Showing posts with label rachmaninov. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rachmaninov. Show all posts

Sunday, 18 July 2010

Melbourne Symphony Orchestra concert 16 July 2010 - Shine

Featuring:
- Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 3
- Rachmaninov Symphony No. 2

Garrick Ohlsson - Piano
Tadaaki Otaka - Conductor

Tonight's the Second Town Hall Proms of the year. A prelude to the concert is the organ recital by Calvin Bowman, of course. He played Bach's lengthy 'Fantasia and Fugue in G minor, BWV. 542', Jehan Alain's quiet variations of a theme by Clement Jannequin in which the stage lighting to the organ changes every now and then, Galuppi's Allegro e spiritoso, and a rather quirky arrangement of Verdi's Grand March from Aida. It's really strange and fascinating at the same time to listen to organ blaring the glorious brass notes.

For the concert proper, there's no escaping Rachmaninov that night. Even all the encores are Rachmaninov's compositions. The title of this concert refers to the movie Shine which features a pianist trying to play the difficult Rachmaninov's D minor concerto. I've watched the movie, but it's not really my favourite movie. Amadeus is a much better and more memorable movie.

Main dishes for tonight was Rachmaninov's two warhorses: third Piano Concerto and 2nd Symphony. I am undecided which piano concerto of Rachmaninov's I prefer better, I love the unabashed lush super duper romantic second concerto, but yet found the third much more intelligent without being over sentimental like its predecessor. Anyway, I am no authority in 'Rach 3' compared to this guy here. I did notice though that Garrick played the shorter cadenza in the first movement, and played the uncut version of both 2nd and 3rd movements. I also noticed that I forgot the time completely when Garrick played the whole concerto, I was so focused on the performance, and totally immersed in a performance in which a technically assuring, maturely minded, and intelligent pianist at work. Garrick took the first movement just a tad slower to say Argerich's or Horowitz's (with Reiner) recordings. However, instead of taking the slower tempo as a sign of insecure techniques, I sensed that Garrick is just keeping some energy in reserve. He didn't overdo the virtuosic bit, unlike Horowitz, but yet still enough to convince me of his pianism. I have never enjoyed this concerto's second movement better than in this performance, the rhapsodic, yearning, and fantasia like Intermezzo. And the finale is just .. breathless, the orchestra supporting Garrick was just really totally hot, and producing lots of wonderful accompaniment moment, esp. in the marching like session, just before the coda and the unabashed super romantic D major episode after that. The bravura finale is a total eargasm. An unusually very quiet audience roared right after this.

What a performance. Instead of making the concert just another concert to show off his virtuoso skills, Garrick went one step further and presented a mature, musically satisfying performance without going overboard in the fireworks. Credit must also be given to the orchestra who maintained its presence throughout and the maestro for balancing both contingents impeccably. Garrick gave Rachmaninov's Prelude in C sharp minor, and again, the audience is just stunned to silence with the thundering bass chords in the climax of the piece. Brilliant.

What comes after this concerto is another great performance. I don't know what's with the orchestra tonight, they just seemed to be in the right gear all the time, and by MSO standard, I think the ensemble was just a notch above the average MSO performance. The lush 3rd movement was one of the highlight of the concert, its long and intertwining melodies were just as sonorous as I could have asked for. One moment in the finale that I treasure the most is when Maestro Otaka signaling the entry to the horn section, and suddenly all the horn sections responded and lifted their instruments, as if they were playing the climax of Mahler's 8th symphony. That's glorious. Also, halving the tempo in the section just before the coda works beautifully in terms of squeezing out every single possible emotional outbursts from really those special moments. It's simply one of the best symphony performance that I had from MSO this year, I think.

After that, and a short speech from Wilma Smith regarding the death of Sir Charles Mackerras, we were then presented with Rachmaninov's Vocalise. A heartfelt performance is the only way to describe it. I attended what is to be his last concert in Australia, and remembered commenting how frail he already is back then. Unfortunately my wish of seeing him conducting again was not granted. RIP Sir Charles Mackerras.

Maestro Otaka, really, you totally deserved all that applause for that night, and yet you're too shy to receive them! I don't know what's wrong with your eyes, you seemed to wipe them off after the concert, which only leads me to thinking two things: 1). You're touched by the performance, and maybe to the loss of Sir Charles or 2). You're already sleepy and long for bed. I strongly believe the reason of you wiping your eyes is the first thing I thought of, but your gesture of 'oh look at the time, it's time to sleep and stop applauding' might swing me a little to the second explanation :).

Next concert: Britten's War Requiem, next week.

Tuesday, 9 March 2010

Melbourne Symphony Orchestra concert 6 March 2010 - Ashkenazy Conducts Rachmaninov

Featuring:
- Faure Pavane
- Debussy La Mer
- Rachmaninov The Bells

Jacqueline Porter - Soprano
Steve Davislim - Tenor
Jose Carbo - Baritone
Melbourne Symphony Chorus - chorusmaster: Jonathan Grieves-Smith
Vladimir Ashkenazy - Conductor

A very short review this time. I'm still trying to sort the mess that I've found in my home after coming back from the Saturday's concert.

Faure's Pavane - heart melting, beautiful, well-played, yada yada. The weird thing about the whole performance was: the chorus. The chorus was supposedly singing a double duet poem about the quarrel of two imaginary pairs of lovers. I don't understand French or familiar enough with the poem to be affected by the text. Although Faure originally wrote the piece in this form, I still prefer very much listening to it without the text and imagine stuffs on my own.

La Mer - Ahhhhhhhhh La Mer again. I won't complain - I love La Mer. Very good performance, especially the rousing climax in the finale. I forgot other good impressions I have with the concert, sorry :(

As good as La Mer performance went, I think I was satisfied the most with the performance of Rachmaninov's The Bells. I have never liked this piece apart from the playful 1st movement, although Rachmaninov claimed that it is his favourite composition. Ashkenazy changed my opinion of the piece by revealing the beautiful, long lyrical Soprano lines in the second movement; the excitement of brass in the frightful third movement and finally, the last movement - ala Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde. The rising melody right after the very last words of the solo bass was the emotional highpoint for me in the whole concert. That moment felt like an alto singing the "Ewig, ewig" at the end of Das Lied von der Erde. The 3 soloists sung beautifully.

Average attendance. The balcony is almost empty, but compensated with 85% stall capacity and almost full circle.

Next concert: ACO's concert next week.

Friday, 26 June 2009

Melbourne Symphony Orchestra concert 26 June 2009 - The Dance of Life

Featuring:
- Mendelssohn Ruy Blas: Overture
- Mendelssohn Concerto for Two Pianos in E major
- Rachmaninov Symphonic Dances

Silver-Garburg - Piano Duo
Yan Pascal Tortelier - Conductor

Before attending this concert, I had a few drinks and let's just say that it is something to be avoided in future concerts. As a consequence of that, I couldn't concentrate properly on the first half of the concert. It's so unfortunate as Mendelssohn is one of my favourite composer. That being said, based on my half-concentration, I don't think Ruy Blas overture is as interesting as the other famous overtures by Mendelssohn. It has its moments, but not as memorable as the other overtures. I was looking forward to the performance of the concerto for two pianos, but it ended up being an okay performance with muddy sound from the orchestra. The third movement was the the movement that I enjoyed the most. Sivan Silver and Gil Garburg then gave a wonderful encore which snapped me out from doziness: a four-hand piano performance of Stravinksy's Russian Dance from Petrouchka. Click here if you feel like watching a performance of it. They took the piece faster, played better, and better in-sync to each other than the pair in the video.

Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances is not one of my favourite works out of his symphonic outputs. I thought it was not too memorable, doesn't have the 'it' tune. But, I gladly changed my mind after today's performance. Tortelier's has wonderful insight to this piece and I noticed what's missing in the recording that I have. Those missing pieces made a big difference in enjoyment of listening to this piece. I was intrigued by Tortelier's treatment of the first theme of the funny marking 'Non-allegro' movement. Instead of driving the marching rhythm it fast, he took it quite slow, and therefore revealing something that has been missing in my recording of the piece: the Dies Irae motif. Wonderful attacks from MSO winds helped too! The brass that opens the second movement is quite unusual.I don't think I would ever associate a Waltz movement with brass instruments. But they too soon gave away to waltzing rhythm in string pizzicatos. Finally, Tortelier let loose and drive the orchestra to its capability, unleashing a rousing finale. Fine playing from the orchestra enhanced the excitement. But, what I commend the most from the performance is Tortelier's ability to make me appreciate every moment in the piece which I normally found boring.

Despite my concentration lapse in the first half, the concert made me leaving the concert hall in upbeat mood. Tortelier is a wonderful conductor, and I'm impressed with him conducting Symphonic Dances without both the score and the baton. I would love to see him back conducting MSO in the future.

Finally, MSO (or the Arts Centre) did something stupid with the program notes. Instead of leaving those program notes outside in the foyer area, they kept them on a special stand. This is all fine, but the moronic part is they kept the stand behind the hall's doors! Therefore, people can't get a copy of the programs to read before the doors are opened which usually happened 15 minutes before the performance.

Next concert: Stravinsky's Rite of Spring. Should be great.

Friday, 15 May 2009

Melbourne Symphony Orchestra concert 15 May 2009 - Dream

Featuring:
- Mendelssohn A Midsummer Night's Dream: Overture
- Rachmaninov Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
- Tchaikovsky Selections from The Nutcracker and Swan Lake

Alexey Yemtsov - Piano
Andrew Grams - Conductor

Tonight was a very very memorable night. Despite the corniness of the concert title, the relatively light music, and my low expectation of Tchaikovsky's ballet music treated seriously - one man changed all of that: the conductor Andrew Grams. I will talk more about it later.

Let's start with our usual organ recital by Calvin Bowman. I arrived 5 seconds late, and I can see the ushers closing the door. One of them then accompanied me to enter from the rear entry. I then sat at the last row, just a little bit inside in the row. More people then came, some of them sat in front of me. All perfectly fine until a couple asked me to give them some space so that they can walk past me while I immersed myself in Bach's music. Annoyed a little bit, since they could have walked till the end of the row without disturbing me. I almost snapped when an usher tapped my shoulder asking me to move a little bit inwards the row. He was the one who asked me to sit at the back row in the first place! The latecomers shouldn't be prioritised, especially when they are already late for 15 minutes. The usher should have suggested something cleverer like asking them to go the long way to get a seat without disturbing anybody. Wasn't happy with him, I did not move inwards, I gave some space for an elderly couple to move past, and then after the first Bach piece, I moved 6 or 7 rows in front where nobody is sitting. Then the rest of the recital is wonderful.

The first Bach piece was 'Piece d'orgue' Fantasia in G major, BWV 572. A very interesting piece with a two-note motif present towards the piece. The second piece was an arrangement of Bach's Organ Concerto in G major, BWV 592 by Ernst (not sure who he is). Lively two outer movements with a dark slow movement in between (IIRC). Next piece is Bridge's Lento - lovely music, not unsuitable as a gorgeous film music. Gigout's 'Adoramos in Aeternum' closed the recital beautifully. Fantastic performance from Calvin Bowman tonight. One slight complaint about MSO: they ran out of organ recital programs. I couldn't get one copy of it, but there were only around 50 people attending the organ recital. Eventually, I got a copy courtesy of a nice lady sitting beside me.

At a short glance, tonight's program consists of 'pretty' music. Nothing 'deep' like a Beethoven or Brahms or Mahler symphony. All are quite popular, especially Tchaikovsky's ballet music. This usually spells disaster in terms of performance: the orchestra can just play sloppily and the audience can still enjoy the music. But that didn't happen tonight. Mendelssohn's overture was played beautifully. The rapid strings notes came out as clear as crystal while never losing the excitement. MSO's woodwinds section chirps throughout. Brass and horns let their presence felt while not overpowering the strings. MSO just played so differently tonight, it was wonderful. The deliberate tempo slowing just before the recapitulation of the rapid strings works like charm. The finale is as fantastic as it could have been and the overture set the tone for the night: the audience is in for wonderful time.

Alexey Yemtsov came on the stage playing Rachmaninov's famous rhapsody. Instead of the usual muffled tone from the grand piano, he produced brilliant clear tone. Accompanied by the in-form orchestra, he blasted through the rhapsody, playing brilliantly throughout. The Dies Irae variation is heavy, cadenza like variations played lightning fast. Poetic is his approach during the slow variations leading up to the gorgeous 18th variation. He dashed through the finale as it was nothing, excitement is never far from his performance. As an icing on the cake, he gave an encore which unfortunately I'm not very familiar with. My best guess: impressionist (Debussy or Ravel piece?) or late romantic music.

I honestly didn't expect much from the performance of Tchaikovsky's ballet music, even after a great first half of the concert. My expectations were turned upside down after a few bars of the Nutcracker music. Tchaikovsky's music, being too popular, has always been treated lightly by a lot of performers and audience. Andrew Grams showed us how the Nutcracker can sound like if you treat Tchaikovsky's music as a masterpiece. The Nutcracker excerpt starts with the Entry of Clara and the Prince in the second act, followed by Spanish, Arabian, Chinese, Russian dances and Dance of the Reed Pipes. Percussion section shines here and have I already mentioned that the woodwinds played faultlessly tonight? The mother ginger music and the charming, ever popular Waltz of the flowers end this fabulous performance.

The crown achievement of the night is the performance of excerpts from Swan Lake. The all too familiar Swan Lake theme got an invigorating treatment. Climaxes are as loud as they can be, emphasising dramatic elements of Swan Lake story. The Waltz is so fantastic that when it ended, some people just can't help but applaud to it. Wilma Smith and David Berlin gave wonderful solos in Pas d'action of Odette and the Prince. The concert ended in a super overwhelming Finale of Swan Lake and the audience raptured in the end! Some of them even gave standing ovations. If I were to sum up that performance in one word it will be 'electrifying'. What a memorable night. This can easily be one of my favourite MSO concerts, equaling the great concerts of Mahler 1, 2 and Verdi's Requiem.

This night was made even memorable for some non-musical reasons. There are two small interruptions in the middle of this concert. The first one was a person almost collapsed while walking up the stairs in the middle of slow variations of Rachmaninov's Rhapsody. The second was in the middle of the Nutcracker excerpts where a number of ushers tried to help this old lady.

Conclusion: I will be having eargasm everytime in MSO concerts if MSO keeps playing at this level. I heard mutters of fellow audience after the performance and they all agreed with me that they just heard something rather special that night. 'Never heard of Swan Lake being done so dramatically', 'Love the conductor's conducting style', 'I thought that he's gonna take off' are just some example comments that I overheard. I'd love to see the conductor back in Melbourne: tackling a well-known symphony. Last but not least, tonight's concert is almost a full-house, extreme contrast with last Town Hall concert. MSO playing in this level is really wonderful, keep up the good work guys! Thanks for a truly memorable night.

My next concert: ACO playing Schoenberg's Transfigured Night.