Featuring:
- Mendelssohn Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage overture
- Schumann Cello Concerto
- Schumann Introduction and allegro appassionato
- Brahms Symphony No. 3
Li-Wei Qin - Cello
Amir Farid - Piano
Johannes Fritzsch - Conductor
Sorry, a very late review this time - I have been quite busy with my life in general lately. When I got my MSO brochure last year, this program is supposed to be a tribute to Schumann - titled Schumann panorama - , conducted by Oleg Caetani. We know what happened to Caetani, and subsequently replaced a Schumann overture and 4th symphony with the least well known Mendelssohn's concert overture, and Brahms' 3rd symphony.
I haven't listened to Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage before, apart from knowing that it's quoted in Elgar's Enigma Variations. Therefore, I was pleasantly surprised to discover this little gem of Mendelssohn's. Suspension notes dominates the slower 'Calm Sea' episode with occasional rumbles from the Cellos painting a perfect picture of an unknown condition of what you can find beyond the calmness of the sea. The faster 'Prosperous Voyage' section was brilliantly orchestrated with strong timpani presence towards the end. The very end of the piece must have caught everybody by surprise, with an elegant phrase reminding us again about the whole journey. The program notes is so right, it's very poetic! Good performance by the orchestra with the conductor dancing here and there.
I have never really warmed up to Schumann's Cello Concerto. The first movement is very hard to follow, even though I've listened to this piece for around 10 times in the last year or so. I'm glad to find out that I'm not the only one with this problem - Rohan de Korte, an MSO cellist voices the same opinion as well. I enjoy the beautiful second movement - in which Li-Wei showed off his gorgeous tone. While I cannot say I thoroughly enjoyed this performance of an awkward Cello Concerto, I can definitely say that I enjoyed the encore Li-Wei gave. Playing a gypsy music with Andrew Moon (MSO's double bass), they both showed flashes of virtuosity in a light-hearted humorous music.
In contrast to his Cello Concerto, Schumann's not-so-well-known Introdution and allegro appassionato is a piece that I enjoyed a lot, esp. the recording by Richter in DG. Written for a piano solo and an orchestra, it's sort of like a mini piano concerto, lacking a slow movement. Amir Farid gave a good performance of it, but both him and the orchestra was less successful in bringing the poetic side of the piece to the surface. Still, it's good to see a fine piece being performed (for the first time by MSO apparently).
I have mentioned several times that Brahms' 3rd symphony is my least favourite symphony of his. Listening to this performance, I need someone to smack in the head to remind me why I don't enjoy this symphony as much as the other 3. It's gorgeous, beautifully crafted and orchestrated, rich of melody contents in the inner movements, and so majestic in the outer movements. I was literally overwhelmed with a performance of Brahms 3 by MSO conducted by Thomas Zehetmair in the Recital Centre last year. I didn't expect that special performance to be repeated again, and I was glad expecting less this time. While the flashes of that brilliant performance was there in this performance, it never reaches the emotional high points this time around, especially in the last movement. Still, you can't help yourself but be amazed with Brahms' skills in orchestration when listening to his symphonies.
Showing posts with label brahms. Show all posts
Showing posts with label brahms. Show all posts
Wednesday, 11 August 2010
Tuesday, 29 June 2010
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra concert 28 June 2010 - Last Waltz
Featuring:
- Liszt Mephisto Waltz No. 1 (The Dance in the Village Inn)
- Brahms Violin Concerto
- Ravel La Valse
- Haydn Symphony No. 45 'Farewell'
Daniel Hope - Violin
Mario Venzago - Conductor
This concert is special in the sense that it is the very last concert where MSO performs in Hamer Hall before the hall undergoes major renovation, scheduled to finish in 2012. The program is an interesting mix of tone poems, concerto, and a symphony befitting to such an occasion. So did the audience, actually, the hall was pretty close to being sold-out.
Liszt's music hasn't always convinced me, but this time, I quite enjoy his program music of Mephistopheles taking command of music making in a tavern. On the other hand, Brahms's violin concerto is the violin concerto I hold in the highest regard. Daniel Hope's performance was a little bit insecure in the first movement, esp. during the entry of the violin solo where it sounded a little sharp. You can kind of see him struggling to produce the required sound in the technically challenge passages in the first movement due to the sharpness of his instrument, but he played better in a more lyrical passage. The cadenza, was taken quite slowly, and by the time the orchestra re-entered at the end of the cadenza, I felt like I just woke up from a deep meditation. Daniel then re-tuned his violin in the little break in the between, and dispatched 2nd and 3rd movements easily, and more convincingly. Very enjoyable performance, but unfortunately, the emotional high point of Brahms' violin concerto is in its first movement. Ultimately, while the big moments are still there, they failed to break me down into tears.
Next up after interval is Ravel's La Valse. Ravel is a funny one for me, some of his music I love to death - the G major concerto for example. But his other orchestral musics sound like a big poo-poo pretty superficial music, e.g. Bolero, The Mother Goose, and Valses nobles et sentimentales which I heard in London and bored me. I was preparing for the worst with La Valse, but it turned out to be much better than I expected. An interesting beginning, the program describes it as 'waltz viewed from a distance', in which low strings, and winds playing fragments of waltz. It was not long until we were thrown directly into the middle of a ball, with the waltz in full force and you can probably trace some melodies of your most famous waltzes in there. The same music returned in the end, making the ending overwhelming, and very pleasing.
The final and main dish of the concert is Haydn's Farewell Symphony. Long known for its theatrical finale, I am enlightened by a very informative program on the structure of the symphony. First of all, the tonality, F-Sharp minor, is rather rare during Haydn's time. The minor tonality gave this piece a special twist in Haydn's mostly major symphonies, very much Sturm und Drang style. I remembered the minuet ending with a violin solo from the concertmaster, before the Presto section of the finale broke out. A horn note signals the adagio, in which, one by one and turn by turn, members of the orchestra left the stage (including the conductor which gave his best effort signaling to the audience not to clap yet). In the end, only the concertmaster and the second violin leader played the same melody in thirds, before the second violin leader had enough and left the concertmaster on stage by himself. There's only one stage light remaining at this stage, and by the time the concertmaster finished his last note, the stage went dark, and I felt a small ache in my heart. The applause broke out, and all the members of the orchestra playing in the symphony came back and took their well-deserved bows. A minority but noticeable portion of the audience gave a standing ovation. A heart-felt performance, and befitting to such an occasion.
A word about the conductor. He's the same person who conducted MSO in a rather strange program containing Mozart's D minor concerto, Schoenberg's variations for orchestra, and Ravel's Bolero. He's the person who opened up my mind and encouraged me not to fear Schoenberg's music and made the variations for orchestra performance such a memorable occasion that I felt completely bored with Ravel's creativeless Bolero. I attended the pre-concert talk and he was really informative on how he viewed the Ravel's La Valse and the aspects of conducting that he drew in terms of producing the sound that he prefers for different kind of repertoire. He's just delightful this man, and I'll be sure to attend his next concert should he come again next time (I think I remembered Huw Humphreys mentioning he'll be back next year).
So for now, farewell Hamer Hall. I'm sure you'll look, feel, and sound better after your renovation.
- Liszt Mephisto Waltz No. 1 (The Dance in the Village Inn)
- Brahms Violin Concerto
- Ravel La Valse
- Haydn Symphony No. 45 'Farewell'
Daniel Hope - Violin
Mario Venzago - Conductor
This concert is special in the sense that it is the very last concert where MSO performs in Hamer Hall before the hall undergoes major renovation, scheduled to finish in 2012. The program is an interesting mix of tone poems, concerto, and a symphony befitting to such an occasion. So did the audience, actually, the hall was pretty close to being sold-out.
Liszt's music hasn't always convinced me, but this time, I quite enjoy his program music of Mephistopheles taking command of music making in a tavern. On the other hand, Brahms's violin concerto is the violin concerto I hold in the highest regard. Daniel Hope's performance was a little bit insecure in the first movement, esp. during the entry of the violin solo where it sounded a little sharp. You can kind of see him struggling to produce the required sound in the technically challenge passages in the first movement due to the sharpness of his instrument, but he played better in a more lyrical passage. The cadenza, was taken quite slowly, and by the time the orchestra re-entered at the end of the cadenza, I felt like I just woke up from a deep meditation. Daniel then re-tuned his violin in the little break in the between, and dispatched 2nd and 3rd movements easily, and more convincingly. Very enjoyable performance, but unfortunately, the emotional high point of Brahms' violin concerto is in its first movement. Ultimately, while the big moments are still there, they failed to break me down into tears.
Next up after interval is Ravel's La Valse. Ravel is a funny one for me, some of his music I love to death - the G major concerto for example. But his other orchestral musics sound like a big poo-poo pretty superficial music, e.g. Bolero, The Mother Goose, and Valses nobles et sentimentales which I heard in London and bored me. I was preparing for the worst with La Valse, but it turned out to be much better than I expected. An interesting beginning, the program describes it as 'waltz viewed from a distance', in which low strings, and winds playing fragments of waltz. It was not long until we were thrown directly into the middle of a ball, with the waltz in full force and you can probably trace some melodies of your most famous waltzes in there. The same music returned in the end, making the ending overwhelming, and very pleasing.
The final and main dish of the concert is Haydn's Farewell Symphony. Long known for its theatrical finale, I am enlightened by a very informative program on the structure of the symphony. First of all, the tonality, F-Sharp minor, is rather rare during Haydn's time. The minor tonality gave this piece a special twist in Haydn's mostly major symphonies, very much Sturm und Drang style. I remembered the minuet ending with a violin solo from the concertmaster, before the Presto section of the finale broke out. A horn note signals the adagio, in which, one by one and turn by turn, members of the orchestra left the stage (including the conductor which gave his best effort signaling to the audience not to clap yet). In the end, only the concertmaster and the second violin leader played the same melody in thirds, before the second violin leader had enough and left the concertmaster on stage by himself. There's only one stage light remaining at this stage, and by the time the concertmaster finished his last note, the stage went dark, and I felt a small ache in my heart. The applause broke out, and all the members of the orchestra playing in the symphony came back and took their well-deserved bows. A minority but noticeable portion of the audience gave a standing ovation. A heart-felt performance, and befitting to such an occasion.
A word about the conductor. He's the same person who conducted MSO in a rather strange program containing Mozart's D minor concerto, Schoenberg's variations for orchestra, and Ravel's Bolero. He's the person who opened up my mind and encouraged me not to fear Schoenberg's music and made the variations for orchestra performance such a memorable occasion that I felt completely bored with Ravel's creativeless Bolero. I attended the pre-concert talk and he was really informative on how he viewed the Ravel's La Valse and the aspects of conducting that he drew in terms of producing the sound that he prefers for different kind of repertoire. He's just delightful this man, and I'll be sure to attend his next concert should he come again next time (I think I remembered Huw Humphreys mentioning he'll be back next year).
So for now, farewell Hamer Hall. I'm sure you'll look, feel, and sound better after your renovation.
Tuesday, 8 June 2010
Australian Chamber Orchestra concert 7 June 2010 - Romantic Symphony
Featuring:
- Jonny Greenwood Popcorn Superhet Receiver Australian Premiere
- Schubert Symphony No. 8 "Unfinished"
- Brahms Symphony No. 1
Well, due to some circumstances, I need to change my ACO concert to Monday. Offered the choice of stall or balcony seats, I decided to take on the latter seat. As much as I hate balcony seats in Hamer Hall because they tend to make me feel nauseous, it's still better to have a clear view of the orchestra, rather than stuck somewhere in stall seats where all you can see is the first two rows of musicians.
My decision paid off immediately when ACO gave the Australian Premiere of Radiohead's lead guitarist's piece with its quirky and rather cute title. Plagiarising the program notes, "A superhet (superheterodyne) receiver generates a fixed tone as a result of the frequency difference between two carrier waves - in the early days of wireless transmission, this was a frequency equivalent to a note at the very top of the violin's range. Popcorn is a low-fat, high-fibre, maize foodstuff". That last sentence made my day :). As I'm not familiar with Radiohead music and Jonny Greenwood in general, let's just jump to the music itself. Scored for a moderate-sized string orchestra (around 30, if I'm not mistaken), it's a lush string showcases lacking a recognisable main theme. In place of this, it exploits almost all strings playing techniques: bowed, pizzicato, Bartok pizzicato, even treating the violins like a guitar, you name it, I think they're all there. To grossly simplify the music, I think it's in ternary form with a slightly longer first part, and a very interesting second part. The first and last part of the music concerns with creating the soundscape of musical waves. I was trying to find a scientific term to express this soundscape more accurately when my companion for the night suprised me by uttering "Doppler effect" - brilliant!. To create this effect, Greenwood resorted to glissandos, tremolos, passing main musical ideas from a string divisi to the other, and even sometimes from one player to the other so that almost every strings plays a solo at different places in the piece. All these musical tricks are a feast to my eyes: the sights of the bows going up and down from one player to the other created an effect of a - well of course - wave. Thank goodness I chose the balcony seat :).
The second part of the music was really fun, the violins and violas were held like a guitar by the musicians, and they played a repeating rhytmic pattern with the cellos playing out the main theme here (IIRC). This is definitely rock-influenced music, well implemented in classical music and with good taste. Richard conducted the orchestra (he did not play in this piece), and the orchestra maintained the precision, clarity, and yes, sonority which in turned help the audience to grasp this music. While tightly textured, the piece is very accessible, and consists of some interesting harmonies. It actually reminds me a little bit of the Xenakis's Shaar which ACO played last year, but with less amount of dissonances.
In general, I like the piece - I just had troubles with its title. I can see the superhet connection with the wave soundscape it created, but I can't find any connection on the popcorn. Maybe the idea that radio static noises do not always necessarily a noise - not a music - and can be transformed and expressed as something pleasant, to the ear of listeners is the popcorn bit.
The woodwind, brass, and percussion guest musicians joined the enlarged strings to play Schubert's arguably most famous symphony, the 'Unfinished'. A much loved symphony, it famously contained only 2 movements. The first movement contained one of the most well-known Schubert's melody, the second theme, which was played right after the dark, gloomy opening first theme in the low strings. The cellos are gorgeous here, singing in the beautiful melody, while signalling the tragedy to come in the opening murmuring theme. In general, I like the tempo Richard took in this movement: brisk enough to keep the tension high throughout and delivered the high tension development phase with fierce staccatos, and extreme contrast in dynamics. The tension was so high here that I am thankful when the first movement is over to finally have a breather. This movement to me is a prime example of trademark Schubert, easily transforming a dark gloom moment to a beautiful moment effortlessly, and back again with the same simplicity. Another example of this is the beautiful 2nd movement of Schubert's A major sonata (#20), and the Credo from his G major Mass (#2). In the Credo, Schubert changed the pious mood in the beginning effortlessly to doom tragedy in 4 bars when the choir reaches 'Crucifixus', and transform this gloomy mood into exuberant rejoice in 8 bars in the 'Resurrexit' section. Anyway, I digressed from this concert.
I have to disagree with Murray Black's review on the second movement tempo. I found it to my liking, with plenty of time given to the woodwinds to unfold the lyrical second theme. After the high tension drama in the previous moment, it comforted me so much to listen to the woodwinds playing these lyrical melody. Not saying that the tension has gone, it's still there, lurking around, and yes, Schubert summoned them again in the contrapuntal march-like section soon after. And yet, in the end, it sounded like all is finally well. Brilliant performance from the ACO, definitely first-rate!
After the break, my favourite Brahms' symphony is on the table. Here, I agreed with Murray Black in that there are some issues with the performance in general. While the first movement worked well with brisk tempos, the second and third movements did not. Richard's solo in the second movement made it up a little bit, but the graceful woodwinds melodies are not realised to the their potential in the third movement. The coda of the finale while was brilliant and well-executed, lacked the majestic quality I yearn from this symphony, partly due to the super fast tempos. There were also some minor ensemble issues, the horns were under-pitched in a couple of spots in the finale, but overall the balance was really good. Oh yeah, love the colour the contrabassoon provided in the last movement too. Anyway, despite my usual nitpickings, ACO did one heck of a good job in giving a worthy performance of a Brahms symphony despite the fact that they have not played this symphony before. A major symphony orchestra could easily bore me playing the same symphony by lacking the punch and the energy that ACO delivered.
On a last note, this will be the final time ACO played in Hamer Hall this season as the renovation work of this hall will commence soon. To be honest, I'm a bit worried with ACO performing in the Town Hall as I don't really enjoy its acoustic that much, and its acoustic definitely favours larger ensemble. I'll be glad to be proven wrong.
- Jonny Greenwood Popcorn Superhet Receiver Australian Premiere
- Schubert Symphony No. 8 "Unfinished"
- Brahms Symphony No. 1
Well, due to some circumstances, I need to change my ACO concert to Monday. Offered the choice of stall or balcony seats, I decided to take on the latter seat. As much as I hate balcony seats in Hamer Hall because they tend to make me feel nauseous, it's still better to have a clear view of the orchestra, rather than stuck somewhere in stall seats where all you can see is the first two rows of musicians.
My decision paid off immediately when ACO gave the Australian Premiere of Radiohead's lead guitarist's piece with its quirky and rather cute title. Plagiarising the program notes, "A superhet (superheterodyne) receiver generates a fixed tone as a result of the frequency difference between two carrier waves - in the early days of wireless transmission, this was a frequency equivalent to a note at the very top of the violin's range. Popcorn is a low-fat, high-fibre, maize foodstuff". That last sentence made my day :). As I'm not familiar with Radiohead music and Jonny Greenwood in general, let's just jump to the music itself. Scored for a moderate-sized string orchestra (around 30, if I'm not mistaken), it's a lush string showcases lacking a recognisable main theme. In place of this, it exploits almost all strings playing techniques: bowed, pizzicato, Bartok pizzicato, even treating the violins like a guitar, you name it, I think they're all there. To grossly simplify the music, I think it's in ternary form with a slightly longer first part, and a very interesting second part. The first and last part of the music concerns with creating the soundscape of musical waves. I was trying to find a scientific term to express this soundscape more accurately when my companion for the night suprised me by uttering "Doppler effect" - brilliant!. To create this effect, Greenwood resorted to glissandos, tremolos, passing main musical ideas from a string divisi to the other, and even sometimes from one player to the other so that almost every strings plays a solo at different places in the piece. All these musical tricks are a feast to my eyes: the sights of the bows going up and down from one player to the other created an effect of a - well of course - wave. Thank goodness I chose the balcony seat :).
The second part of the music was really fun, the violins and violas were held like a guitar by the musicians, and they played a repeating rhytmic pattern with the cellos playing out the main theme here (IIRC). This is definitely rock-influenced music, well implemented in classical music and with good taste. Richard conducted the orchestra (he did not play in this piece), and the orchestra maintained the precision, clarity, and yes, sonority which in turned help the audience to grasp this music. While tightly textured, the piece is very accessible, and consists of some interesting harmonies. It actually reminds me a little bit of the Xenakis's Shaar which ACO played last year, but with less amount of dissonances.
In general, I like the piece - I just had troubles with its title. I can see the superhet connection with the wave soundscape it created, but I can't find any connection on the popcorn. Maybe the idea that radio static noises do not always necessarily a noise - not a music - and can be transformed and expressed as something pleasant, to the ear of listeners is the popcorn bit.
The woodwind, brass, and percussion guest musicians joined the enlarged strings to play Schubert's arguably most famous symphony, the 'Unfinished'. A much loved symphony, it famously contained only 2 movements. The first movement contained one of the most well-known Schubert's melody, the second theme, which was played right after the dark, gloomy opening first theme in the low strings. The cellos are gorgeous here, singing in the beautiful melody, while signalling the tragedy to come in the opening murmuring theme. In general, I like the tempo Richard took in this movement: brisk enough to keep the tension high throughout and delivered the high tension development phase with fierce staccatos, and extreme contrast in dynamics. The tension was so high here that I am thankful when the first movement is over to finally have a breather. This movement to me is a prime example of trademark Schubert, easily transforming a dark gloom moment to a beautiful moment effortlessly, and back again with the same simplicity. Another example of this is the beautiful 2nd movement of Schubert's A major sonata (#20), and the Credo from his G major Mass (#2). In the Credo, Schubert changed the pious mood in the beginning effortlessly to doom tragedy in 4 bars when the choir reaches 'Crucifixus', and transform this gloomy mood into exuberant rejoice in 8 bars in the 'Resurrexit' section. Anyway, I digressed from this concert.
I have to disagree with Murray Black's review on the second movement tempo. I found it to my liking, with plenty of time given to the woodwinds to unfold the lyrical second theme. After the high tension drama in the previous moment, it comforted me so much to listen to the woodwinds playing these lyrical melody. Not saying that the tension has gone, it's still there, lurking around, and yes, Schubert summoned them again in the contrapuntal march-like section soon after. And yet, in the end, it sounded like all is finally well. Brilliant performance from the ACO, definitely first-rate!
After the break, my favourite Brahms' symphony is on the table. Here, I agreed with Murray Black in that there are some issues with the performance in general. While the first movement worked well with brisk tempos, the second and third movements did not. Richard's solo in the second movement made it up a little bit, but the graceful woodwinds melodies are not realised to the their potential in the third movement. The coda of the finale while was brilliant and well-executed, lacked the majestic quality I yearn from this symphony, partly due to the super fast tempos. There were also some minor ensemble issues, the horns were under-pitched in a couple of spots in the finale, but overall the balance was really good. Oh yeah, love the colour the contrabassoon provided in the last movement too. Anyway, despite my usual nitpickings, ACO did one heck of a good job in giving a worthy performance of a Brahms symphony despite the fact that they have not played this symphony before. A major symphony orchestra could easily bore me playing the same symphony by lacking the punch and the energy that ACO delivered.
On a last note, this will be the final time ACO played in Hamer Hall this season as the renovation work of this hall will commence soon. To be honest, I'm a bit worried with ACO performing in the Town Hall as I don't really enjoy its acoustic that much, and its acoustic definitely favours larger ensemble. I'll be glad to be proven wrong.
Monday, 7 December 2009
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra concert 4 December 2009 - The Slender Thread
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).
- 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).
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.
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.
Sunday, 14 June 2009
Australian Chamber Orchestra concert 14 June 2009 - Great Romantics Tour
Featuring:
- Ian Munro Black is the Night World Premiere
- Brahms String Sextet No. 2 in G major, Op. 36
- Schoenberg Transfigured Night
Richard Tognetti - Artistic Director & Lead Violin.
A 'dark' concert. That's what I would like to call this concert. Brilliant programming with unifying themes of dark night and love. Oh, and ACO is not really an orchestra for this concert: all programs are string sextets requiring only 2 violins, 2 violas, and 2 cellos for the whole program.
Ian Munro's Black is the Night is a piece based on the poem of the same name by Judith Wright. I have no idea who Judith Wright is, but based on the chattering of people around me, I gather that she's quite a well-known Australian poet. The composition and the poem are highly interesting. The poem described the grimness of the night, rising out from the bottom of the sea where it can't be reached by light. The bottom of the sea is so dark that the no-eye deep-sea fish stay still while bones of the departed humans will never reach there (my description of the poem might seem silly, but that's my best attempt to describe the poem without having to publish the poem itself here, of which I'm pretty sure have no permission to do so). The composition reflects on this poem: starting from the dark, work itself through the series of pizzicato (perhaps representing the sea which text is present in the poem?) before the main opening return backs in the end. IIRC, there are plenty of silence in the music, dramatising the absence of movement. I couldn't describe it more in detail due to memory lapse, but my initial impression of the piece was certainly a good one.
Also, I should probably note that I haven't listened to any of the pieces programmed today, and I am in no position to comment much on the style of string chamber music playing which to my regret is something that I am not familiar with yet. Someday, after discovering all of major symphonies by Bruckner and Shostakovich, I promise I'll pick myself up and explore the intimacy of chamber music.
Brahms' only chamber music that I know is his Clarinet Trio of which the second movement brought me down to tears during the live performance by Ensemble Liaison last year. His second string sextet, written in attempt to forget his ex-fiancee, impressed me in the beautiful opening movement with its lyrical melody. The next movement is a slow dance, but with a contrasting fast tempo in the trio section and ended with a brilliant coda. Brahms' adagios which usually delight me, somehow eluded me in this piece. It does not have the poignancy found in his clarinet trio, or his other orchestral works. The finale was spiced with plenty of uplifting tempo and ACO's characteristic sprightful attack combined with the energy created by the standing-up performance generated much pleasure. The visual effect of string players playing the fugal finale enhanced this fine performance.
As much as I love Brahms' music, I think the performance of Schoenberg's Verlkarte Nacht 'Transfigured Night' is the crown of the concert. While already hinting towards atonality, this piece is written in late-romantic style (not that different than Mahler's symphonies really). I even think the opening is very similar to the opening of Mahler 9 (which is written later). The mood of this piece varies from the frightful attacks into the tenderness of solo violin or cello in the space of just a couple of bars. It's a musical journey from despair (characterised with plenty of unresolved dissonances) to salvation (or forgiveness) which is the essence of the poem it based on. ACO's string sextet playing provides plenty of drama where it is necessary, but it's beautifully restraint on moments of tenderness, for example in the duet between first violin and first cello while the other strings provided subdued background support. In the end, the despairs present throughout the music seem to be transfigured away into hope (with those finally resolved dissonances) just as the cool eerie night has been transfigured into a finally unmistakable warm bright night of hope.
On a personal note, I sat next to two people who applauded enthusiastically after the performance of Verklarte Nacht. They are possibly the only people in the circle who shouted bravo in the circle seats. Anyway, when the applause finally died down, one of them commented something like (I didn't hear his comment properly) 'Melbourne's audience is not very enthusiastic in their applause' or something. I agree that the performance deserved a longer applause (and probably more 'Bravo'), but it's hard to give uplifting enthusiastic applause after such intense performance. Personally, I don't even want to listen to any music for one hour after the performance and prefer to be silent for a period of time after the performance.
In conclusion, another good concert from the ACO. I would probably commend them for avoiding over-the-top romantic playing of these intensely romantic pieces. Looking forward to their next performance in August.
- Ian Munro Black is the Night World Premiere
- Brahms String Sextet No. 2 in G major, Op. 36
- Schoenberg Transfigured Night
Richard Tognetti - Artistic Director & Lead Violin.
A 'dark' concert. That's what I would like to call this concert. Brilliant programming with unifying themes of dark night and love. Oh, and ACO is not really an orchestra for this concert: all programs are string sextets requiring only 2 violins, 2 violas, and 2 cellos for the whole program.
Ian Munro's Black is the Night is a piece based on the poem of the same name by Judith Wright. I have no idea who Judith Wright is, but based on the chattering of people around me, I gather that she's quite a well-known Australian poet. The composition and the poem are highly interesting. The poem described the grimness of the night, rising out from the bottom of the sea where it can't be reached by light. The bottom of the sea is so dark that the no-eye deep-sea fish stay still while bones of the departed humans will never reach there (my description of the poem might seem silly, but that's my best attempt to describe the poem without having to publish the poem itself here, of which I'm pretty sure have no permission to do so). The composition reflects on this poem: starting from the dark, work itself through the series of pizzicato (perhaps representing the sea which text is present in the poem?) before the main opening return backs in the end. IIRC, there are plenty of silence in the music, dramatising the absence of movement. I couldn't describe it more in detail due to memory lapse, but my initial impression of the piece was certainly a good one.
Also, I should probably note that I haven't listened to any of the pieces programmed today, and I am in no position to comment much on the style of string chamber music playing which to my regret is something that I am not familiar with yet. Someday, after discovering all of major symphonies by Bruckner and Shostakovich, I promise I'll pick myself up and explore the intimacy of chamber music.
Brahms' only chamber music that I know is his Clarinet Trio of which the second movement brought me down to tears during the live performance by Ensemble Liaison last year. His second string sextet, written in attempt to forget his ex-fiancee, impressed me in the beautiful opening movement with its lyrical melody. The next movement is a slow dance, but with a contrasting fast tempo in the trio section and ended with a brilliant coda. Brahms' adagios which usually delight me, somehow eluded me in this piece. It does not have the poignancy found in his clarinet trio, or his other orchestral works. The finale was spiced with plenty of uplifting tempo and ACO's characteristic sprightful attack combined with the energy created by the standing-up performance generated much pleasure. The visual effect of string players playing the fugal finale enhanced this fine performance.
As much as I love Brahms' music, I think the performance of Schoenberg's Verlkarte Nacht 'Transfigured Night' is the crown of the concert. While already hinting towards atonality, this piece is written in late-romantic style (not that different than Mahler's symphonies really). I even think the opening is very similar to the opening of Mahler 9 (which is written later). The mood of this piece varies from the frightful attacks into the tenderness of solo violin or cello in the space of just a couple of bars. It's a musical journey from despair (characterised with plenty of unresolved dissonances) to salvation (or forgiveness) which is the essence of the poem it based on. ACO's string sextet playing provides plenty of drama where it is necessary, but it's beautifully restraint on moments of tenderness, for example in the duet between first violin and first cello while the other strings provided subdued background support. In the end, the despairs present throughout the music seem to be transfigured away into hope (with those finally resolved dissonances) just as the cool eerie night has been transfigured into a finally unmistakable warm bright night of hope.
On a personal note, I sat next to two people who applauded enthusiastically after the performance of Verklarte Nacht. They are possibly the only people in the circle who shouted bravo in the circle seats. Anyway, when the applause finally died down, one of them commented something like (I didn't hear his comment properly) 'Melbourne's audience is not very enthusiastic in their applause' or something. I agree that the performance deserved a longer applause (and probably more 'Bravo'), but it's hard to give uplifting enthusiastic applause after such intense performance. Personally, I don't even want to listen to any music for one hour after the performance and prefer to be silent for a period of time after the performance.
In conclusion, another good concert from the ACO. I would probably commend them for avoiding over-the-top romantic playing of these intensely romantic pieces. Looking forward to their next performance in August.
Sunday, 16 November 2008
Australian Chamber Orchestra concert 10 November 2008 - Euphoric Tour
Featuring:
- Prokofiev - Symphony No. 1 in D major, 'Classical'
- Brahms - Double Concerto for violin and cello
- Beethoven - Symphony No. 8 in F major
My first ACO concert. My first time purchasing student ticket - $18.00 (very cheap!). Got a seat high up in the balcony. This will be the last time I sat at the balcony in Hamer Hall, I just couldn't stand looking down at a very sharp angle for a long long time. I was quite lucky that I still able to see the lead violinist - if I were to be seated a couple more seats up, seeing the soloists would be impossible.
Prokofiev's classical symphony is a very fine music - 'witty' is the adjective that I use to describe this symphony. All movements were very much enjoyable with the last two movements pleased me the most. Surely it's time to check out Prokofiev's other symphonies?
Brahms Double Concerto was a little bit disappointing. Did not really enjoy the performance and I even thought the musical lines were muddy at times. Not even the lovely theme of the Andante engaged me in the performance. The finale fared much better, but as a whole, the performance did not satisfy me as much as the legendary Rostropovich, Oistrakh and Szell recording on EMI. We were given a small piece as an encore, I couldn't really recall what the piece was, but it was a duet between violin and cello, both of them playing pizzicato throughout.
Beethoven 8 was the highlight of the night. Although it's not as famous as the big Beethoven symphonies (think of the Third (Eroica), Fifth, Sixth (Pastorale), Seventh and Ninth), this is the only symphony of Beethoven that never failed to made me grin from the beginning till the end. The whole symphony is just pure fun! Listen to the big opening movement, the playful scherzo of the second movement, the minuet and the fantastic trio of the third movement and the musical jokes in the final movement! The performance was very fine throughout - the fast tempo taken definitely helped as well. The playing of the timpanist was really fine in the final passages of the last movement and it was very exciting to watch him hitting the kettledrums!
After Beethoven 8, Richard Tognetti gave a small 'speech' about the future closure of ANAM at the end of this year. At the end of his speech, he suddenly announced that students from ANAM will join the ACO to give the audience two encores: Tchaikovsky's Waltz of Flower from the Nutcracker and Sibelius' 'Scene with Cranes' suite from the tone poem from Kuolema.
I am one out of the many people who is very disappointed with the federal government decision to stop funding Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM), effectively closing it down at the end of this year. I've attended several concerts of ANAM students in South Melbourne Town Hall and have enjoyed immensely some of the programs offered. Particularly fond in my memory are the gorgeous performance of Mozart's Wind Quintet K. 452 and Sonata for Two Pianos K. 448. Also, a very memorable night of Schubert's concert by Emmanuel Ax who was invited to give masterclass in the academy. I urge everyone to sign the online petition to stop government from closing the academy which can be found in ANAM website.
- Prokofiev - Symphony No. 1 in D major, 'Classical'
- Brahms - Double Concerto for violin and cello
- Beethoven - Symphony No. 8 in F major
My first ACO concert. My first time purchasing student ticket - $18.00 (very cheap!). Got a seat high up in the balcony. This will be the last time I sat at the balcony in Hamer Hall, I just couldn't stand looking down at a very sharp angle for a long long time. I was quite lucky that I still able to see the lead violinist - if I were to be seated a couple more seats up, seeing the soloists would be impossible.
Prokofiev's classical symphony is a very fine music - 'witty' is the adjective that I use to describe this symphony. All movements were very much enjoyable with the last two movements pleased me the most. Surely it's time to check out Prokofiev's other symphonies?
Brahms Double Concerto was a little bit disappointing. Did not really enjoy the performance and I even thought the musical lines were muddy at times. Not even the lovely theme of the Andante engaged me in the performance. The finale fared much better, but as a whole, the performance did not satisfy me as much as the legendary Rostropovich, Oistrakh and Szell recording on EMI. We were given a small piece as an encore, I couldn't really recall what the piece was, but it was a duet between violin and cello, both of them playing pizzicato throughout.
Beethoven 8 was the highlight of the night. Although it's not as famous as the big Beethoven symphonies (think of the Third (Eroica), Fifth, Sixth (Pastorale), Seventh and Ninth), this is the only symphony of Beethoven that never failed to made me grin from the beginning till the end. The whole symphony is just pure fun! Listen to the big opening movement, the playful scherzo of the second movement, the minuet and the fantastic trio of the third movement and the musical jokes in the final movement! The performance was very fine throughout - the fast tempo taken definitely helped as well. The playing of the timpanist was really fine in the final passages of the last movement and it was very exciting to watch him hitting the kettledrums!
After Beethoven 8, Richard Tognetti gave a small 'speech' about the future closure of ANAM at the end of this year. At the end of his speech, he suddenly announced that students from ANAM will join the ACO to give the audience two encores: Tchaikovsky's Waltz of Flower from the Nutcracker and Sibelius' 'Scene with Cranes' suite from the tone poem from Kuolema.
I am one out of the many people who is very disappointed with the federal government decision to stop funding Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM), effectively closing it down at the end of this year. I've attended several concerts of ANAM students in South Melbourne Town Hall and have enjoyed immensely some of the programs offered. Particularly fond in my memory are the gorgeous performance of Mozart's Wind Quintet K. 452 and Sonata for Two Pianos K. 448. Also, a very memorable night of Schubert's concert by Emmanuel Ax who was invited to give masterclass in the academy. I urge everyone to sign the online petition to stop government from closing the academy which can be found in ANAM website.
Thursday, 18 September 2008
Ensemble Liaison & Friends - Concert 3: Brahms & Messiaen
Featuring:
- Brahms - Clarinet Trio in A minor, Op. 114
- Messiaen - Quartet for the End of Time
Ensemble Liaison:
- Svetlana Bogosavljevic - Cello
- David Griffiths - Clarinet
- Timothy Young - Piano
Friend:
- Wilma Smith - Violin
I just attended this concert on a whim after deciding that I did not want to attend it two hours before the concert because of my cough and unfinished assignment. Just one hour prior to the concert, I finished my assignment and decided to go to the concert. 10 dollar is the ticket price. The attraction of the concert for me is the Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time of which I will attend again in the November play by MSO chamber players. Also, I haven't heard any of these two works before. So, I was really thrilled to find two gems.
I have often read that Brahms' late chamber music works are best described as autumnal. Listening to this Clarinet Trio I can clearly see why. Every time I closed my eyes to be more intimate to the music, the only thing that I can picture of is the a line of trees with yellow leaves falling down from them. Autumnal is really the best way to describe this Clarinet Trio. All four movements are gorgeous, but the heart of the piece for me is the lyrical second movement. Near the end of this movement, there was this passage I found so sublime where the theme is played by the piano while the cello and clarinet provided a wonderful accompaniment - tears rolled down my cheek. The end of the final movement was quite virtuosic as well rounding up a very nice piece. I can't wait to discover Brahms' more famous Clarinet Quintet after this.
While Brahms' piece charmed with its melancholy and melodic lines, Messian's piece affected the listener with its strong depiction of the end of time. There are 8 movements in the piece, some movements are very short, while some movements are very very long due to its 'slowness'. The movement that made the most impression are the third movement for solo clarinet, played wonderfully by the clarinetist. The fifth movement for cello accompanied by piano and the sixth movement where all of the instruments played together playing the 'Dance of fury' and the last movement which is very similar to the fifth movement for violin accompanied by piano. Bird calls are plenty in the piece, most notably in the mysterious first movement and also in the second movement.
I am very impressed with the quality of the musicians in this group. They are all at very high standard. What actually impressed most in the experience of attending this concert is the intimacy between instruments playing in chamber music. The dialogue between instruments are very intimate and very interesting. Tonight's experience is very new to me and I wouldn't mind paying another 10 dollar for another concert like this.
- Brahms - Clarinet Trio in A minor, Op. 114
- Messiaen - Quartet for the End of Time
Ensemble Liaison:
- Svetlana Bogosavljevic - Cello
- David Griffiths - Clarinet
- Timothy Young - Piano
Friend:
- Wilma Smith - Violin
I just attended this concert on a whim after deciding that I did not want to attend it two hours before the concert because of my cough and unfinished assignment. Just one hour prior to the concert, I finished my assignment and decided to go to the concert. 10 dollar is the ticket price. The attraction of the concert for me is the Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time of which I will attend again in the November play by MSO chamber players. Also, I haven't heard any of these two works before. So, I was really thrilled to find two gems.
I have often read that Brahms' late chamber music works are best described as autumnal. Listening to this Clarinet Trio I can clearly see why. Every time I closed my eyes to be more intimate to the music, the only thing that I can picture of is the a line of trees with yellow leaves falling down from them. Autumnal is really the best way to describe this Clarinet Trio. All four movements are gorgeous, but the heart of the piece for me is the lyrical second movement. Near the end of this movement, there was this passage I found so sublime where the theme is played by the piano while the cello and clarinet provided a wonderful accompaniment - tears rolled down my cheek. The end of the final movement was quite virtuosic as well rounding up a very nice piece. I can't wait to discover Brahms' more famous Clarinet Quintet after this.
While Brahms' piece charmed with its melancholy and melodic lines, Messian's piece affected the listener with its strong depiction of the end of time. There are 8 movements in the piece, some movements are very short, while some movements are very very long due to its 'slowness'. The movement that made the most impression are the third movement for solo clarinet, played wonderfully by the clarinetist. The fifth movement for cello accompanied by piano and the sixth movement where all of the instruments played together playing the 'Dance of fury' and the last movement which is very similar to the fifth movement for violin accompanied by piano. Bird calls are plenty in the piece, most notably in the mysterious first movement and also in the second movement.
I am very impressed with the quality of the musicians in this group. They are all at very high standard. What actually impressed most in the experience of attending this concert is the intimacy between instruments playing in chamber music. The dialogue between instruments are very intimate and very interesting. Tonight's experience is very new to me and I wouldn't mind paying another 10 dollar for another concert like this.
Saturday, 30 August 2008
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra concert 29 August 2008 - Three Great Romantics
Featuring:
- Carl Maria von Weber - Oberon: Overture
- Robert Schumann - Piano Concerto
- Johannes Brahms - Serenade No. 1
Oleg Caetani - Conductor
John Chen - Piano
Calvin Bowman - Organ
For his organ recital, Calvin Bowman started off by presenting a rather lengthy Bach's Prelude and Fugue in E flat major, BWV 552. Schumann's pieces from Canonic studies for pedal piano, Op. 56 was next, I love the second piece as it has a very childlike tune. Brahms' Es ist ein Ros' entsprungen was very nice as well. And a lively piece by C.S. Lang Tuba Tune rounded up the performance.
The decision to either subscribe to the entire Town Hall series or not, I recalled, was one of the toughest decision for me to make last year because of this concert. On one hand, I wanted to save money by not attending to this concert because MSO has already programmed very similar program last season differing only in the Brahms' work which I have not listened to before. On the other hand, if I did not attend this concert, then I can't have the Town Hall subscription and assigned a fixed seating for all the other 3 concerts that I want to go. In the end, I found out that I only need to pay $12 extra for this concert if I chose to subscribe to the whole series compare to purchasing individual tickets for the other 3 concerts separately. The promise of listening to Brahms' serenade helped me in justifying the extra $12 that I need to pay for this concert.
The concert itself did not disappoint, if Brahms is your motivation to go to this concert. However, if your motivation is Schumann's Piano Concerto, then I think you might feel a little bit disappointed. I'll elaborate this later. The concert program started with Oberon: overture which I already loved. The orchestra executed it brilliantly and the audience loved it. Credit also to Caetani for his sudden tempo acceleration after the slow introduction, I liked it very much. Next up is the disappointment of the concert for me. The Schumann Piano Concerto started good, but then as with the other pianist who played this same concerto last season, John Chen wasn't able to bring out the most of the concerto. The middle section of the concerto was, to be honest, quite bland. It did not help the performance when the pianist made a small number of mistakes as well. The cadenza which is the make or break of Schumann Piano Concerto for me, was fortunately quite good although Richter's reading of it is never surpassed. The performance of the second movement was okay to border-not-so-good. Fortunately, the finale was very good. However, as a whole, the performance is not so good. By the way I have some rant on audience's concert etiquettes today: the audience sitting at my back and around me weren't being helpful for me in enjoying the performance. There were chair creaks through out; the couple sitting behind me did some annoying things: unwrapping a candy, flipping through the concert program in the middle of the concert and scratching their legs loudly. And for the first time in my concert-going experience, I saw a guy passing a glass of wine to his friend who is two rows in front of him in the middle of the first movement of piano concerto. Although Australia is a laid back country, this behaviour is just unacceptable.
Moving on to Brahms' serenade: this is the gem of the night. A work of 6 movements, it started with a very uplifting first movement. The second and fifth movements are two nice scherzos. The middle movements are a beautiful Adagio although it did not start very convincingly and a charming Minuet. Haydn-like last movement was the first thing that popped up in my mind after listening to the first few bars of the finale. The whole serenade was marvelous. I very much enjoyed the whole piece. Hungarian Dance No. 1 was the encore of the night.
The number of the audience was quite disappointing, this is probably the emptiest Town Hall concert that I've ever attended. Next Town Hall concert should hopefully filled up with more people because it has two masterpieces: Mozart's Jupiter symphony and Requiem.
- Carl Maria von Weber - Oberon: Overture
- Robert Schumann - Piano Concerto
- Johannes Brahms - Serenade No. 1
Oleg Caetani - Conductor
John Chen - Piano
Calvin Bowman - Organ
For his organ recital, Calvin Bowman started off by presenting a rather lengthy Bach's Prelude and Fugue in E flat major, BWV 552. Schumann's pieces from Canonic studies for pedal piano, Op. 56 was next, I love the second piece as it has a very childlike tune. Brahms' Es ist ein Ros' entsprungen was very nice as well. And a lively piece by C.S. Lang Tuba Tune rounded up the performance.
The decision to either subscribe to the entire Town Hall series or not, I recalled, was one of the toughest decision for me to make last year because of this concert. On one hand, I wanted to save money by not attending to this concert because MSO has already programmed very similar program last season differing only in the Brahms' work which I have not listened to before. On the other hand, if I did not attend this concert, then I can't have the Town Hall subscription and assigned a fixed seating for all the other 3 concerts that I want to go. In the end, I found out that I only need to pay $12 extra for this concert if I chose to subscribe to the whole series compare to purchasing individual tickets for the other 3 concerts separately. The promise of listening to Brahms' serenade helped me in justifying the extra $12 that I need to pay for this concert.
The concert itself did not disappoint, if Brahms is your motivation to go to this concert. However, if your motivation is Schumann's Piano Concerto, then I think you might feel a little bit disappointed. I'll elaborate this later. The concert program started with Oberon: overture which I already loved. The orchestra executed it brilliantly and the audience loved it. Credit also to Caetani for his sudden tempo acceleration after the slow introduction, I liked it very much. Next up is the disappointment of the concert for me. The Schumann Piano Concerto started good, but then as with the other pianist who played this same concerto last season, John Chen wasn't able to bring out the most of the concerto. The middle section of the concerto was, to be honest, quite bland. It did not help the performance when the pianist made a small number of mistakes as well. The cadenza which is the make or break of Schumann Piano Concerto for me, was fortunately quite good although Richter's reading of it is never surpassed. The performance of the second movement was okay to border-not-so-good. Fortunately, the finale was very good. However, as a whole, the performance is not so good. By the way I have some rant on audience's concert etiquettes today: the audience sitting at my back and around me weren't being helpful for me in enjoying the performance. There were chair creaks through out; the couple sitting behind me did some annoying things: unwrapping a candy, flipping through the concert program in the middle of the concert and scratching their legs loudly. And for the first time in my concert-going experience, I saw a guy passing a glass of wine to his friend who is two rows in front of him in the middle of the first movement of piano concerto. Although Australia is a laid back country, this behaviour is just unacceptable.
Moving on to Brahms' serenade: this is the gem of the night. A work of 6 movements, it started with a very uplifting first movement. The second and fifth movements are two nice scherzos. The middle movements are a beautiful Adagio although it did not start very convincingly and a charming Minuet. Haydn-like last movement was the first thing that popped up in my mind after listening to the first few bars of the finale. The whole serenade was marvelous. I very much enjoyed the whole piece. Hungarian Dance No. 1 was the encore of the night.
The number of the audience was quite disappointing, this is probably the emptiest Town Hall concert that I've ever attended. Next Town Hall concert should hopefully filled up with more people because it has two masterpieces: Mozart's Jupiter symphony and Requiem.
Sunday, 3 August 2008
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra concert 2 August 2008 - Passionate Panorama
Featuring:
- Delius Brigg Fair - An English Rhapsody
- Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto
- Brahms Symphony No. 1
James Ehnes - Violin
Christopher Seaman - Conductor
This is undoubtedly the concert that I've been excitedly waiting the most and the first concert that I decided to really go for when the subscription offer arrived at my mailbox. Tchaikovsky's violin concerto is my favourite violin concerto per se and my very first introduction to classical music. I still remembered waking up every morning to listen to the finale of this piece. Brahms' first symphony is a very special symphony that means a lot to me. I don't play this symphony very often in my computer since I always reserved it for a special occasion. I only play this symphony when I am doubting my own ability, when I think I've reached my limit in doing something or just pure self-doubts. By listening to this symphony, I put myself into Brahms' shoes when he wrote this symphony. He wanted to write something that is deemed worthy of comparison to Beethoven's ninth. He struggled a lot during the writing of the symphony and reportedly took 15 years before completing it. Talk about struggle! With this symphony completed, he overcame his own self doubt, he stretched his own limit as a composer and overcame his own fear as a human to allow his work to be compared to Beethoven's masterpiece. This alone is enough to give me motivation and I would always be lifted up, be able to face my problems straight in the face and most importantly I would start believe again in myself.
Now to the concert. The Delius piece is an impressionist piece which doesn't make a very big impression to me. It's nice and all, but in the end it's not satisfying. The orchestra played well and there are some interesting parts in this folk-song inspired rhapsody. As other Delius piece that I've listened before - it's a pleasant piece but quite forgettable, more so in this concert because the two works that followed are warhorses of classical music.
Next was the Tchaikovsky's violin concerto. The first thing that I noticed when the soloist, James Ehnes, played the very first few notes was that his playing is very gentle and sweet if compared to the Vadim Repin's recording with Gergiev. But boy he can play! I can certainly see why he is touted as one of the leading violinists now. The scary double stops and those technical challenges were nothing to him. His playing of the cadenza of the first movement showed this. The phrasing was well done the accelerando was wonderful and those triplets at the end of the cadenza was just perfect. The orchestra accompanied him very well throughout. Huge applause from the audience after the end of the first movement.
The second movement was poignant, restraint with the soloist accompanied very well by the woodwinds. In the finale, the soloist calmly removed some of the broken bow hair from his bow when he's not playing. I wondered how he could stay so calm and took his time to remove the bow hair. When the coda entered, the orchestra and the soloist puts their feet down the pedal and concluded the coda in such fast tempo. Huge applause from the audience and we were treated with the Preludio of Bach's third partita as an encore. I was quite lucky to get to talk to him in the foyer in the interval and got his autograph. He was very kind and I asked him if he's going to come again to Melbourne next year. He said he's not scheduled to come next year, but maybe the year after.
The last piece of the concert is the Brahms. The opening movement is taken at a faster tempo than those recordings of whom I am familiar with. With this taken, some of the majestic and struggle feeling of the opening was lost. None of this matters since the performance was so fine throughout. The violin solo in the second movement was lovely and the finale was so fine and hair-raising I wish it never ended. Loud applause followed after the final chord of the symphony.
To conclude: a very memorable night, probably one of the best concerts that I've attended to. The concert hall was almost full, I'd say filled at 97-98% capacity. Hope every MSO concert can be as brilliant as this concert.
- Delius Brigg Fair - An English Rhapsody
- Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto
- Brahms Symphony No. 1
James Ehnes - Violin
Christopher Seaman - Conductor
This is undoubtedly the concert that I've been excitedly waiting the most and the first concert that I decided to really go for when the subscription offer arrived at my mailbox. Tchaikovsky's violin concerto is my favourite violin concerto per se and my very first introduction to classical music. I still remembered waking up every morning to listen to the finale of this piece. Brahms' first symphony is a very special symphony that means a lot to me. I don't play this symphony very often in my computer since I always reserved it for a special occasion. I only play this symphony when I am doubting my own ability, when I think I've reached my limit in doing something or just pure self-doubts. By listening to this symphony, I put myself into Brahms' shoes when he wrote this symphony. He wanted to write something that is deemed worthy of comparison to Beethoven's ninth. He struggled a lot during the writing of the symphony and reportedly took 15 years before completing it. Talk about struggle! With this symphony completed, he overcame his own self doubt, he stretched his own limit as a composer and overcame his own fear as a human to allow his work to be compared to Beethoven's masterpiece. This alone is enough to give me motivation and I would always be lifted up, be able to face my problems straight in the face and most importantly I would start believe again in myself.
Now to the concert. The Delius piece is an impressionist piece which doesn't make a very big impression to me. It's nice and all, but in the end it's not satisfying. The orchestra played well and there are some interesting parts in this folk-song inspired rhapsody. As other Delius piece that I've listened before - it's a pleasant piece but quite forgettable, more so in this concert because the two works that followed are warhorses of classical music.
Next was the Tchaikovsky's violin concerto. The first thing that I noticed when the soloist, James Ehnes, played the very first few notes was that his playing is very gentle and sweet if compared to the Vadim Repin's recording with Gergiev. But boy he can play! I can certainly see why he is touted as one of the leading violinists now. The scary double stops and those technical challenges were nothing to him. His playing of the cadenza of the first movement showed this. The phrasing was well done the accelerando was wonderful and those triplets at the end of the cadenza was just perfect. The orchestra accompanied him very well throughout. Huge applause from the audience after the end of the first movement.
The second movement was poignant, restraint with the soloist accompanied very well by the woodwinds. In the finale, the soloist calmly removed some of the broken bow hair from his bow when he's not playing. I wondered how he could stay so calm and took his time to remove the bow hair. When the coda entered, the orchestra and the soloist puts their feet down the pedal and concluded the coda in such fast tempo. Huge applause from the audience and we were treated with the Preludio of Bach's third partita as an encore. I was quite lucky to get to talk to him in the foyer in the interval and got his autograph. He was very kind and I asked him if he's going to come again to Melbourne next year. He said he's not scheduled to come next year, but maybe the year after.
The last piece of the concert is the Brahms. The opening movement is taken at a faster tempo than those recordings of whom I am familiar with. With this taken, some of the majestic and struggle feeling of the opening was lost. None of this matters since the performance was so fine throughout. The violin solo in the second movement was lovely and the finale was so fine and hair-raising I wish it never ended. Loud applause followed after the final chord of the symphony.
To conclude: a very memorable night, probably one of the best concerts that I've attended to. The concert hall was almost full, I'd say filled at 97-98% capacity. Hope every MSO concert can be as brilliant as this concert.
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