Andrew gave a short speech about the next piece, Elgar's Falstaff and described it as 'a piece that he loved dearly'. Unfortunately, despite what Elgar said that this piece is unlike Richard Strauss' tone poem, I still think it's very much in the same spirit. Add to that my unfamiliarity of Falstaff's story and Shakespeare in general, the result is quite obvious: I can't feel as passionate with the music as Sir Andrew. I enjoy the drunken bassoon solo, but found the piece to be incomprehensible by large. A disappointing end to an otherwise wonderful concert for me.
I'm not going to Sir Andrew's next concert which is on this weekend. This is not because I don't like his conducting style (lots of big gestures!) which I enjoyed very much; but rather my unfamiliarity of the programs: Strauss' so-called-ethereal Four Last Songs; and several Wagner's music. I'm looking forward to my next MSO concert: Beethoven's Coriolan overture, Mozart's Sinfornia concertante for violin and viola, K. 364; and unfortunately my least favourite Brahms' symphony: the 3rd.
- Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4
- Vaughan Williams Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
- Elgar Falstaff
Jonathan Biss - Piano
Sir Andrew Davis - Conductor
Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major has long been my favourite Beethoven piano concerto. Its introvert nature made this piece feel more intimate and personal when compared to the extrovert and extravaganza of the first movement of the Emperor concerto (Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5). Jonathan Biss presented a delightful reading of this concerto, but I withheld some reservations of his performance. The magical opening chords were not so magical, but still okay. Both the orchestra and piano in the first movement sounded a bit muffled, lacking crisp and clarity in tone. Jonathan's performance is highlighted by strong bass chords presence and plenty of body gestures, and wonderful uses of rubato. I think Jonathan offered Beethoven's cadenzas for both first and last movement, but I could be wrong. In second movement, both the pianist and orchestra seemed like clicked into gear and producing wonderful tone. I enjoyed this movement a lot except from a slight moment during the not-so-together pizzicato entry of the orchestra and the soloist when the soloist played the second wistful theme which leads directly to a mini-cadenza. The conductor picked up the tempo in the last movement, and when Jonathan started his solo part, David Berlin accompanied him with his cello. Jonathan dashed through the coda, bringing the whole piece into an exhilarating ending. Huge applause followed and after several curtain calls, Jonathan gave the 2nd movement of Mozart's sonata in C major, K. 545 'Sonata Semplice' as the encore.
As the title probably suggests, the star of the concert is not Jonathan, but the conductor Andrew Davis. He showed his capability as a world class conductor in the second piece, Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis. The 'echo' group consisting of small number of strings is placed on top of the stage, where the percussion usually is. It's hard not to compare this performance to ACO's performance 2 weeks ago. IMHO, ACO's performance is very crisp while MSO's is very airy - perhaps due to significantly larger amount of strings that MSO use in the performance. Sir Andrew's masterfully build up the layers of wonderful melodies and the climax is very satisfying. Not to be outdone by ACO's section leaders, MSO's string section leaders also provided gorgeous solos. Nice, solid performance.
After the other players come in (Vaughan William's piece is only scored for strings), Sir Andrew gave a short speech about the next piece, Elgar's Falstaff and described it as 'a piece that he loved dearly'. Unfortunately, despite what Elgar said that this piece is unlike Richard Strauss' tone poem, I still think it's very much in the same spirit. Add to that my unfamiliarity of Falstaff's story and Shakespeare in general, the result is quite obvious: I can't feel as passionate with the music as Sir Andrew. I enjoy the drunken bassoon solo, but found the piece to be incomprehensible by large. A disappointing end to an otherwise wonderful concert for me.
I'm not going to Sir Andrew's next concert which is on this weekend. This is not because I don't like his conducting style (lots of big gestures!) which I enjoyed very much; but rather my unfamiliarity of the programs: Strauss' so-called-ethereal Four Last Songs; and several Wagner's music. I'm looking forward to my next MSO concert: Beethoven's Coriolan overture, Mozart's Sinfornia concertante for violin and viola, K. 364; and unfortunately my least favourite Brahms' symphony: the 3rd.
Wednesday 12 August 2009
Australian Chamber Orchestra concert 9 August 2009 - Resonance
Featuring:
- Peter Sculthorpe Chaconne - World Premiere
- Vaughan Williams Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis
- Bartok Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta
- Xenakis Shaar
- Richard Strauss Metamorphosen
I guess the only major orchestra in Australia that can get away with this challenging programs and still guaranteed a pretty much almost full-house is ACO. If MSO would have programmed this, I'm quite sure the hall will be maximum half full.
The concert began with Sculthorpe's Chaconne. It's written for string orchestra with a prominent violin solo played by Richard Tognetti. Throughout the piece, the strings provided ostinato accompaniment, while the solo violin floats on top, playing the melody line. Tognetti's tone was gorgeous, but sounded dynamically a tad weak. Bach's influence is quite obvious here, but it will perhaps be a blemish to compare this piece with the Chaconne from the D minor Partita.
ACO's settings is a bit unusual for the next piece, Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis. A small group of string players (6-7 players) was located slightly further at the back from the audience, providing an echo effect to the main group. I'm not familiar with this piece, but this piece is so beautiful that you just can't help liking it. The title of this concert can be used to describe ACO strings here, they're just so resonant. I very much enjoyed the little duet between the viola and violin towards the end of the piece. Magnificent and heartfelt performance.
Bartok's piece also requires unusual orchestral settings. One half of strings with violins and violas (located slightly at the back) faces the other half with cellos and basses bridge between them in the middle. Celesta, Piano and other percussions are further back. Fugue is the musical form in the first movement, which I enjoyed a lot. The second movement is a banal rhythmic section - not unlike Stravinksy's Rite of Spring. Also, IIRC, the cymbals made a very interesting noise here: instead of clashing one cymbal to the other, the percussionist scratch them. I wasn't too impressed with the third movement which has been described as 'Night Music'. Folk music started the last movement. Another thing that captured my attention is that the celestist (is that the correct term for a celesta player?) went over to the piano and played 4 hand passages with the pianist, before going back to the celesta. Overall, I don't think I enjoyed this piece as much as I would like, as it is one hell of complicated music that would benefit from repeated listening. I'll listen to it again when I have time.
One small grudge here: In the first half of the concert, I sat behind a tall guy which directly obstructs my eyesight to the center of the stage. If you haven't experienced this before, let me tell you: it's not pleasant. I really feel disadvantage of this during Bartok's complicated music, where interesting music comes out of a wide variety of instruments which I can't see because of this obstruction. I think my enjoyment of complicated music with awkward rhythms and interesting noise requiring large orchestra is enhanced by clear sight of what's going on. My other experience listening to comparably (or perhaps even more!) complex music was when I attended a concert with Schoenberg's Variations for Orchestra in the program. I can honestly say that if I listen to that piece from a recording, I would not have enjoyed it at all. However, due to the clear sight and knowledge of what's going on in the music, I enjoyed that performance the most out of the concert that featured Mozart's D minor Concerto and Ravel's Bolero. Knowing ahead that I was going to be in another music challenge with Xenakis, I changed seat in second half.
Xenakis' Shaar ('gate') did not disappoint, I actually loved it! People that hate dissonance sound would loathe this music because it's full of dissonances from beginning to the end. The strings started with glissandi, producing a siren-like sound. Very very interesting. Another interesting thing is the contrast between wonderful noises made throughout the piece. The effect of the climax in the final movement was enhanced by sharp attack from the orchestra.
Finally, Strauss' Metamorphosen finishes the concert. I can't say I was impressed by it, and to be honest, it sounded like a cheap Mahler (I'm sorry Richard Strauss!). In this case, I actually agree with Richard Strauss who famously said "I may not be a first-rate composer, but I am a first-class second-rate composer!". Anyway, I intend to discover Strauss' music more in the future, and I'm pretty sure I'll come across it again (and hopefully changed my opinion of it). The quote of Beethoven's funeral march from the Eroica symphony is pretty clear in the end, but as I did not enjoy and understand the work, it made no sense at all to me.
Summing up, this ACO concert is a mixed-bag for me. Vaughan Williams' and Xenakis' piece were probably the gems; I should re-listen to Bartok and Strauss music. And yes, I haven't forgotten Sculthorpe: I hope I can listen to it again.
- Peter Sculthorpe Chaconne - World Premiere
- Vaughan Williams Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis
- Bartok Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta
- Xenakis Shaar
- Richard Strauss Metamorphosen
I guess the only major orchestra in Australia that can get away with this challenging programs and still guaranteed a pretty much almost full-house is ACO. If MSO would have programmed this, I'm quite sure the hall will be maximum half full.
The concert began with Sculthorpe's Chaconne. It's written for string orchestra with a prominent violin solo played by Richard Tognetti. Throughout the piece, the strings provided ostinato accompaniment, while the solo violin floats on top, playing the melody line. Tognetti's tone was gorgeous, but sounded dynamically a tad weak. Bach's influence is quite obvious here, but it will perhaps be a blemish to compare this piece with the Chaconne from the D minor Partita.
ACO's settings is a bit unusual for the next piece, Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis. A small group of string players (6-7 players) was located slightly further at the back from the audience, providing an echo effect to the main group. I'm not familiar with this piece, but this piece is so beautiful that you just can't help liking it. The title of this concert can be used to describe ACO strings here, they're just so resonant. I very much enjoyed the little duet between the viola and violin towards the end of the piece. Magnificent and heartfelt performance.
Bartok's piece also requires unusual orchestral settings. One half of strings with violins and violas (located slightly at the back) faces the other half with cellos and basses bridge between them in the middle. Celesta, Piano and other percussions are further back. Fugue is the musical form in the first movement, which I enjoyed a lot. The second movement is a banal rhythmic section - not unlike Stravinksy's Rite of Spring. Also, IIRC, the cymbals made a very interesting noise here: instead of clashing one cymbal to the other, the percussionist scratch them. I wasn't too impressed with the third movement which has been described as 'Night Music'. Folk music started the last movement. Another thing that captured my attention is that the celestist (is that the correct term for a celesta player?) went over to the piano and played 4 hand passages with the pianist, before going back to the celesta. Overall, I don't think I enjoyed this piece as much as I would like, as it is one hell of complicated music that would benefit from repeated listening. I'll listen to it again when I have time.
One small grudge here: In the first half of the concert, I sat behind a tall guy which directly obstructs my eyesight to the center of the stage. If you haven't experienced this before, let me tell you: it's not pleasant. I really feel disadvantage of this during Bartok's complicated music, where interesting music comes out of a wide variety of instruments which I can't see because of this obstruction. I think my enjoyment of complicated music with awkward rhythms and interesting noise requiring large orchestra is enhanced by clear sight of what's going on. My other experience listening to comparably (or perhaps even more!) complex music was when I attended a concert with Schoenberg's Variations for Orchestra in the program. I can honestly say that if I listen to that piece from a recording, I would not have enjoyed it at all. However, due to the clear sight and knowledge of what's going on in the music, I enjoyed that performance the most out of the concert that featured Mozart's D minor Concerto and Ravel's Bolero. Knowing ahead that I was going to be in another music challenge with Xenakis, I changed seat in second half.
Xenakis' Shaar ('gate') did not disappoint, I actually loved it! People that hate dissonance sound would loathe this music because it's full of dissonances from beginning to the end. The strings started with glissandi, producing a siren-like sound. Very very interesting. Another interesting thing is the contrast between wonderful noises made throughout the piece. The effect of the climax in the final movement was enhanced by sharp attack from the orchestra.
Finally, Strauss' Metamorphosen finishes the concert. I can't say I was impressed by it, and to be honest, it sounded like a cheap Mahler (I'm sorry Richard Strauss!). In this case, I actually agree with Richard Strauss who famously said "I may not be a first-rate composer, but I am a first-class second-rate composer!". Anyway, I intend to discover Strauss' music more in the future, and I'm pretty sure I'll come across it again (and hopefully changed my opinion of it). The quote of Beethoven's funeral march from the Eroica symphony is pretty clear in the end, but as I did not enjoy and understand the work, it made no sense at all to me.
Summing up, this ACO concert is a mixed-bag for me. Vaughan Williams' and Xenakis' piece were probably the gems; I should re-listen to Bartok and Strauss music. And yes, I haven't forgotten Sculthorpe: I hope I can listen to it again.
Tuesday 11 August 2009
3MBS Classically Melbourne - Orchestra Victoria: Hamer Hall - 6 August 2009
Featuring:
- Carl Maria von Weber Die Freischutz overture
- Saint Saens Piano Concerto No. 2
- Melody EotvosHuygens Principle
- Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition (arr. Ravel)
Andrea Lam - Piano
Marko Letonja - Conductor
At first, I did not want to write a review for all of this, but after reading the review from the Arts Hub (which explains why I only wrote this review today), I should perhaps question some of the things mentioned there.
If anyone who thought that this concert was the best concert or fantastic or magnificent, then perhaps give my review a miss, and read this review instead.
If you're still reading, my words below might change your opinion of this concert. Proceed with caution. You have been warned.
Let me rant a little bit. I know a large number of people who said the concert they attended is fantastic, gorgeous, etc. They never found bad things to say in a concert, although perhaps the brass sections were off by miles during the performance. Bless them if that's the case, cause they will never have a bad time during even the most unbearable concert. Same case with reviews, some critics just don't seem to be able to write bad stuff about a concert.
Unfortunately, I'm not one of them. Perhaps it's my curse, but I can't deny myself when a performance does not entertain me. This concert is one of the concert that I found myself bored during the performance. Let's start with Die Freischutz which was a solid good start to the concert, although I have some reservations with the Horns in the beginning. I don't know about you, but if you read the review from the Arts Hub above, it doesn't tell you anything about the concert or even the piece itself. Romantic style? Sure, Weber it's a romantic, but an early one. React against classicism and order of Bach and Mozart? I wouldn't say so. There is one important passage in the piece which actually reminded me a lot of the first movement of Mozart's 40th symphony (you'll know it if you're familiar with Mozart 40). I would say that Weber is actually indebted to Mozart's compositional technique. Listen to the last few bars of the piece, the style is just so similar to the last few bars of Mozart's Jupiter symphony, especially the strings rhythm that ended the Jupiter.
I have heard Saint Saens 2nd Piano Concerto in the same hall, played by a fearless Simon Trpceski. I was so impressed with his performance, but less so with Andrea Lam's. She has the technique to play the concerto, but her performance was less satisfying due to several weird tempo changes in the outer movements. Also, the overall picture of how she organised her playing of this concerto is not convincing to me. The playfulness of the second movement perhaps can be brought out a little bit more. The orchestra itself missed some of the entries. One of the msot remarkable thing that I noticed is one of the front desk of second violins missed the entries in the beginning in the final movement because Andrea did not really pause much in between. She gave an encore: Chopin's Nocturne in C sharp minor, op. Post. Review in Arts Hub is wrong, the nocturne is NOT Nocturne in C minor as written in that review; and also NOT the Nocturne in C sharp minor, Op. 27 No.1 (which I think it's vastly superior piece compare to the encore). The encore piece is the Nocturne that was used in the movie The Pianist; if that helps. I enjoyed Andrea's Nocturne very much, and honestly, I think, that's her best playing of the night.
There was a presentation for composers' award that night and Melody Eotvos and another composer from Melbourne won the prizes offered. Eotvos' piece 'Huygens Principle' has interesting description. It's about an experiment with 'observing the nature of waves in a pond'. I was looking forward to listening this composition, but ended up feeling a bit disappointed, although I enjoyed some of the musical ideas presented there, like the main theme that was played in several disguise in different instruments with different dynamics (IIRC). Perhaps I can write more about it if I listen to it again, but the chance of the piece is performed again in Melbourne is pretty low or close to zero - a fact for most contemporary composition.
Finally, a piece that I both love and hate. I love Pictures at an Exhibition in its original form - as a solo piano piece -. I love Sviatoslav Richter's Sofia Recital CD which gave me a wonderful listening experience, despite the audience cough and fingers slip in a couple of places. I hate Pictures at an Exhibition arranged by other: Horowitz's own transcription for solo piano or the famous Ravel's version for orchestra. The Promenade themes played by trumpets? Poo-poo. The piece accompanied with bad brass sections? Awful. That's what happened in the concert. I'm sorry for the harsh words, but I don't think the brass section was having a good night. Ravel's arrangement made the piece too pretty, too superficial, and lost its dark-Russian character. I was totally bored in the Old Castle, stayed in that boredom level until we reached the Baba-Yaga. The main reason is not the music itself, but Ravel's arrangement just made the music lost its appeal to me.
Finally, the night got better for me: the orchestra gave an encore - the Gavotte from Prokofiev's Classical Symphony. The best performance of the night, by far.
Other thing that I didn't enjoy: donation speech. I know that this concert is a free event. But, still...
One last note, I sat at the last seat of the right side of second last row in the Balcony! Almost at the top. The acoustic is surprisingly okay, considering the distance from the seat to the orchestra. I still can't say I enjoyed that seat though: I have to look down painfully throughout the performance.
- Carl Maria von Weber Die Freischutz overture
- Saint Saens Piano Concerto No. 2
- Melody EotvosHuygens Principle
- Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition (arr. Ravel)
Andrea Lam - Piano
Marko Letonja - Conductor
At first, I did not want to write a review for all of this, but after reading the review from the Arts Hub (which explains why I only wrote this review today), I should perhaps question some of the things mentioned there.
If anyone who thought that this concert was the best concert or fantastic or magnificent, then perhaps give my review a miss, and read this review instead.
If you're still reading, my words below might change your opinion of this concert. Proceed with caution. You have been warned.
Let me rant a little bit. I know a large number of people who said the concert they attended is fantastic, gorgeous, etc. They never found bad things to say in a concert, although perhaps the brass sections were off by miles during the performance. Bless them if that's the case, cause they will never have a bad time during even the most unbearable concert. Same case with reviews, some critics just don't seem to be able to write bad stuff about a concert.
Unfortunately, I'm not one of them. Perhaps it's my curse, but I can't deny myself when a performance does not entertain me. This concert is one of the concert that I found myself bored during the performance. Let's start with Die Freischutz which was a solid good start to the concert, although I have some reservations with the Horns in the beginning. I don't know about you, but if you read the review from the Arts Hub above, it doesn't tell you anything about the concert or even the piece itself. Romantic style? Sure, Weber it's a romantic, but an early one. React against classicism and order of Bach and Mozart? I wouldn't say so. There is one important passage in the piece which actually reminded me a lot of the first movement of Mozart's 40th symphony (you'll know it if you're familiar with Mozart 40). I would say that Weber is actually indebted to Mozart's compositional technique. Listen to the last few bars of the piece, the style is just so similar to the last few bars of Mozart's Jupiter symphony, especially the strings rhythm that ended the Jupiter.
I have heard Saint Saens 2nd Piano Concerto in the same hall, played by a fearless Simon Trpceski. I was so impressed with his performance, but less so with Andrea Lam's. She has the technique to play the concerto, but her performance was less satisfying due to several weird tempo changes in the outer movements. Also, the overall picture of how she organised her playing of this concerto is not convincing to me. The playfulness of the second movement perhaps can be brought out a little bit more. The orchestra itself missed some of the entries. One of the msot remarkable thing that I noticed is one of the front desk of second violins missed the entries in the beginning in the final movement because Andrea did not really pause much in between. She gave an encore: Chopin's Nocturne in C sharp minor, op. Post. Review in Arts Hub is wrong, the nocturne is NOT Nocturne in C minor as written in that review; and also NOT the Nocturne in C sharp minor, Op. 27 No.1 (which I think it's vastly superior piece compare to the encore). The encore piece is the Nocturne that was used in the movie The Pianist; if that helps. I enjoyed Andrea's Nocturne very much, and honestly, I think, that's her best playing of the night.
There was a presentation for composers' award that night and Melody Eotvos and another composer from Melbourne won the prizes offered. Eotvos' piece 'Huygens Principle' has interesting description. It's about an experiment with 'observing the nature of waves in a pond'. I was looking forward to listening this composition, but ended up feeling a bit disappointed, although I enjoyed some of the musical ideas presented there, like the main theme that was played in several disguise in different instruments with different dynamics (IIRC). Perhaps I can write more about it if I listen to it again, but the chance of the piece is performed again in Melbourne is pretty low or close to zero - a fact for most contemporary composition.
Finally, a piece that I both love and hate. I love Pictures at an Exhibition in its original form - as a solo piano piece -. I love Sviatoslav Richter's Sofia Recital CD which gave me a wonderful listening experience, despite the audience cough and fingers slip in a couple of places. I hate Pictures at an Exhibition arranged by other: Horowitz's own transcription for solo piano or the famous Ravel's version for orchestra. The Promenade themes played by trumpets? Poo-poo. The piece accompanied with bad brass sections? Awful. That's what happened in the concert. I'm sorry for the harsh words, but I don't think the brass section was having a good night. Ravel's arrangement made the piece too pretty, too superficial, and lost its dark-Russian character. I was totally bored in the Old Castle, stayed in that boredom level until we reached the Baba-Yaga. The main reason is not the music itself, but Ravel's arrangement just made the music lost its appeal to me.
Finally, the night got better for me: the orchestra gave an encore - the Gavotte from Prokofiev's Classical Symphony. The best performance of the night, by far.
Other thing that I didn't enjoy: donation speech. I know that this concert is a free event. But, still...
One last note, I sat at the last seat of the right side of second last row in the Balcony! Almost at the top. The acoustic is surprisingly okay, considering the distance from the seat to the orchestra. I still can't say I enjoyed that seat though: I have to look down painfully throughout the performance.
Saturday 1 August 2009
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra concert 31 July 2009 - Pastorale
Featuring:
- Mozart The Magic Flute: Overture
- Sibelius Violin Concerto
- Beethoven Symphony No. 6 'Pastoral'
Natsuko Yoshimoto - Violin
Nicholas Milton - Conductor
As usual, Town Hall series concert started with Calvin Bowman's organ recital. The offering for the night was Bach's unusually quiet (instead of the usual booming/grand sound of organ) four movements (if I counted correctly) Pastorella BWV 590. Sibelius' (arr. Fricker) Fruhlingslied was the highlight of the organ recital for me with its well-crafted soaring lyricism. Vierne's finale of the Symphony 1 was a strange piece with plenty of clashing chords which are not resolved until the very end of the piece.
Mozart's giddy overture to the Magic Flute opera started out the concert. Nicholas Milton conducted the orchestra with full of energy, with an almost - in my opinion - over-exaggerated gestures. The playfulness of this piece was well-served, and the fugal themes were crisply executed. A solid start to the concert.
The conductor then spend 5 minutes chatting about the relations between virtuoso and concerto before introducing a lovely Natsuko Yoshimoto in an equally elegant blue dress to play the Sibelius concerto. My point of reference to this concerto is Jascha Heifetz's famed performance with the CSO conducted by Walter Hendl. From the quiet tremolo in the strings, the opening violin solo soared with the beautiful cadenza-like theme. I noticed that Natsuko held her violin and bow quite high, perhaps due to her height. Not that it matters, she gave a fine opening moment. The first climax of the piece (right after the prolonged trills and strings pizzicato -- around 4:20 mark in my recording), however, failed to captivate me. Natsuko's violin sound is completely drowned by the orchestra. Nicholas picked up the tempo after that, and to be honest I'm quite worried if Natsuko can play the solo part at this speed. This concerto is known to be damn hard to play after all. The solo violin passages following after the orchestral tutti is full of double melody lines, double stop passages, and all sort of challenging stuffs to a violinist. Natsuko slowed down the tempo here, but still offered a formidable performance. Not to be disrespect to any other violinists, Heifetz' technique is simply unmatchable. His reading of the same passages is faster, fiercer, and his tone is gorgeous. Natsuko's double stop passages sounded a bit harsh to me who is used to Heifetz's recording. It's still fascinating to see how quick Natsuko's hands can move up and down the fingerboard and how she superbly controlled the multiple melody lines.
The lyrical second movement was very pleasant until we reached the technically challenging middle sections. Again, I'm not convinced with the climax. The polonaise of the third movement sounded Spanish too me. I never felt this way about this movement until this performance. I like Nicholas's fast tempo, but he has to accommodate Natsuko's tempo during those technically challenging passages in the middle which disrupts the music flow a little bit. Anyway, despite all my negative comments, the audience loved the performance and we had a long applause. I myself still very much enjoyed the performance, as MSO accompanied wonderfully.
Soon after the interval, Nicholas spent around 5 minutes trying to tie up his feeling visiting Melbourne with the Pastoral's program. After that, MSO gave a wonderful reading of Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony. The tempo flows effortlessly, and there's enough lyricism to please the audience. My favourite recording of this symphony is Bruno Walter's recording on Sony. I will forever be overwhelmed by that recording, but I suppose I sometimes would prefer to enjoy a slightly less overwhelming performance such as MSO's that night. After all, it's quite strange to be teary-eyed by the end of this symphony, feeling happy and uplifted are probably what you want to feel like. Anyway, I digress. For the performance, I noticed a lot of things: the timpanist only played in the Thunderstorm movement and also the little bit of the opening of the last movement. I'm not sure if this symphony is timpanists' favourite piece. The double bass sections perhaps got a little bit over-excited that night in the Thunderstorm movement, but it's all in good spirit as the double bass players smiled to each other after their little tricks. Credits also must be given to the winds section for their marvelous performance (esp. the Oboe solo).
People leaving early might be disappointed to miss tonight's encore: The overture to Marriage of Figaro. Slight complaint here: that same piece was already featured in the first Town Hall concert. Why don't MSO give me a different encore? Beggars can't be choosers, I guess.
The performance is a full-house. Well, strictly speaking not every seat is occupied, but 98-99% of them have someone on top. It's a welcome sight change than the poorly attended Hamer Hall concerts.
Next concert: ACO's Bartok and MSO's Beethoven Piano concerto #4 in forthcoming weeks.
- Mozart The Magic Flute: Overture
- Sibelius Violin Concerto
- Beethoven Symphony No. 6 'Pastoral'
Natsuko Yoshimoto - Violin
Nicholas Milton - Conductor
As usual, Town Hall series concert started with Calvin Bowman's organ recital. The offering for the night was Bach's unusually quiet (instead of the usual booming/grand sound of organ) four movements (if I counted correctly) Pastorella BWV 590. Sibelius' (arr. Fricker) Fruhlingslied was the highlight of the organ recital for me with its well-crafted soaring lyricism. Vierne's finale of the Symphony 1 was a strange piece with plenty of clashing chords which are not resolved until the very end of the piece.
Mozart's giddy overture to the Magic Flute opera started out the concert. Nicholas Milton conducted the orchestra with full of energy, with an almost - in my opinion - over-exaggerated gestures. The playfulness of this piece was well-served, and the fugal themes were crisply executed. A solid start to the concert.
The conductor then spend 5 minutes chatting about the relations between virtuoso and concerto before introducing a lovely Natsuko Yoshimoto in an equally elegant blue dress to play the Sibelius concerto. My point of reference to this concerto is Jascha Heifetz's famed performance with the CSO conducted by Walter Hendl. From the quiet tremolo in the strings, the opening violin solo soared with the beautiful cadenza-like theme. I noticed that Natsuko held her violin and bow quite high, perhaps due to her height. Not that it matters, she gave a fine opening moment. The first climax of the piece (right after the prolonged trills and strings pizzicato -- around 4:20 mark in my recording), however, failed to captivate me. Natsuko's violin sound is completely drowned by the orchestra. Nicholas picked up the tempo after that, and to be honest I'm quite worried if Natsuko can play the solo part at this speed. This concerto is known to be damn hard to play after all. The solo violin passages following after the orchestral tutti is full of double melody lines, double stop passages, and all sort of challenging stuffs to a violinist. Natsuko slowed down the tempo here, but still offered a formidable performance. Not to be disrespect to any other violinists, Heifetz' technique is simply unmatchable. His reading of the same passages is faster, fiercer, and his tone is gorgeous. Natsuko's double stop passages sounded a bit harsh to me who is used to Heifetz's recording. It's still fascinating to see how quick Natsuko's hands can move up and down the fingerboard and how she superbly controlled the multiple melody lines.
The lyrical second movement was very pleasant until we reached the technically challenging middle sections. Again, I'm not convinced with the climax. The polonaise of the third movement sounded Spanish too me. I never felt this way about this movement until this performance. I like Nicholas's fast tempo, but he has to accommodate Natsuko's tempo during those technically challenging passages in the middle which disrupts the music flow a little bit. Anyway, despite all my negative comments, the audience loved the performance and we had a long applause. I myself still very much enjoyed the performance, as MSO accompanied wonderfully.
Soon after the interval, Nicholas spent around 5 minutes trying to tie up his feeling visiting Melbourne with the Pastoral's program. After that, MSO gave a wonderful reading of Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony. The tempo flows effortlessly, and there's enough lyricism to please the audience. My favourite recording of this symphony is Bruno Walter's recording on Sony. I will forever be overwhelmed by that recording, but I suppose I sometimes would prefer to enjoy a slightly less overwhelming performance such as MSO's that night. After all, it's quite strange to be teary-eyed by the end of this symphony, feeling happy and uplifted are probably what you want to feel like. Anyway, I digress. For the performance, I noticed a lot of things: the timpanist only played in the Thunderstorm movement and also the little bit of the opening of the last movement. I'm not sure if this symphony is timpanists' favourite piece. The double bass sections perhaps got a little bit over-excited that night in the Thunderstorm movement, but it's all in good spirit as the double bass players smiled to each other after their little tricks. Credits also must be given to the winds section for their marvelous performance (esp. the Oboe solo).
People leaving early might be disappointed to miss tonight's encore: The overture to Marriage of Figaro. Slight complaint here: that same piece was already featured in the first Town Hall concert. Why don't MSO give me a different encore? Beggars can't be choosers, I guess.
The performance is a full-house. Well, strictly speaking not every seat is occupied, but 98-99% of them have someone on top. It's a welcome sight change than the poorly attended Hamer Hall concerts.
Next concert: ACO's Bartok and MSO's Beethoven Piano concerto #4 in forthcoming weeks.
Monday 27 July 2009
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra concert 27 July 2009 - Lighting the Darkness
Featuring:
- Mahler Symphony No. 9
Ilan Volkov - Conductor
Mahler. Wouldn't you just die without him? Sigh.
Alright, the concert was emotionally draining. Ilan Volkov presented a very solid reading of Mahler 9 where extreme in dynamics and tempo are pushed to the limit. Let's break it down one by one.
In the opening of the first movement, there was a slightly unclean entry of the 2nd horn. Also just to nitpick things a bit further, I would prefer the first entry of the 4th horn to be softer. After that, tempo wise, I love the unveiling of the 2 note sighing motif. I could talk more about the entry of each instruments, but I'll stop here. Generally, the mood shift and dynamics which are the characteristics of the first movement are well done. Climaxes are overwhelming, although the last climax in which the trombones and timpani came back and bolt down the irregular heart beat motif was not as strong as I want it to be. The duet of flute and horn in the end was effective, but MSO didn't come as clean as they could have in the very last note of the first movement. Despite all these little nitpickings that I did, I enjoyed this movement very much.
I can't say that the 2nd movement of Mahler 9 spoke directly to my heart in general, regardless of who performed it. There's wonderful music there, but that's just it. I still love the 3 dances in this movement, especially the last dance whose motif is derived from the sighing motif of the first movement. Again, the tempo change between the slow (1st and 3rd) dances and fast (2nd) is drastic. What I love the most in this performance is the strong colour from the contrabassoon in the closing bars of this movement.
From the tranquility of village dances, we are thrown into cosmopolitan lifestyle in the third movement. What an achievement by Mahler! He pictured the chaos of city life with fugal music and God knows how many lines of music playing at the same time. The chorale like melody in the middle section played by the trumpet (wonderfully in this concert!) provided a welcome mood change. I was quite touched with it before that melody is mocked and tossed around right after the heart-touching tenderness moment from the development of the chorale. Moment after that, we're back into the city streets again. Chaotic music returns, and the music picked up the pace and ending up being an orchestral show piece. Small complaint, the snare drum that appeared out of nowhere just before the very end could be louder to enhance the surprise effect.
The last movement. Oh, what gorgeous music this is. Ilan's tempo is to my liking, letting all the strings sing out beautifully in the opening. The tension builds up throughout. Jumping straight to the meditative section where the woodwinds with the harp accompaniment dominated the melody before THE climax of the piece: these passages of 3 minutes long are the moment where I was undone. Tears just flow down, I can't help it. I was overwhelmed with all sort of emotions when the strings came in at fortissimo when the music burst out again to the opening motif of the finale. I couldn't care less of what happened after that. I still vividly remembered the trombones, horns and cymbals crashing down just before all the instruments die down just for the strings to sing out the main theme. Ilan took this moment just a bit too fast to my liking, but really I couldn't care less. Not until towards the cello solo in the end did I regain my composure again. The ending is bittersweet and heartfelt. There's a good 30 seconds to 1 minute silence in the end after the music ended.
Orchestra playing wise: strings and woodwinds were the pick tonight. Wilma Smith, Katharine Brockman, and David Berlin gave wonderful solos throughout the piece. The horns were a bit sketchy tonight. While still wonderful, timpani could've sounded a bit punchier. There were a small number of miss-entries, but the playing standard is very high overall. The hall is around 60-70% full, a shame for what was a wonderful Mahler 9 reading.
Next concert: Beethoven 6 and Sibelius Violin Concerto; this Friday.
- Mahler Symphony No. 9
Ilan Volkov - Conductor
Mahler. Wouldn't you just die without him? Sigh.
Alright, the concert was emotionally draining. Ilan Volkov presented a very solid reading of Mahler 9 where extreme in dynamics and tempo are pushed to the limit. Let's break it down one by one.
In the opening of the first movement, there was a slightly unclean entry of the 2nd horn. Also just to nitpick things a bit further, I would prefer the first entry of the 4th horn to be softer. After that, tempo wise, I love the unveiling of the 2 note sighing motif. I could talk more about the entry of each instruments, but I'll stop here. Generally, the mood shift and dynamics which are the characteristics of the first movement are well done. Climaxes are overwhelming, although the last climax in which the trombones and timpani came back and bolt down the irregular heart beat motif was not as strong as I want it to be. The duet of flute and horn in the end was effective, but MSO didn't come as clean as they could have in the very last note of the first movement. Despite all these little nitpickings that I did, I enjoyed this movement very much.
I can't say that the 2nd movement of Mahler 9 spoke directly to my heart in general, regardless of who performed it. There's wonderful music there, but that's just it. I still love the 3 dances in this movement, especially the last dance whose motif is derived from the sighing motif of the first movement. Again, the tempo change between the slow (1st and 3rd) dances and fast (2nd) is drastic. What I love the most in this performance is the strong colour from the contrabassoon in the closing bars of this movement.
From the tranquility of village dances, we are thrown into cosmopolitan lifestyle in the third movement. What an achievement by Mahler! He pictured the chaos of city life with fugal music and God knows how many lines of music playing at the same time. The chorale like melody in the middle section played by the trumpet (wonderfully in this concert!) provided a welcome mood change. I was quite touched with it before that melody is mocked and tossed around right after the heart-touching tenderness moment from the development of the chorale. Moment after that, we're back into the city streets again. Chaotic music returns, and the music picked up the pace and ending up being an orchestral show piece. Small complaint, the snare drum that appeared out of nowhere just before the very end could be louder to enhance the surprise effect.
The last movement. Oh, what gorgeous music this is. Ilan's tempo is to my liking, letting all the strings sing out beautifully in the opening. The tension builds up throughout. Jumping straight to the meditative section where the woodwinds with the harp accompaniment dominated the melody before THE climax of the piece: these passages of 3 minutes long are the moment where I was undone. Tears just flow down, I can't help it. I was overwhelmed with all sort of emotions when the strings came in at fortissimo when the music burst out again to the opening motif of the finale. I couldn't care less of what happened after that. I still vividly remembered the trombones, horns and cymbals crashing down just before all the instruments die down just for the strings to sing out the main theme. Ilan took this moment just a bit too fast to my liking, but really I couldn't care less. Not until towards the cello solo in the end did I regain my composure again. The ending is bittersweet and heartfelt. There's a good 30 seconds to 1 minute silence in the end after the music ended.
Orchestra playing wise: strings and woodwinds were the pick tonight. Wilma Smith, Katharine Brockman, and David Berlin gave wonderful solos throughout the piece. The horns were a bit sketchy tonight. While still wonderful, timpani could've sounded a bit punchier. There were a small number of miss-entries, but the playing standard is very high overall. The hall is around 60-70% full, a shame for what was a wonderful Mahler 9 reading.
Next concert: Beethoven 6 and Sibelius Violin Concerto; this Friday.
Saturday 18 July 2009
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra concert 18 July 2009 - White Heat
Featuring:
- Fraser Trainer for the living (Violin Concerto)
- Janacek The Fiddler's Child
- Stravinsky The Rite of Spring
Viktoria Mullova - Violin
Ilan Volkov - Conductor
This concert is one of the concerts that I'm not sure whether to subscribe or not. To be honest when I was finalising my concert choice last year, I never heard about Fraser Trainer or Viktoria Mullova, have no idea about Janacek's The Fiddler's Child and was uninformed with Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring. I guess The Rite of Spring is the deciding factor after all, and I thought it's time to plunge myself into Stravinsky's ballet music.
The decision is paid off, the performance of Rite of Spring was electrifying. Anyway, let's start with Fraser Trainer's Violin Concerto with Viktoria Mullova as the soloist. It's interesting that the notes mentioned that this composition is a Concerto for AMPLIFIED Violin and Orchestra. I did notice that the 2 keyboards were amplified, but I'm not sure whether the violin is amplified or not. This piece is inspired by a poem by a British poet Lemn Sissay titled 'Advice for the living'. The unique thing about this poem is the word 'dead' is almost used in every line. I recalled 'dead straight, dead right, something dead, etc.' when Fraser who was present in the audience read aloud the poem. The last line of the poem is, IIRC, 'After all, life is not worth living, if there is nothing to die for'. For this piece, Trainer requires the orchestra to be setup in a different fashion, with the orchestra is divided into three groups, Left, Right and Center. Violin, cello, and bass sections are divided into two equal size, occupying Left and Right sections. On top of that, each section is topped up by a vibraphone, marimba, harp, and keyboard. The center sections contained all the brass and wind sections, and violas. A very unique setup which I haven't seen before.
MSO's size is enormous for the piece and there's nothing more disappointing than listening to a piece of uninspired music that requires large orchestra. This violin concerto is not the case, fortunately, and I was impressed with the rhythmicity of the piece in both outer movements (there's 3 movements in total). Main motif of this piece is a simple recurring rhythmic pattern introduced by the soloist in the beginning. As I've mentioned earlier, this piece is very rhythmic and the writing for different sections are very free. Different time signatures, plenty of offbeats which just seem not to fit the piece at all. Underneath all of these seemingly disorganised rhythms are the main motifs and important linking blocks in the music development. The soloist lines are also very free, almost like a fantasy. Also at times, it might seem to be obsessed by a small pattern. Ilan Volkov conducted MSO very well throughout this difficult and tricky piece.
It's not mentioned in the program notes, but I think I detected a Dies Irae motif in the last movement, which I think is a welcome wonderful effect. There's this moment in the finale where the violin solo which plays different lines than the rest of the violins sections unexpectedly joined by the whole sections to play the same melody, producing a great moment. Anyway, I think it's a good piece, and enjoying it live makes much more sense because you can see how the melodies or motifs are passed around in different orchestra sections. Good start to the concert.
After this piece, I half-expected Janacek's piece to be rhythmically driven, so that we have one unifying theme of the concert: rhythm (the Rite of Spring is a very very rhythmic-based piece). Unfortunately, this is not the case. I'm not gonna type up what Fiddler's Child is about because this piece is disappointing. I didn't find it interesting, although I'm grateful because the viola sections were given a rare chance to shine.
Finally, the orchestra size becomes larger in size for the performance of TROS. Imagine this: 8 horns (there's even Wagner tubas), 5 trumpets, 3 trombones, 2 tubas, 2 timpanis, a big percussion sections, and around 20 woodwind players. It was simply electrifying, from the mysterious bassoon solo to the very end. Abrupt rhythmic music following the introduction is simply amazing. On top of that, add the big sound that the orchestra made, thumping bass drums and timpani, and those brass dissonances : your hair will simply stand on end. I don't feel the need to highlight everything in this performance. Simply put, if you missed the performance, you missed witnessing something special. The performance itself is not well-attended, I'd say the hall is only half full.
Credits must be given to the conductor, for his success in pushing the players to their limits and gave a truly amazing experience. I'm looking forward to attending his Mahler 9 rehearsal and concert next week.
- Fraser Trainer for the living (Violin Concerto)
- Janacek The Fiddler's Child
- Stravinsky The Rite of Spring
Viktoria Mullova - Violin
Ilan Volkov - Conductor
This concert is one of the concerts that I'm not sure whether to subscribe or not. To be honest when I was finalising my concert choice last year, I never heard about Fraser Trainer or Viktoria Mullova, have no idea about Janacek's The Fiddler's Child and was uninformed with Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring. I guess The Rite of Spring is the deciding factor after all, and I thought it's time to plunge myself into Stravinsky's ballet music.
The decision is paid off, the performance of Rite of Spring was electrifying. Anyway, let's start with Fraser Trainer's Violin Concerto with Viktoria Mullova as the soloist. It's interesting that the notes mentioned that this composition is a Concerto for AMPLIFIED Violin and Orchestra. I did notice that the 2 keyboards were amplified, but I'm not sure whether the violin is amplified or not. This piece is inspired by a poem by a British poet Lemn Sissay titled 'Advice for the living'. The unique thing about this poem is the word 'dead' is almost used in every line. I recalled 'dead straight, dead right, something dead, etc.' when Fraser who was present in the audience read aloud the poem. The last line of the poem is, IIRC, 'After all, life is not worth living, if there is nothing to die for'. For this piece, Trainer requires the orchestra to be setup in a different fashion, with the orchestra is divided into three groups, Left, Right and Center. Violin, cello, and bass sections are divided into two equal size, occupying Left and Right sections. On top of that, each section is topped up by a vibraphone, marimba, harp, and keyboard. The center sections contained all the brass and wind sections, and violas. A very unique setup which I haven't seen before.
MSO's size is enormous for the piece and there's nothing more disappointing than listening to a piece of uninspired music that requires large orchestra. This violin concerto is not the case, fortunately, and I was impressed with the rhythmicity of the piece in both outer movements (there's 3 movements in total). Main motif of this piece is a simple recurring rhythmic pattern introduced by the soloist in the beginning. As I've mentioned earlier, this piece is very rhythmic and the writing for different sections are very free. Different time signatures, plenty of offbeats which just seem not to fit the piece at all. Underneath all of these seemingly disorganised rhythms are the main motifs and important linking blocks in the music development. The soloist lines are also very free, almost like a fantasy. Also at times, it might seem to be obsessed by a small pattern. Ilan Volkov conducted MSO very well throughout this difficult and tricky piece.
It's not mentioned in the program notes, but I think I detected a Dies Irae motif in the last movement, which I think is a welcome wonderful effect. There's this moment in the finale where the violin solo which plays different lines than the rest of the violins sections unexpectedly joined by the whole sections to play the same melody, producing a great moment. Anyway, I think it's a good piece, and enjoying it live makes much more sense because you can see how the melodies or motifs are passed around in different orchestra sections. Good start to the concert.
After this piece, I half-expected Janacek's piece to be rhythmically driven, so that we have one unifying theme of the concert: rhythm (the Rite of Spring is a very very rhythmic-based piece). Unfortunately, this is not the case. I'm not gonna type up what Fiddler's Child is about because this piece is disappointing. I didn't find it interesting, although I'm grateful because the viola sections were given a rare chance to shine.
Finally, the orchestra size becomes larger in size for the performance of TROS. Imagine this: 8 horns (there's even Wagner tubas), 5 trumpets, 3 trombones, 2 tubas, 2 timpanis, a big percussion sections, and around 20 woodwind players. It was simply electrifying, from the mysterious bassoon solo to the very end. Abrupt rhythmic music following the introduction is simply amazing. On top of that, add the big sound that the orchestra made, thumping bass drums and timpani, and those brass dissonances : your hair will simply stand on end. I don't feel the need to highlight everything in this performance. Simply put, if you missed the performance, you missed witnessing something special. The performance itself is not well-attended, I'd say the hall is only half full.
Credits must be given to the conductor, for his success in pushing the players to their limits and gave a truly amazing experience. I'm looking forward to attending his Mahler 9 rehearsal and concert next week.
Monday 29 June 2009
Proper blog post..
I haven't been posting new music that I have discovered for a long long time. Partly because of my busy schedule, and partly because I don't feel the urge to write about them.
I joined a choir a while ago, and it changed my way of listening to choral music. After I learned to sing Mozart's requiem, now I can fully enjoy the part where I don't really like before, e.g. Domine Jesu and Hostias. Other movements became more attractive and interesting, e.g. Kyrie, Rex Tremendae, Confutatis and I found more pleasure listening to them compare to my previous experiences before joining the choir.
In the past few months or so, I've been listening to Faure's Requiem. What a great piece this is. Sure, it doesn't have the Dies Irae sequence, but the music simplicity (compare to say Verdi's or Brahms' Requiem) is simply heavenly. Most people would no doubt associate the Pie Jesu and In Paradisum when they heard about Faure's requiem. They're both fantastic movements, but the movement that I love the most is Sanctus. I can always imagine heavenly images when I heard harp arpeggios in the beginning of Sanctus. Also, being a tenor myself, I always enjoy the Tenor entry after the horn passages in the middle ('Hosanna in excelsis'). Other movements have their own charm, such as the baritone solo in Libera Me and the little 'Dies Irae' episode which sounded a bit underwhelming. As a whole, I still very much love this requiem.
The new choral music that I listened to recently is Haydn's Nelson Mass. Whoa, what a piece! I fell in love with the dramatic Kyrie the first time I listened to it. Gloria is an upbeat movement in the beginning, with memorable bass solo in the middle, and back to the same melody as the opening melody. I'm less keen on Credo, but still enjoy the 'descendit descaelis'. I guess I would be less keen on Credo in every mass if I always compare how composers set the 'Et vitam venturi' text with Beethoven's setting of the text as a massive fugue in his Missa Solemnis. Sanctus starts off solemnly before the 'Pleni Sunt Caeli' section changes the mood completely. The Benedictus is wonderful to sing at, especially during the most dramatic (IMO) in the whole piece where the trumpets and drums play fortissimo passages against the choir singing the word 'Benedictus qui venit in nomine domini' just before the 'Hosanna in excelsis' section in the end. Agnus Dei rounded up the whole work with upbeat 'dona nobis pacem'.
In piano concerto world, I'm still discovering Prokofiev's piano concertos. After the fantastic third piano concerto, I'm quite surprised with the different mood in his second piano concerto. The cadenza in the first movement is quite obvious fiendishly difficult to play, and of course the tricky running scales of the piano in the Scherzo. Heavy brass opens up the third movement and will catch a lot of people off guard. But what impressed me the most is the last movement. There's this passage around the 6 minutes mark in my recording where the piano enters after a fermata from the orchestra. The piano played a very eerie, satirical melody of the main theme. I always feel unsettled here. I don't know what to feel with the finale where it feels like the piano is arguing with the orchestra and finally had enough and ended it (and also the piece) with a big chord with the timpani in the end. A true masterpiece which made plenty of impacts to the listener!
I have also been exploring Chopin's Nocturnes - opp. 9 and 15 - . I very much prefer op. 9 nocturnes to op. 15 due to their more memorable melody and elegance. Op. 9 No. 2 and No. 3 are my favourites among these six nocturnes (3 each from both sets). For me, Ballade No. 3 is rediscovered when I listened to Cortot playing it in the EMI set. Whoa, what difference he brought to the piece! Just a couple of seconds in the beginning and I know that his playing is going to change how I think about this piece. His playing of other ballades is wonderful as well, do yourself a favour and get the recording of Cortot playing the ballades! They're so different (yet feel so right) than the other ballades that I've listened so far (Rubinstein, Zimmerman, and Richter).
Finally, I'll round up by just mentioning the 5th symphony of Dvorak. A very much underrated work with plenty of beautiful melodies. I loved it when Dvorak brought back the main theme of the first movement in the very end of the piece where it was played by one of the brass (trumpet?). That moment always made me very happy. The 2nd and 3rd movements are good fun as well. You might recall Tchaikovsky's first piano concerto in the opening 4 notes of the 2nd movement of this symphony (I noticed this courtesy of Wikipedia).
Until next time when I have listened to more interesting music and have the mood to write more about them.
I joined a choir a while ago, and it changed my way of listening to choral music. After I learned to sing Mozart's requiem, now I can fully enjoy the part where I don't really like before, e.g. Domine Jesu and Hostias. Other movements became more attractive and interesting, e.g. Kyrie, Rex Tremendae, Confutatis and I found more pleasure listening to them compare to my previous experiences before joining the choir.
In the past few months or so, I've been listening to Faure's Requiem. What a great piece this is. Sure, it doesn't have the Dies Irae sequence, but the music simplicity (compare to say Verdi's or Brahms' Requiem) is simply heavenly. Most people would no doubt associate the Pie Jesu and In Paradisum when they heard about Faure's requiem. They're both fantastic movements, but the movement that I love the most is Sanctus. I can always imagine heavenly images when I heard harp arpeggios in the beginning of Sanctus. Also, being a tenor myself, I always enjoy the Tenor entry after the horn passages in the middle ('Hosanna in excelsis'). Other movements have their own charm, such as the baritone solo in Libera Me and the little 'Dies Irae' episode which sounded a bit underwhelming. As a whole, I still very much love this requiem.
The new choral music that I listened to recently is Haydn's Nelson Mass. Whoa, what a piece! I fell in love with the dramatic Kyrie the first time I listened to it. Gloria is an upbeat movement in the beginning, with memorable bass solo in the middle, and back to the same melody as the opening melody. I'm less keen on Credo, but still enjoy the 'descendit descaelis'. I guess I would be less keen on Credo in every mass if I always compare how composers set the 'Et vitam venturi' text with Beethoven's setting of the text as a massive fugue in his Missa Solemnis. Sanctus starts off solemnly before the 'Pleni Sunt Caeli' section changes the mood completely. The Benedictus is wonderful to sing at, especially during the most dramatic (IMO) in the whole piece where the trumpets and drums play fortissimo passages against the choir singing the word 'Benedictus qui venit in nomine domini' just before the 'Hosanna in excelsis' section in the end. Agnus Dei rounded up the whole work with upbeat 'dona nobis pacem'.
In piano concerto world, I'm still discovering Prokofiev's piano concertos. After the fantastic third piano concerto, I'm quite surprised with the different mood in his second piano concerto. The cadenza in the first movement is quite obvious fiendishly difficult to play, and of course the tricky running scales of the piano in the Scherzo. Heavy brass opens up the third movement and will catch a lot of people off guard. But what impressed me the most is the last movement. There's this passage around the 6 minutes mark in my recording where the piano enters after a fermata from the orchestra. The piano played a very eerie, satirical melody of the main theme. I always feel unsettled here. I don't know what to feel with the finale where it feels like the piano is arguing with the orchestra and finally had enough and ended it (and also the piece) with a big chord with the timpani in the end. A true masterpiece which made plenty of impacts to the listener!
I have also been exploring Chopin's Nocturnes - opp. 9 and 15 - . I very much prefer op. 9 nocturnes to op. 15 due to their more memorable melody and elegance. Op. 9 No. 2 and No. 3 are my favourites among these six nocturnes (3 each from both sets). For me, Ballade No. 3 is rediscovered when I listened to Cortot playing it in the EMI set. Whoa, what difference he brought to the piece! Just a couple of seconds in the beginning and I know that his playing is going to change how I think about this piece. His playing of other ballades is wonderful as well, do yourself a favour and get the recording of Cortot playing the ballades! They're so different (yet feel so right) than the other ballades that I've listened so far (Rubinstein, Zimmerman, and Richter).
Finally, I'll round up by just mentioning the 5th symphony of Dvorak. A very much underrated work with plenty of beautiful melodies. I loved it when Dvorak brought back the main theme of the first movement in the very end of the piece where it was played by one of the brass (trumpet?). That moment always made me very happy. The 2nd and 3rd movements are good fun as well. You might recall Tchaikovsky's first piano concerto in the opening 4 notes of the 2nd movement of this symphony (I noticed this courtesy of Wikipedia).
Until next time when I have listened to more interesting music and have the mood to write more about them.
Friday 26 June 2009
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra concert 26 June 2009 - The Dance of Life
Featuring:
- Mendelssohn Ruy Blas: Overture
- Mendelssohn Concerto for Two Pianos in E major
- Rachmaninov Symphonic Dances
Silver-Garburg - Piano Duo
Yan Pascal Tortelier - Conductor
Before attending this concert, I had a few drinks and let's just say that it is something to be avoided in future concerts. As a consequence of that, I couldn't concentrate properly on the first half of the concert. It's so unfortunate as Mendelssohn is one of my favourite composer. That being said, based on my half-concentration, I don't think Ruy Blas overture is as interesting as the other famous overtures by Mendelssohn. It has its moments, but not as memorable as the other overtures. I was looking forward to the performance of the concerto for two pianos, but it ended up being an okay performance with muddy sound from the orchestra. The third movement was the the movement that I enjoyed the most. Sivan Silver and Gil Garburg then gave a wonderful encore which snapped me out from doziness: a four-hand piano performance of Stravinksy's Russian Dance from Petrouchka. Click here if you feel like watching a performance of it. They took the piece faster, played better, and better in-sync to each other than the pair in the video.
Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances is not one of my favourite works out of his symphonic outputs. I thought it was not too memorable, doesn't have the 'it' tune. But, I gladly changed my mind after today's performance. Tortelier's has wonderful insight to this piece and I noticed what's missing in the recording that I have. Those missing pieces made a big difference in enjoyment of listening to this piece. I was intrigued by Tortelier's treatment of the first theme of the funny marking 'Non-allegro' movement. Instead of driving the marching rhythm it fast, he took it quite slow, and therefore revealing something that has been missing in my recording of the piece: the Dies Irae motif. Wonderful attacks from MSO winds helped too! The brass that opens the second movement is quite unusual.I don't think I would ever associate a Waltz movement with brass instruments. But they too soon gave away to waltzing rhythm in string pizzicatos. Finally, Tortelier let loose and drive the orchestra to its capability, unleashing a rousing finale. Fine playing from the orchestra enhanced the excitement. But, what I commend the most from the performance is Tortelier's ability to make me appreciate every moment in the piece which I normally found boring.
Despite my concentration lapse in the first half, the concert made me leaving the concert hall in upbeat mood. Tortelier is a wonderful conductor, and I'm impressed with him conducting Symphonic Dances without both the score and the baton. I would love to see him back conducting MSO in the future.
Finally, MSO (or the Arts Centre) did something stupid with the program notes. Instead of leaving those program notes outside in the foyer area, they kept them on a special stand. This is all fine, but the moronic part is they kept the stand behind the hall's doors! Therefore, people can't get a copy of the programs to read before the doors are opened which usually happened 15 minutes before the performance.
Next concert: Stravinsky's Rite of Spring. Should be great.
- Mendelssohn Ruy Blas: Overture
- Mendelssohn Concerto for Two Pianos in E major
- Rachmaninov Symphonic Dances
Silver-Garburg - Piano Duo
Yan Pascal Tortelier - Conductor
Before attending this concert, I had a few drinks and let's just say that it is something to be avoided in future concerts. As a consequence of that, I couldn't concentrate properly on the first half of the concert. It's so unfortunate as Mendelssohn is one of my favourite composer. That being said, based on my half-concentration, I don't think Ruy Blas overture is as interesting as the other famous overtures by Mendelssohn. It has its moments, but not as memorable as the other overtures. I was looking forward to the performance of the concerto for two pianos, but it ended up being an okay performance with muddy sound from the orchestra. The third movement was the the movement that I enjoyed the most. Sivan Silver and Gil Garburg then gave a wonderful encore which snapped me out from doziness: a four-hand piano performance of Stravinksy's Russian Dance from Petrouchka. Click here if you feel like watching a performance of it. They took the piece faster, played better, and better in-sync to each other than the pair in the video.
Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances is not one of my favourite works out of his symphonic outputs. I thought it was not too memorable, doesn't have the 'it' tune. But, I gladly changed my mind after today's performance. Tortelier's has wonderful insight to this piece and I noticed what's missing in the recording that I have. Those missing pieces made a big difference in enjoyment of listening to this piece. I was intrigued by Tortelier's treatment of the first theme of the funny marking 'Non-allegro' movement. Instead of driving the marching rhythm it fast, he took it quite slow, and therefore revealing something that has been missing in my recording of the piece: the Dies Irae motif. Wonderful attacks from MSO winds helped too! The brass that opens the second movement is quite unusual.I don't think I would ever associate a Waltz movement with brass instruments. But they too soon gave away to waltzing rhythm in string pizzicatos. Finally, Tortelier let loose and drive the orchestra to its capability, unleashing a rousing finale. Fine playing from the orchestra enhanced the excitement. But, what I commend the most from the performance is Tortelier's ability to make me appreciate every moment in the piece which I normally found boring.
Despite my concentration lapse in the first half, the concert made me leaving the concert hall in upbeat mood. Tortelier is a wonderful conductor, and I'm impressed with him conducting Symphonic Dances without both the score and the baton. I would love to see him back conducting MSO in the future.
Finally, MSO (or the Arts Centre) did something stupid with the program notes. Instead of leaving those program notes outside in the foyer area, they kept them on a special stand. This is all fine, but the moronic part is they kept the stand behind the hall's doors! Therefore, people can't get a copy of the programs to read before the doors are opened which usually happened 15 minutes before the performance.
Next concert: Stravinsky's Rite of Spring. Should be great.
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