Featuring:
- Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4
- Vaughan Williams Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
- Elgar Falstaff
Jonathan Biss - Piano
Sir Andrew Davis - Conductor
Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major has long been my favourite Beethoven piano concerto. Its introvert nature made this piece feel more intimate and personal when compared to the extrovert and extravaganza of the first movement of the Emperor concerto (Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5). Jonathan Biss presented a delightful reading of this concerto, but I withheld some reservations of his performance. The magical opening chords were not so magical, but still okay. Both the orchestra and piano in the first movement sounded a bit muffled, lacking crisp and clarity in tone. Jonathan's performance is highlighted by strong bass chords presence and plenty of body gestures, and wonderful uses of rubato. I think Jonathan offered Beethoven's cadenzas for both first and last movement, but I could be wrong. In second movement, both the pianist and orchestra seemed like clicked into gear and producing wonderful tone. I enjoyed this movement a lot except from a slight moment during the not-so-together pizzicato entry of the orchestra and the soloist when the soloist played the second wistful theme which leads directly to a mini-cadenza. The conductor picked up the tempo in the last movement, and when Jonathan started his solo part, David Berlin accompanied him with his cello. Jonathan dashed through the coda, bringing the whole piece into an exhilarating ending. Huge applause followed and after several curtain calls, Jonathan gave the 2nd movement of Mozart's sonata in C major, K. 545 'Sonata Semplice' as the encore.
As the title probably suggests, the star of the concert is not Jonathan, but the conductor Andrew Davis. He showed his capability as a world class conductor in the second piece, Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis. The 'echo' group consisting of small number of strings is placed on top of the stage, where the percussion usually is. It's hard not to compare this performance to ACO's performance 2 weeks ago. IMHO, ACO's performance is very crisp while MSO's is very airy - perhaps due to significantly larger amount of strings that MSO use in the performance. Sir Andrew's masterfully build up the layers of wonderful melodies and the climax is very satisfying. Not to be outdone by ACO's section leaders, MSO's string section leaders also provided gorgeous solos. Nice, solid performance.
After the other players come in (Vaughan William's piece is only scored for strings), Sir Andrew gave a short speech about the next piece, Elgar's Falstaff and described it as 'a piece that he loved dearly'. Unfortunately, despite what Elgar said that this piece is unlike Richard Strauss' tone poem, I still think it's very much in the same spirit. Add to that my unfamiliarity of Falstaff's story and Shakespeare in general, the result is quite obvious: I can't feel as passionate with the music as Sir Andrew. I enjoy the drunken bassoon solo, but found the piece to be incomprehensible by large. A disappointing end to an otherwise wonderful concert for me.
I'm not going to Sir Andrew's next concert which is on this weekend. This is not because I don't like his conducting style (lots of big gestures!) which I enjoyed very much; but rather my unfamiliarity of the programs: Strauss' so-called-ethereal Four Last Songs; and several Wagner's music. I'm looking forward to my next MSO concert: Beethoven's Coriolan overture, Mozart's Sinfornia concertante for violin and viola, K. 364; and unfortunately my least favourite Brahms' symphony: the 3rd.
Tuesday, 25 August 2009
Wednesday, 12 August 2009
Australian Chamber Orchestra concert 9 August 2009 - Resonance
Featuring:
- Peter Sculthorpe Chaconne - World Premiere
- Vaughan Williams Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis
- Bartok Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta
- Xenakis Shaar
- Richard Strauss Metamorphosen
I guess the only major orchestra in Australia that can get away with this challenging programs and still guaranteed a pretty much almost full-house is ACO. If MSO would have programmed this, I'm quite sure the hall will be maximum half full.
The concert began with Sculthorpe's Chaconne. It's written for string orchestra with a prominent violin solo played by Richard Tognetti. Throughout the piece, the strings provided ostinato accompaniment, while the solo violin floats on top, playing the melody line. Tognetti's tone was gorgeous, but sounded dynamically a tad weak. Bach's influence is quite obvious here, but it will perhaps be a blemish to compare this piece with the Chaconne from the D minor Partita.
ACO's settings is a bit unusual for the next piece, Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis. A small group of string players (6-7 players) was located slightly further at the back from the audience, providing an echo effect to the main group. I'm not familiar with this piece, but this piece is so beautiful that you just can't help liking it. The title of this concert can be used to describe ACO strings here, they're just so resonant. I very much enjoyed the little duet between the viola and violin towards the end of the piece. Magnificent and heartfelt performance.
Bartok's piece also requires unusual orchestral settings. One half of strings with violins and violas (located slightly at the back) faces the other half with cellos and basses bridge between them in the middle. Celesta, Piano and other percussions are further back. Fugue is the musical form in the first movement, which I enjoyed a lot. The second movement is a banal rhythmic section - not unlike Stravinksy's Rite of Spring. Also, IIRC, the cymbals made a very interesting noise here: instead of clashing one cymbal to the other, the percussionist scratch them. I wasn't too impressed with the third movement which has been described as 'Night Music'. Folk music started the last movement. Another thing that captured my attention is that the celestist (is that the correct term for a celesta player?) went over to the piano and played 4 hand passages with the pianist, before going back to the celesta. Overall, I don't think I enjoyed this piece as much as I would like, as it is one hell of complicated music that would benefit from repeated listening. I'll listen to it again when I have time.
One small grudge here: In the first half of the concert, I sat behind a tall guy which directly obstructs my eyesight to the center of the stage. If you haven't experienced this before, let me tell you: it's not pleasant. I really feel disadvantage of this during Bartok's complicated music, where interesting music comes out of a wide variety of instruments which I can't see because of this obstruction. I think my enjoyment of complicated music with awkward rhythms and interesting noise requiring large orchestra is enhanced by clear sight of what's going on. My other experience listening to comparably (or perhaps even more!) complex music was when I attended a concert with Schoenberg's Variations for Orchestra in the program. I can honestly say that if I listen to that piece from a recording, I would not have enjoyed it at all. However, due to the clear sight and knowledge of what's going on in the music, I enjoyed that performance the most out of the concert that featured Mozart's D minor Concerto and Ravel's Bolero. Knowing ahead that I was going to be in another music challenge with Xenakis, I changed seat in second half.
Xenakis' Shaar ('gate') did not disappoint, I actually loved it! People that hate dissonance sound would loathe this music because it's full of dissonances from beginning to the end. The strings started with glissandi, producing a siren-like sound. Very very interesting. Another interesting thing is the contrast between wonderful noises made throughout the piece. The effect of the climax in the final movement was enhanced by sharp attack from the orchestra.
Finally, Strauss' Metamorphosen finishes the concert. I can't say I was impressed by it, and to be honest, it sounded like a cheap Mahler (I'm sorry Richard Strauss!). In this case, I actually agree with Richard Strauss who famously said "I may not be a first-rate composer, but I am a first-class second-rate composer!". Anyway, I intend to discover Strauss' music more in the future, and I'm pretty sure I'll come across it again (and hopefully changed my opinion of it). The quote of Beethoven's funeral march from the Eroica symphony is pretty clear in the end, but as I did not enjoy and understand the work, it made no sense at all to me.
Summing up, this ACO concert is a mixed-bag for me. Vaughan Williams' and Xenakis' piece were probably the gems; I should re-listen to Bartok and Strauss music. And yes, I haven't forgotten Sculthorpe: I hope I can listen to it again.
- Peter Sculthorpe Chaconne - World Premiere
- Vaughan Williams Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis
- Bartok Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta
- Xenakis Shaar
- Richard Strauss Metamorphosen
I guess the only major orchestra in Australia that can get away with this challenging programs and still guaranteed a pretty much almost full-house is ACO. If MSO would have programmed this, I'm quite sure the hall will be maximum half full.
The concert began with Sculthorpe's Chaconne. It's written for string orchestra with a prominent violin solo played by Richard Tognetti. Throughout the piece, the strings provided ostinato accompaniment, while the solo violin floats on top, playing the melody line. Tognetti's tone was gorgeous, but sounded dynamically a tad weak. Bach's influence is quite obvious here, but it will perhaps be a blemish to compare this piece with the Chaconne from the D minor Partita.
ACO's settings is a bit unusual for the next piece, Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis. A small group of string players (6-7 players) was located slightly further at the back from the audience, providing an echo effect to the main group. I'm not familiar with this piece, but this piece is so beautiful that you just can't help liking it. The title of this concert can be used to describe ACO strings here, they're just so resonant. I very much enjoyed the little duet between the viola and violin towards the end of the piece. Magnificent and heartfelt performance.
Bartok's piece also requires unusual orchestral settings. One half of strings with violins and violas (located slightly at the back) faces the other half with cellos and basses bridge between them in the middle. Celesta, Piano and other percussions are further back. Fugue is the musical form in the first movement, which I enjoyed a lot. The second movement is a banal rhythmic section - not unlike Stravinksy's Rite of Spring. Also, IIRC, the cymbals made a very interesting noise here: instead of clashing one cymbal to the other, the percussionist scratch them. I wasn't too impressed with the third movement which has been described as 'Night Music'. Folk music started the last movement. Another thing that captured my attention is that the celestist (is that the correct term for a celesta player?) went over to the piano and played 4 hand passages with the pianist, before going back to the celesta. Overall, I don't think I enjoyed this piece as much as I would like, as it is one hell of complicated music that would benefit from repeated listening. I'll listen to it again when I have time.
One small grudge here: In the first half of the concert, I sat behind a tall guy which directly obstructs my eyesight to the center of the stage. If you haven't experienced this before, let me tell you: it's not pleasant. I really feel disadvantage of this during Bartok's complicated music, where interesting music comes out of a wide variety of instruments which I can't see because of this obstruction. I think my enjoyment of complicated music with awkward rhythms and interesting noise requiring large orchestra is enhanced by clear sight of what's going on. My other experience listening to comparably (or perhaps even more!) complex music was when I attended a concert with Schoenberg's Variations for Orchestra in the program. I can honestly say that if I listen to that piece from a recording, I would not have enjoyed it at all. However, due to the clear sight and knowledge of what's going on in the music, I enjoyed that performance the most out of the concert that featured Mozart's D minor Concerto and Ravel's Bolero. Knowing ahead that I was going to be in another music challenge with Xenakis, I changed seat in second half.
Xenakis' Shaar ('gate') did not disappoint, I actually loved it! People that hate dissonance sound would loathe this music because it's full of dissonances from beginning to the end. The strings started with glissandi, producing a siren-like sound. Very very interesting. Another interesting thing is the contrast between wonderful noises made throughout the piece. The effect of the climax in the final movement was enhanced by sharp attack from the orchestra.
Finally, Strauss' Metamorphosen finishes the concert. I can't say I was impressed by it, and to be honest, it sounded like a cheap Mahler (I'm sorry Richard Strauss!). In this case, I actually agree with Richard Strauss who famously said "I may not be a first-rate composer, but I am a first-class second-rate composer!". Anyway, I intend to discover Strauss' music more in the future, and I'm pretty sure I'll come across it again (and hopefully changed my opinion of it). The quote of Beethoven's funeral march from the Eroica symphony is pretty clear in the end, but as I did not enjoy and understand the work, it made no sense at all to me.
Summing up, this ACO concert is a mixed-bag for me. Vaughan Williams' and Xenakis' piece were probably the gems; I should re-listen to Bartok and Strauss music. And yes, I haven't forgotten Sculthorpe: I hope I can listen to it again.
Tuesday, 11 August 2009
3MBS Classically Melbourne - Orchestra Victoria: Hamer Hall - 6 August 2009
Featuring:
- Carl Maria von Weber Die Freischutz overture
- Saint Saens Piano Concerto No. 2
- Melody EotvosHuygens Principle
- Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition (arr. Ravel)
Andrea Lam - Piano
Marko Letonja - Conductor
At first, I did not want to write a review for all of this, but after reading the review from the Arts Hub (which explains why I only wrote this review today), I should perhaps question some of the things mentioned there.
If anyone who thought that this concert was the best concert or fantastic or magnificent, then perhaps give my review a miss, and read this review instead.
If you're still reading, my words below might change your opinion of this concert. Proceed with caution. You have been warned.
Let me rant a little bit. I know a large number of people who said the concert they attended is fantastic, gorgeous, etc. They never found bad things to say in a concert, although perhaps the brass sections were off by miles during the performance. Bless them if that's the case, cause they will never have a bad time during even the most unbearable concert. Same case with reviews, some critics just don't seem to be able to write bad stuff about a concert.
Unfortunately, I'm not one of them. Perhaps it's my curse, but I can't deny myself when a performance does not entertain me. This concert is one of the concert that I found myself bored during the performance. Let's start with Die Freischutz which was a solid good start to the concert, although I have some reservations with the Horns in the beginning. I don't know about you, but if you read the review from the Arts Hub above, it doesn't tell you anything about the concert or even the piece itself. Romantic style? Sure, Weber it's a romantic, but an early one. React against classicism and order of Bach and Mozart? I wouldn't say so. There is one important passage in the piece which actually reminded me a lot of the first movement of Mozart's 40th symphony (you'll know it if you're familiar with Mozart 40). I would say that Weber is actually indebted to Mozart's compositional technique. Listen to the last few bars of the piece, the style is just so similar to the last few bars of Mozart's Jupiter symphony, especially the strings rhythm that ended the Jupiter.
I have heard Saint Saens 2nd Piano Concerto in the same hall, played by a fearless Simon Trpceski. I was so impressed with his performance, but less so with Andrea Lam's. She has the technique to play the concerto, but her performance was less satisfying due to several weird tempo changes in the outer movements. Also, the overall picture of how she organised her playing of this concerto is not convincing to me. The playfulness of the second movement perhaps can be brought out a little bit more. The orchestra itself missed some of the entries. One of the msot remarkable thing that I noticed is one of the front desk of second violins missed the entries in the beginning in the final movement because Andrea did not really pause much in between. She gave an encore: Chopin's Nocturne in C sharp minor, op. Post. Review in Arts Hub is wrong, the nocturne is NOT Nocturne in C minor as written in that review; and also NOT the Nocturne in C sharp minor, Op. 27 No.1 (which I think it's vastly superior piece compare to the encore). The encore piece is the Nocturne that was used in the movie The Pianist; if that helps. I enjoyed Andrea's Nocturne very much, and honestly, I think, that's her best playing of the night.
There was a presentation for composers' award that night and Melody Eotvos and another composer from Melbourne won the prizes offered. Eotvos' piece 'Huygens Principle' has interesting description. It's about an experiment with 'observing the nature of waves in a pond'. I was looking forward to listening this composition, but ended up feeling a bit disappointed, although I enjoyed some of the musical ideas presented there, like the main theme that was played in several disguise in different instruments with different dynamics (IIRC). Perhaps I can write more about it if I listen to it again, but the chance of the piece is performed again in Melbourne is pretty low or close to zero - a fact for most contemporary composition.
Finally, a piece that I both love and hate. I love Pictures at an Exhibition in its original form - as a solo piano piece -. I love Sviatoslav Richter's Sofia Recital CD which gave me a wonderful listening experience, despite the audience cough and fingers slip in a couple of places. I hate Pictures at an Exhibition arranged by other: Horowitz's own transcription for solo piano or the famous Ravel's version for orchestra. The Promenade themes played by trumpets? Poo-poo. The piece accompanied with bad brass sections? Awful. That's what happened in the concert. I'm sorry for the harsh words, but I don't think the brass section was having a good night. Ravel's arrangement made the piece too pretty, too superficial, and lost its dark-Russian character. I was totally bored in the Old Castle, stayed in that boredom level until we reached the Baba-Yaga. The main reason is not the music itself, but Ravel's arrangement just made the music lost its appeal to me.
Finally, the night got better for me: the orchestra gave an encore - the Gavotte from Prokofiev's Classical Symphony. The best performance of the night, by far.
Other thing that I didn't enjoy: donation speech. I know that this concert is a free event. But, still...
One last note, I sat at the last seat of the right side of second last row in the Balcony! Almost at the top. The acoustic is surprisingly okay, considering the distance from the seat to the orchestra. I still can't say I enjoyed that seat though: I have to look down painfully throughout the performance.
- Carl Maria von Weber Die Freischutz overture
- Saint Saens Piano Concerto No. 2
- Melody EotvosHuygens Principle
- Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition (arr. Ravel)
Andrea Lam - Piano
Marko Letonja - Conductor
At first, I did not want to write a review for all of this, but after reading the review from the Arts Hub (which explains why I only wrote this review today), I should perhaps question some of the things mentioned there.
If anyone who thought that this concert was the best concert or fantastic or magnificent, then perhaps give my review a miss, and read this review instead.
If you're still reading, my words below might change your opinion of this concert. Proceed with caution. You have been warned.
Let me rant a little bit. I know a large number of people who said the concert they attended is fantastic, gorgeous, etc. They never found bad things to say in a concert, although perhaps the brass sections were off by miles during the performance. Bless them if that's the case, cause they will never have a bad time during even the most unbearable concert. Same case with reviews, some critics just don't seem to be able to write bad stuff about a concert.
Unfortunately, I'm not one of them. Perhaps it's my curse, but I can't deny myself when a performance does not entertain me. This concert is one of the concert that I found myself bored during the performance. Let's start with Die Freischutz which was a solid good start to the concert, although I have some reservations with the Horns in the beginning. I don't know about you, but if you read the review from the Arts Hub above, it doesn't tell you anything about the concert or even the piece itself. Romantic style? Sure, Weber it's a romantic, but an early one. React against classicism and order of Bach and Mozart? I wouldn't say so. There is one important passage in the piece which actually reminded me a lot of the first movement of Mozart's 40th symphony (you'll know it if you're familiar with Mozart 40). I would say that Weber is actually indebted to Mozart's compositional technique. Listen to the last few bars of the piece, the style is just so similar to the last few bars of Mozart's Jupiter symphony, especially the strings rhythm that ended the Jupiter.
I have heard Saint Saens 2nd Piano Concerto in the same hall, played by a fearless Simon Trpceski. I was so impressed with his performance, but less so with Andrea Lam's. She has the technique to play the concerto, but her performance was less satisfying due to several weird tempo changes in the outer movements. Also, the overall picture of how she organised her playing of this concerto is not convincing to me. The playfulness of the second movement perhaps can be brought out a little bit more. The orchestra itself missed some of the entries. One of the msot remarkable thing that I noticed is one of the front desk of second violins missed the entries in the beginning in the final movement because Andrea did not really pause much in between. She gave an encore: Chopin's Nocturne in C sharp minor, op. Post. Review in Arts Hub is wrong, the nocturne is NOT Nocturne in C minor as written in that review; and also NOT the Nocturne in C sharp minor, Op. 27 No.1 (which I think it's vastly superior piece compare to the encore). The encore piece is the Nocturne that was used in the movie The Pianist; if that helps. I enjoyed Andrea's Nocturne very much, and honestly, I think, that's her best playing of the night.
There was a presentation for composers' award that night and Melody Eotvos and another composer from Melbourne won the prizes offered. Eotvos' piece 'Huygens Principle' has interesting description. It's about an experiment with 'observing the nature of waves in a pond'. I was looking forward to listening this composition, but ended up feeling a bit disappointed, although I enjoyed some of the musical ideas presented there, like the main theme that was played in several disguise in different instruments with different dynamics (IIRC). Perhaps I can write more about it if I listen to it again, but the chance of the piece is performed again in Melbourne is pretty low or close to zero - a fact for most contemporary composition.
Finally, a piece that I both love and hate. I love Pictures at an Exhibition in its original form - as a solo piano piece -. I love Sviatoslav Richter's Sofia Recital CD which gave me a wonderful listening experience, despite the audience cough and fingers slip in a couple of places. I hate Pictures at an Exhibition arranged by other: Horowitz's own transcription for solo piano or the famous Ravel's version for orchestra. The Promenade themes played by trumpets? Poo-poo. The piece accompanied with bad brass sections? Awful. That's what happened in the concert. I'm sorry for the harsh words, but I don't think the brass section was having a good night. Ravel's arrangement made the piece too pretty, too superficial, and lost its dark-Russian character. I was totally bored in the Old Castle, stayed in that boredom level until we reached the Baba-Yaga. The main reason is not the music itself, but Ravel's arrangement just made the music lost its appeal to me.
Finally, the night got better for me: the orchestra gave an encore - the Gavotte from Prokofiev's Classical Symphony. The best performance of the night, by far.
Other thing that I didn't enjoy: donation speech. I know that this concert is a free event. But, still...
One last note, I sat at the last seat of the right side of second last row in the Balcony! Almost at the top. The acoustic is surprisingly okay, considering the distance from the seat to the orchestra. I still can't say I enjoyed that seat though: I have to look down painfully throughout the performance.
Saturday, 1 August 2009
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra concert 31 July 2009 - Pastorale
Featuring:
- Mozart The Magic Flute: Overture
- Sibelius Violin Concerto
- Beethoven Symphony No. 6 'Pastoral'
Natsuko Yoshimoto - Violin
Nicholas Milton - Conductor
As usual, Town Hall series concert started with Calvin Bowman's organ recital. The offering for the night was Bach's unusually quiet (instead of the usual booming/grand sound of organ) four movements (if I counted correctly) Pastorella BWV 590. Sibelius' (arr. Fricker) Fruhlingslied was the highlight of the organ recital for me with its well-crafted soaring lyricism. Vierne's finale of the Symphony 1 was a strange piece with plenty of clashing chords which are not resolved until the very end of the piece.
Mozart's giddy overture to the Magic Flute opera started out the concert. Nicholas Milton conducted the orchestra with full of energy, with an almost - in my opinion - over-exaggerated gestures. The playfulness of this piece was well-served, and the fugal themes were crisply executed. A solid start to the concert.
The conductor then spend 5 minutes chatting about the relations between virtuoso and concerto before introducing a lovely Natsuko Yoshimoto in an equally elegant blue dress to play the Sibelius concerto. My point of reference to this concerto is Jascha Heifetz's famed performance with the CSO conducted by Walter Hendl. From the quiet tremolo in the strings, the opening violin solo soared with the beautiful cadenza-like theme. I noticed that Natsuko held her violin and bow quite high, perhaps due to her height. Not that it matters, she gave a fine opening moment. The first climax of the piece (right after the prolonged trills and strings pizzicato -- around 4:20 mark in my recording), however, failed to captivate me. Natsuko's violin sound is completely drowned by the orchestra. Nicholas picked up the tempo after that, and to be honest I'm quite worried if Natsuko can play the solo part at this speed. This concerto is known to be damn hard to play after all. The solo violin passages following after the orchestral tutti is full of double melody lines, double stop passages, and all sort of challenging stuffs to a violinist. Natsuko slowed down the tempo here, but still offered a formidable performance. Not to be disrespect to any other violinists, Heifetz' technique is simply unmatchable. His reading of the same passages is faster, fiercer, and his tone is gorgeous. Natsuko's double stop passages sounded a bit harsh to me who is used to Heifetz's recording. It's still fascinating to see how quick Natsuko's hands can move up and down the fingerboard and how she superbly controlled the multiple melody lines.
The lyrical second movement was very pleasant until we reached the technically challenging middle sections. Again, I'm not convinced with the climax. The polonaise of the third movement sounded Spanish too me. I never felt this way about this movement until this performance. I like Nicholas's fast tempo, but he has to accommodate Natsuko's tempo during those technically challenging passages in the middle which disrupts the music flow a little bit. Anyway, despite all my negative comments, the audience loved the performance and we had a long applause. I myself still very much enjoyed the performance, as MSO accompanied wonderfully.
Soon after the interval, Nicholas spent around 5 minutes trying to tie up his feeling visiting Melbourne with the Pastoral's program. After that, MSO gave a wonderful reading of Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony. The tempo flows effortlessly, and there's enough lyricism to please the audience. My favourite recording of this symphony is Bruno Walter's recording on Sony. I will forever be overwhelmed by that recording, but I suppose I sometimes would prefer to enjoy a slightly less overwhelming performance such as MSO's that night. After all, it's quite strange to be teary-eyed by the end of this symphony, feeling happy and uplifted are probably what you want to feel like. Anyway, I digress. For the performance, I noticed a lot of things: the timpanist only played in the Thunderstorm movement and also the little bit of the opening of the last movement. I'm not sure if this symphony is timpanists' favourite piece. The double bass sections perhaps got a little bit over-excited that night in the Thunderstorm movement, but it's all in good spirit as the double bass players smiled to each other after their little tricks. Credits also must be given to the winds section for their marvelous performance (esp. the Oboe solo).
People leaving early might be disappointed to miss tonight's encore: The overture to Marriage of Figaro. Slight complaint here: that same piece was already featured in the first Town Hall concert. Why don't MSO give me a different encore? Beggars can't be choosers, I guess.
The performance is a full-house. Well, strictly speaking not every seat is occupied, but 98-99% of them have someone on top. It's a welcome sight change than the poorly attended Hamer Hall concerts.
Next concert: ACO's Bartok and MSO's Beethoven Piano concerto #4 in forthcoming weeks.
- Mozart The Magic Flute: Overture
- Sibelius Violin Concerto
- Beethoven Symphony No. 6 'Pastoral'
Natsuko Yoshimoto - Violin
Nicholas Milton - Conductor
As usual, Town Hall series concert started with Calvin Bowman's organ recital. The offering for the night was Bach's unusually quiet (instead of the usual booming/grand sound of organ) four movements (if I counted correctly) Pastorella BWV 590. Sibelius' (arr. Fricker) Fruhlingslied was the highlight of the organ recital for me with its well-crafted soaring lyricism. Vierne's finale of the Symphony 1 was a strange piece with plenty of clashing chords which are not resolved until the very end of the piece.
Mozart's giddy overture to the Magic Flute opera started out the concert. Nicholas Milton conducted the orchestra with full of energy, with an almost - in my opinion - over-exaggerated gestures. The playfulness of this piece was well-served, and the fugal themes were crisply executed. A solid start to the concert.
The conductor then spend 5 minutes chatting about the relations between virtuoso and concerto before introducing a lovely Natsuko Yoshimoto in an equally elegant blue dress to play the Sibelius concerto. My point of reference to this concerto is Jascha Heifetz's famed performance with the CSO conducted by Walter Hendl. From the quiet tremolo in the strings, the opening violin solo soared with the beautiful cadenza-like theme. I noticed that Natsuko held her violin and bow quite high, perhaps due to her height. Not that it matters, she gave a fine opening moment. The first climax of the piece (right after the prolonged trills and strings pizzicato -- around 4:20 mark in my recording), however, failed to captivate me. Natsuko's violin sound is completely drowned by the orchestra. Nicholas picked up the tempo after that, and to be honest I'm quite worried if Natsuko can play the solo part at this speed. This concerto is known to be damn hard to play after all. The solo violin passages following after the orchestral tutti is full of double melody lines, double stop passages, and all sort of challenging stuffs to a violinist. Natsuko slowed down the tempo here, but still offered a formidable performance. Not to be disrespect to any other violinists, Heifetz' technique is simply unmatchable. His reading of the same passages is faster, fiercer, and his tone is gorgeous. Natsuko's double stop passages sounded a bit harsh to me who is used to Heifetz's recording. It's still fascinating to see how quick Natsuko's hands can move up and down the fingerboard and how she superbly controlled the multiple melody lines.
The lyrical second movement was very pleasant until we reached the technically challenging middle sections. Again, I'm not convinced with the climax. The polonaise of the third movement sounded Spanish too me. I never felt this way about this movement until this performance. I like Nicholas's fast tempo, but he has to accommodate Natsuko's tempo during those technically challenging passages in the middle which disrupts the music flow a little bit. Anyway, despite all my negative comments, the audience loved the performance and we had a long applause. I myself still very much enjoyed the performance, as MSO accompanied wonderfully.
Soon after the interval, Nicholas spent around 5 minutes trying to tie up his feeling visiting Melbourne with the Pastoral's program. After that, MSO gave a wonderful reading of Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony. The tempo flows effortlessly, and there's enough lyricism to please the audience. My favourite recording of this symphony is Bruno Walter's recording on Sony. I will forever be overwhelmed by that recording, but I suppose I sometimes would prefer to enjoy a slightly less overwhelming performance such as MSO's that night. After all, it's quite strange to be teary-eyed by the end of this symphony, feeling happy and uplifted are probably what you want to feel like. Anyway, I digress. For the performance, I noticed a lot of things: the timpanist only played in the Thunderstorm movement and also the little bit of the opening of the last movement. I'm not sure if this symphony is timpanists' favourite piece. The double bass sections perhaps got a little bit over-excited that night in the Thunderstorm movement, but it's all in good spirit as the double bass players smiled to each other after their little tricks. Credits also must be given to the winds section for their marvelous performance (esp. the Oboe solo).
People leaving early might be disappointed to miss tonight's encore: The overture to Marriage of Figaro. Slight complaint here: that same piece was already featured in the first Town Hall concert. Why don't MSO give me a different encore? Beggars can't be choosers, I guess.
The performance is a full-house. Well, strictly speaking not every seat is occupied, but 98-99% of them have someone on top. It's a welcome sight change than the poorly attended Hamer Hall concerts.
Next concert: ACO's Bartok and MSO's Beethoven Piano concerto #4 in forthcoming weeks.
Monday, 27 July 2009
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra concert 27 July 2009 - Lighting the Darkness
Featuring:
- Mahler Symphony No. 9
Ilan Volkov - Conductor
Mahler. Wouldn't you just die without him? Sigh.
Alright, the concert was emotionally draining. Ilan Volkov presented a very solid reading of Mahler 9 where extreme in dynamics and tempo are pushed to the limit. Let's break it down one by one.
In the opening of the first movement, there was a slightly unclean entry of the 2nd horn. Also just to nitpick things a bit further, I would prefer the first entry of the 4th horn to be softer. After that, tempo wise, I love the unveiling of the 2 note sighing motif. I could talk more about the entry of each instruments, but I'll stop here. Generally, the mood shift and dynamics which are the characteristics of the first movement are well done. Climaxes are overwhelming, although the last climax in which the trombones and timpani came back and bolt down the irregular heart beat motif was not as strong as I want it to be. The duet of flute and horn in the end was effective, but MSO didn't come as clean as they could have in the very last note of the first movement. Despite all these little nitpickings that I did, I enjoyed this movement very much.
I can't say that the 2nd movement of Mahler 9 spoke directly to my heart in general, regardless of who performed it. There's wonderful music there, but that's just it. I still love the 3 dances in this movement, especially the last dance whose motif is derived from the sighing motif of the first movement. Again, the tempo change between the slow (1st and 3rd) dances and fast (2nd) is drastic. What I love the most in this performance is the strong colour from the contrabassoon in the closing bars of this movement.
From the tranquility of village dances, we are thrown into cosmopolitan lifestyle in the third movement. What an achievement by Mahler! He pictured the chaos of city life with fugal music and God knows how many lines of music playing at the same time. The chorale like melody in the middle section played by the trumpet (wonderfully in this concert!) provided a welcome mood change. I was quite touched with it before that melody is mocked and tossed around right after the heart-touching tenderness moment from the development of the chorale. Moment after that, we're back into the city streets again. Chaotic music returns, and the music picked up the pace and ending up being an orchestral show piece. Small complaint, the snare drum that appeared out of nowhere just before the very end could be louder to enhance the surprise effect.
The last movement. Oh, what gorgeous music this is. Ilan's tempo is to my liking, letting all the strings sing out beautifully in the opening. The tension builds up throughout. Jumping straight to the meditative section where the woodwinds with the harp accompaniment dominated the melody before THE climax of the piece: these passages of 3 minutes long are the moment where I was undone. Tears just flow down, I can't help it. I was overwhelmed with all sort of emotions when the strings came in at fortissimo when the music burst out again to the opening motif of the finale. I couldn't care less of what happened after that. I still vividly remembered the trombones, horns and cymbals crashing down just before all the instruments die down just for the strings to sing out the main theme. Ilan took this moment just a bit too fast to my liking, but really I couldn't care less. Not until towards the cello solo in the end did I regain my composure again. The ending is bittersweet and heartfelt. There's a good 30 seconds to 1 minute silence in the end after the music ended.
Orchestra playing wise: strings and woodwinds were the pick tonight. Wilma Smith, Katharine Brockman, and David Berlin gave wonderful solos throughout the piece. The horns were a bit sketchy tonight. While still wonderful, timpani could've sounded a bit punchier. There were a small number of miss-entries, but the playing standard is very high overall. The hall is around 60-70% full, a shame for what was a wonderful Mahler 9 reading.
Next concert: Beethoven 6 and Sibelius Violin Concerto; this Friday.
- Mahler Symphony No. 9
Ilan Volkov - Conductor
Mahler. Wouldn't you just die without him? Sigh.
Alright, the concert was emotionally draining. Ilan Volkov presented a very solid reading of Mahler 9 where extreme in dynamics and tempo are pushed to the limit. Let's break it down one by one.
In the opening of the first movement, there was a slightly unclean entry of the 2nd horn. Also just to nitpick things a bit further, I would prefer the first entry of the 4th horn to be softer. After that, tempo wise, I love the unveiling of the 2 note sighing motif. I could talk more about the entry of each instruments, but I'll stop here. Generally, the mood shift and dynamics which are the characteristics of the first movement are well done. Climaxes are overwhelming, although the last climax in which the trombones and timpani came back and bolt down the irregular heart beat motif was not as strong as I want it to be. The duet of flute and horn in the end was effective, but MSO didn't come as clean as they could have in the very last note of the first movement. Despite all these little nitpickings that I did, I enjoyed this movement very much.
I can't say that the 2nd movement of Mahler 9 spoke directly to my heart in general, regardless of who performed it. There's wonderful music there, but that's just it. I still love the 3 dances in this movement, especially the last dance whose motif is derived from the sighing motif of the first movement. Again, the tempo change between the slow (1st and 3rd) dances and fast (2nd) is drastic. What I love the most in this performance is the strong colour from the contrabassoon in the closing bars of this movement.
From the tranquility of village dances, we are thrown into cosmopolitan lifestyle in the third movement. What an achievement by Mahler! He pictured the chaos of city life with fugal music and God knows how many lines of music playing at the same time. The chorale like melody in the middle section played by the trumpet (wonderfully in this concert!) provided a welcome mood change. I was quite touched with it before that melody is mocked and tossed around right after the heart-touching tenderness moment from the development of the chorale. Moment after that, we're back into the city streets again. Chaotic music returns, and the music picked up the pace and ending up being an orchestral show piece. Small complaint, the snare drum that appeared out of nowhere just before the very end could be louder to enhance the surprise effect.
The last movement. Oh, what gorgeous music this is. Ilan's tempo is to my liking, letting all the strings sing out beautifully in the opening. The tension builds up throughout. Jumping straight to the meditative section where the woodwinds with the harp accompaniment dominated the melody before THE climax of the piece: these passages of 3 minutes long are the moment where I was undone. Tears just flow down, I can't help it. I was overwhelmed with all sort of emotions when the strings came in at fortissimo when the music burst out again to the opening motif of the finale. I couldn't care less of what happened after that. I still vividly remembered the trombones, horns and cymbals crashing down just before all the instruments die down just for the strings to sing out the main theme. Ilan took this moment just a bit too fast to my liking, but really I couldn't care less. Not until towards the cello solo in the end did I regain my composure again. The ending is bittersweet and heartfelt. There's a good 30 seconds to 1 minute silence in the end after the music ended.
Orchestra playing wise: strings and woodwinds were the pick tonight. Wilma Smith, Katharine Brockman, and David Berlin gave wonderful solos throughout the piece. The horns were a bit sketchy tonight. While still wonderful, timpani could've sounded a bit punchier. There were a small number of miss-entries, but the playing standard is very high overall. The hall is around 60-70% full, a shame for what was a wonderful Mahler 9 reading.
Next concert: Beethoven 6 and Sibelius Violin Concerto; this Friday.
Saturday, 18 July 2009
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra concert 18 July 2009 - White Heat
Featuring:
- Fraser Trainer for the living (Violin Concerto)
- Janacek The Fiddler's Child
- Stravinsky The Rite of Spring
Viktoria Mullova - Violin
Ilan Volkov - Conductor
This concert is one of the concerts that I'm not sure whether to subscribe or not. To be honest when I was finalising my concert choice last year, I never heard about Fraser Trainer or Viktoria Mullova, have no idea about Janacek's The Fiddler's Child and was uninformed with Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring. I guess The Rite of Spring is the deciding factor after all, and I thought it's time to plunge myself into Stravinsky's ballet music.
The decision is paid off, the performance of Rite of Spring was electrifying. Anyway, let's start with Fraser Trainer's Violin Concerto with Viktoria Mullova as the soloist. It's interesting that the notes mentioned that this composition is a Concerto for AMPLIFIED Violin and Orchestra. I did notice that the 2 keyboards were amplified, but I'm not sure whether the violin is amplified or not. This piece is inspired by a poem by a British poet Lemn Sissay titled 'Advice for the living'. The unique thing about this poem is the word 'dead' is almost used in every line. I recalled 'dead straight, dead right, something dead, etc.' when Fraser who was present in the audience read aloud the poem. The last line of the poem is, IIRC, 'After all, life is not worth living, if there is nothing to die for'. For this piece, Trainer requires the orchestra to be setup in a different fashion, with the orchestra is divided into three groups, Left, Right and Center. Violin, cello, and bass sections are divided into two equal size, occupying Left and Right sections. On top of that, each section is topped up by a vibraphone, marimba, harp, and keyboard. The center sections contained all the brass and wind sections, and violas. A very unique setup which I haven't seen before.
MSO's size is enormous for the piece and there's nothing more disappointing than listening to a piece of uninspired music that requires large orchestra. This violin concerto is not the case, fortunately, and I was impressed with the rhythmicity of the piece in both outer movements (there's 3 movements in total). Main motif of this piece is a simple recurring rhythmic pattern introduced by the soloist in the beginning. As I've mentioned earlier, this piece is very rhythmic and the writing for different sections are very free. Different time signatures, plenty of offbeats which just seem not to fit the piece at all. Underneath all of these seemingly disorganised rhythms are the main motifs and important linking blocks in the music development. The soloist lines are also very free, almost like a fantasy. Also at times, it might seem to be obsessed by a small pattern. Ilan Volkov conducted MSO very well throughout this difficult and tricky piece.
It's not mentioned in the program notes, but I think I detected a Dies Irae motif in the last movement, which I think is a welcome wonderful effect. There's this moment in the finale where the violin solo which plays different lines than the rest of the violins sections unexpectedly joined by the whole sections to play the same melody, producing a great moment. Anyway, I think it's a good piece, and enjoying it live makes much more sense because you can see how the melodies or motifs are passed around in different orchestra sections. Good start to the concert.
After this piece, I half-expected Janacek's piece to be rhythmically driven, so that we have one unifying theme of the concert: rhythm (the Rite of Spring is a very very rhythmic-based piece). Unfortunately, this is not the case. I'm not gonna type up what Fiddler's Child is about because this piece is disappointing. I didn't find it interesting, although I'm grateful because the viola sections were given a rare chance to shine.
Finally, the orchestra size becomes larger in size for the performance of TROS. Imagine this: 8 horns (there's even Wagner tubas), 5 trumpets, 3 trombones, 2 tubas, 2 timpanis, a big percussion sections, and around 20 woodwind players. It was simply electrifying, from the mysterious bassoon solo to the very end. Abrupt rhythmic music following the introduction is simply amazing. On top of that, add the big sound that the orchestra made, thumping bass drums and timpani, and those brass dissonances : your hair will simply stand on end. I don't feel the need to highlight everything in this performance. Simply put, if you missed the performance, you missed witnessing something special. The performance itself is not well-attended, I'd say the hall is only half full.
Credits must be given to the conductor, for his success in pushing the players to their limits and gave a truly amazing experience. I'm looking forward to attending his Mahler 9 rehearsal and concert next week.
- Fraser Trainer for the living (Violin Concerto)
- Janacek The Fiddler's Child
- Stravinsky The Rite of Spring
Viktoria Mullova - Violin
Ilan Volkov - Conductor
This concert is one of the concerts that I'm not sure whether to subscribe or not. To be honest when I was finalising my concert choice last year, I never heard about Fraser Trainer or Viktoria Mullova, have no idea about Janacek's The Fiddler's Child and was uninformed with Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring. I guess The Rite of Spring is the deciding factor after all, and I thought it's time to plunge myself into Stravinsky's ballet music.
The decision is paid off, the performance of Rite of Spring was electrifying. Anyway, let's start with Fraser Trainer's Violin Concerto with Viktoria Mullova as the soloist. It's interesting that the notes mentioned that this composition is a Concerto for AMPLIFIED Violin and Orchestra. I did notice that the 2 keyboards were amplified, but I'm not sure whether the violin is amplified or not. This piece is inspired by a poem by a British poet Lemn Sissay titled 'Advice for the living'. The unique thing about this poem is the word 'dead' is almost used in every line. I recalled 'dead straight, dead right, something dead, etc.' when Fraser who was present in the audience read aloud the poem. The last line of the poem is, IIRC, 'After all, life is not worth living, if there is nothing to die for'. For this piece, Trainer requires the orchestra to be setup in a different fashion, with the orchestra is divided into three groups, Left, Right and Center. Violin, cello, and bass sections are divided into two equal size, occupying Left and Right sections. On top of that, each section is topped up by a vibraphone, marimba, harp, and keyboard. The center sections contained all the brass and wind sections, and violas. A very unique setup which I haven't seen before.
MSO's size is enormous for the piece and there's nothing more disappointing than listening to a piece of uninspired music that requires large orchestra. This violin concerto is not the case, fortunately, and I was impressed with the rhythmicity of the piece in both outer movements (there's 3 movements in total). Main motif of this piece is a simple recurring rhythmic pattern introduced by the soloist in the beginning. As I've mentioned earlier, this piece is very rhythmic and the writing for different sections are very free. Different time signatures, plenty of offbeats which just seem not to fit the piece at all. Underneath all of these seemingly disorganised rhythms are the main motifs and important linking blocks in the music development. The soloist lines are also very free, almost like a fantasy. Also at times, it might seem to be obsessed by a small pattern. Ilan Volkov conducted MSO very well throughout this difficult and tricky piece.
It's not mentioned in the program notes, but I think I detected a Dies Irae motif in the last movement, which I think is a welcome wonderful effect. There's this moment in the finale where the violin solo which plays different lines than the rest of the violins sections unexpectedly joined by the whole sections to play the same melody, producing a great moment. Anyway, I think it's a good piece, and enjoying it live makes much more sense because you can see how the melodies or motifs are passed around in different orchestra sections. Good start to the concert.
After this piece, I half-expected Janacek's piece to be rhythmically driven, so that we have one unifying theme of the concert: rhythm (the Rite of Spring is a very very rhythmic-based piece). Unfortunately, this is not the case. I'm not gonna type up what Fiddler's Child is about because this piece is disappointing. I didn't find it interesting, although I'm grateful because the viola sections were given a rare chance to shine.
Finally, the orchestra size becomes larger in size for the performance of TROS. Imagine this: 8 horns (there's even Wagner tubas), 5 trumpets, 3 trombones, 2 tubas, 2 timpanis, a big percussion sections, and around 20 woodwind players. It was simply electrifying, from the mysterious bassoon solo to the very end. Abrupt rhythmic music following the introduction is simply amazing. On top of that, add the big sound that the orchestra made, thumping bass drums and timpani, and those brass dissonances : your hair will simply stand on end. I don't feel the need to highlight everything in this performance. Simply put, if you missed the performance, you missed witnessing something special. The performance itself is not well-attended, I'd say the hall is only half full.
Credits must be given to the conductor, for his success in pushing the players to their limits and gave a truly amazing experience. I'm looking forward to attending his Mahler 9 rehearsal and concert next week.
Monday, 29 June 2009
Proper blog post..
I haven't been posting new music that I have discovered for a long long time. Partly because of my busy schedule, and partly because I don't feel the urge to write about them.
I joined a choir a while ago, and it changed my way of listening to choral music. After I learned to sing Mozart's requiem, now I can fully enjoy the part where I don't really like before, e.g. Domine Jesu and Hostias. Other movements became more attractive and interesting, e.g. Kyrie, Rex Tremendae, Confutatis and I found more pleasure listening to them compare to my previous experiences before joining the choir.
In the past few months or so, I've been listening to Faure's Requiem. What a great piece this is. Sure, it doesn't have the Dies Irae sequence, but the music simplicity (compare to say Verdi's or Brahms' Requiem) is simply heavenly. Most people would no doubt associate the Pie Jesu and In Paradisum when they heard about Faure's requiem. They're both fantastic movements, but the movement that I love the most is Sanctus. I can always imagine heavenly images when I heard harp arpeggios in the beginning of Sanctus. Also, being a tenor myself, I always enjoy the Tenor entry after the horn passages in the middle ('Hosanna in excelsis'). Other movements have their own charm, such as the baritone solo in Libera Me and the little 'Dies Irae' episode which sounded a bit underwhelming. As a whole, I still very much love this requiem.
The new choral music that I listened to recently is Haydn's Nelson Mass. Whoa, what a piece! I fell in love with the dramatic Kyrie the first time I listened to it. Gloria is an upbeat movement in the beginning, with memorable bass solo in the middle, and back to the same melody as the opening melody. I'm less keen on Credo, but still enjoy the 'descendit descaelis'. I guess I would be less keen on Credo in every mass if I always compare how composers set the 'Et vitam venturi' text with Beethoven's setting of the text as a massive fugue in his Missa Solemnis. Sanctus starts off solemnly before the 'Pleni Sunt Caeli' section changes the mood completely. The Benedictus is wonderful to sing at, especially during the most dramatic (IMO) in the whole piece where the trumpets and drums play fortissimo passages against the choir singing the word 'Benedictus qui venit in nomine domini' just before the 'Hosanna in excelsis' section in the end. Agnus Dei rounded up the whole work with upbeat 'dona nobis pacem'.
In piano concerto world, I'm still discovering Prokofiev's piano concertos. After the fantastic third piano concerto, I'm quite surprised with the different mood in his second piano concerto. The cadenza in the first movement is quite obvious fiendishly difficult to play, and of course the tricky running scales of the piano in the Scherzo. Heavy brass opens up the third movement and will catch a lot of people off guard. But what impressed me the most is the last movement. There's this passage around the 6 minutes mark in my recording where the piano enters after a fermata from the orchestra. The piano played a very eerie, satirical melody of the main theme. I always feel unsettled here. I don't know what to feel with the finale where it feels like the piano is arguing with the orchestra and finally had enough and ended it (and also the piece) with a big chord with the timpani in the end. A true masterpiece which made plenty of impacts to the listener!
I have also been exploring Chopin's Nocturnes - opp. 9 and 15 - . I very much prefer op. 9 nocturnes to op. 15 due to their more memorable melody and elegance. Op. 9 No. 2 and No. 3 are my favourites among these six nocturnes (3 each from both sets). For me, Ballade No. 3 is rediscovered when I listened to Cortot playing it in the EMI set. Whoa, what difference he brought to the piece! Just a couple of seconds in the beginning and I know that his playing is going to change how I think about this piece. His playing of other ballades is wonderful as well, do yourself a favour and get the recording of Cortot playing the ballades! They're so different (yet feel so right) than the other ballades that I've listened so far (Rubinstein, Zimmerman, and Richter).
Finally, I'll round up by just mentioning the 5th symphony of Dvorak. A very much underrated work with plenty of beautiful melodies. I loved it when Dvorak brought back the main theme of the first movement in the very end of the piece where it was played by one of the brass (trumpet?). That moment always made me very happy. The 2nd and 3rd movements are good fun as well. You might recall Tchaikovsky's first piano concerto in the opening 4 notes of the 2nd movement of this symphony (I noticed this courtesy of Wikipedia).
Until next time when I have listened to more interesting music and have the mood to write more about them.
I joined a choir a while ago, and it changed my way of listening to choral music. After I learned to sing Mozart's requiem, now I can fully enjoy the part where I don't really like before, e.g. Domine Jesu and Hostias. Other movements became more attractive and interesting, e.g. Kyrie, Rex Tremendae, Confutatis and I found more pleasure listening to them compare to my previous experiences before joining the choir.
In the past few months or so, I've been listening to Faure's Requiem. What a great piece this is. Sure, it doesn't have the Dies Irae sequence, but the music simplicity (compare to say Verdi's or Brahms' Requiem) is simply heavenly. Most people would no doubt associate the Pie Jesu and In Paradisum when they heard about Faure's requiem. They're both fantastic movements, but the movement that I love the most is Sanctus. I can always imagine heavenly images when I heard harp arpeggios in the beginning of Sanctus. Also, being a tenor myself, I always enjoy the Tenor entry after the horn passages in the middle ('Hosanna in excelsis'). Other movements have their own charm, such as the baritone solo in Libera Me and the little 'Dies Irae' episode which sounded a bit underwhelming. As a whole, I still very much love this requiem.
The new choral music that I listened to recently is Haydn's Nelson Mass. Whoa, what a piece! I fell in love with the dramatic Kyrie the first time I listened to it. Gloria is an upbeat movement in the beginning, with memorable bass solo in the middle, and back to the same melody as the opening melody. I'm less keen on Credo, but still enjoy the 'descendit descaelis'. I guess I would be less keen on Credo in every mass if I always compare how composers set the 'Et vitam venturi' text with Beethoven's setting of the text as a massive fugue in his Missa Solemnis. Sanctus starts off solemnly before the 'Pleni Sunt Caeli' section changes the mood completely. The Benedictus is wonderful to sing at, especially during the most dramatic (IMO) in the whole piece where the trumpets and drums play fortissimo passages against the choir singing the word 'Benedictus qui venit in nomine domini' just before the 'Hosanna in excelsis' section in the end. Agnus Dei rounded up the whole work with upbeat 'dona nobis pacem'.
In piano concerto world, I'm still discovering Prokofiev's piano concertos. After the fantastic third piano concerto, I'm quite surprised with the different mood in his second piano concerto. The cadenza in the first movement is quite obvious fiendishly difficult to play, and of course the tricky running scales of the piano in the Scherzo. Heavy brass opens up the third movement and will catch a lot of people off guard. But what impressed me the most is the last movement. There's this passage around the 6 minutes mark in my recording where the piano enters after a fermata from the orchestra. The piano played a very eerie, satirical melody of the main theme. I always feel unsettled here. I don't know what to feel with the finale where it feels like the piano is arguing with the orchestra and finally had enough and ended it (and also the piece) with a big chord with the timpani in the end. A true masterpiece which made plenty of impacts to the listener!
I have also been exploring Chopin's Nocturnes - opp. 9 and 15 - . I very much prefer op. 9 nocturnes to op. 15 due to their more memorable melody and elegance. Op. 9 No. 2 and No. 3 are my favourites among these six nocturnes (3 each from both sets). For me, Ballade No. 3 is rediscovered when I listened to Cortot playing it in the EMI set. Whoa, what difference he brought to the piece! Just a couple of seconds in the beginning and I know that his playing is going to change how I think about this piece. His playing of other ballades is wonderful as well, do yourself a favour and get the recording of Cortot playing the ballades! They're so different (yet feel so right) than the other ballades that I've listened so far (Rubinstein, Zimmerman, and Richter).
Finally, I'll round up by just mentioning the 5th symphony of Dvorak. A very much underrated work with plenty of beautiful melodies. I loved it when Dvorak brought back the main theme of the first movement in the very end of the piece where it was played by one of the brass (trumpet?). That moment always made me very happy. The 2nd and 3rd movements are good fun as well. You might recall Tchaikovsky's first piano concerto in the opening 4 notes of the 2nd movement of this symphony (I noticed this courtesy of Wikipedia).
Until next time when I have listened to more interesting music and have the mood to write more about them.
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