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.
Wednesday 11 August 2010
Tuesday 27 July 2010
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra concert 23 July 2010 - Requiem
Featuring:
- Britten War Requiem
Elena Zelenskaya - Soprano
Timothy Robinson - Tenor
Stephan Loges - Baritone
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus - Jonathan Grieves-Smith: Chorus master
National Boys Choir of Australia - Peter Casey: Chorus master
Tadaaki Otaka - Conductor
I really want to like this concert, but in the end, through no fault of MSO and the performance, I did not really enjoy the concert. The main reason is the unlucky seat that I got. Sandwiched between two gentlemen, one who was breathing heavily through out the concert as if he was about to die soon, and the other who fell asleep most of the time, waking up only in the exciting bit and bobbing his head off-time along. I really wanted to change seats in the middle, but the breaks between the movements are just too short.
Okay, enough of the rants, off to the program now. It was a packed hall that night, and the concert started late. Also, before the concert starts, Jeffrey Crellin, the principal oboist, gave a short talk about the passing of Sir Charles Mackerras. He then returned to his seat, in the chamber orchestra bit. It probably doesn't make sense to anyone who is not familiar with the work, so here's why. The requiem is written for three 'partitions': first, the full orchestra plus the choir, and soprano soloist; second, the chamber orchestra plus the two male soloists; and third, the boys choir. The first and second partition are on stage, while the boys choir sing in the foyer.
The best bits that I enjoyed from the concert is the part written for the boys choir, the twist in the poem in the Offertorium regarding the ending of Abraham and Isaac, the highly original settings of the 'Pleni sunt coeli et terra' in the Sanctus where the choir was quickly chanting those words in different pitches and rhythm, creating this magnificent mumbling effect, the Agnus Dei, and from the duet of Tenor and Baritone in the Libera Me to the end. I really think that the duet was heavily influenced by the last movement of Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde which Britten loved. How so? Both poems concern with two people, although in Mahler the concern is about two good friends departing, while in Britten, it's about two foes reuniting in the after life. The end of the piece is dissonant, just like how it should be, I think for a war related piece, to remind the listeners how terrible a war can have.
Wait, hang on, now if I look bad, I actually quite like a lot of the piece, but what ended up as a disappointment is the 'Dies Irae'. I don't know, maybe it's just not exhilarating as Mozart's or Verdi's. I'm not talking about the opening stanzas of the 'Dies Irae' sequence, I'm talking about the whole thing. I guess I'm used to certain way a composer sets certain part of the sequence. For example, Liber Scriptus and Recordare are usually given to the soloists, and Rex Tremendae is usually given to the chorus. Britten reversed a lot of them, and his settings sounded a bit rush, and a little bit less imaginative and creative compared to again, the two requiems by Mozart and Verdi. Oh yes, the biggest let down is the 'Kyrie', which is basically using the fragment of the Introit.
The orchestra played well in general, although I think the orchestration is on the sparse side, with the full orchestra usually stay put during a long chamber orchestra bit, and vice versa. As this was the first time I heard this piece, I can't really comment on the `correctness` of the playing. Both adults and boys choirs were good, no complaint in there. The soloists were alright, although yeah, now I remember it, I felt almost indifferently all the time during the male soloists prolonged settings of the poems. That's another aspect of the piece that I have to get used to enjoy it fully.
- Britten War Requiem
Elena Zelenskaya - Soprano
Timothy Robinson - Tenor
Stephan Loges - Baritone
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus - Jonathan Grieves-Smith: Chorus master
National Boys Choir of Australia - Peter Casey: Chorus master
Tadaaki Otaka - Conductor
I really want to like this concert, but in the end, through no fault of MSO and the performance, I did not really enjoy the concert. The main reason is the unlucky seat that I got. Sandwiched between two gentlemen, one who was breathing heavily through out the concert as if he was about to die soon, and the other who fell asleep most of the time, waking up only in the exciting bit and bobbing his head off-time along. I really wanted to change seats in the middle, but the breaks between the movements are just too short.
Okay, enough of the rants, off to the program now. It was a packed hall that night, and the concert started late. Also, before the concert starts, Jeffrey Crellin, the principal oboist, gave a short talk about the passing of Sir Charles Mackerras. He then returned to his seat, in the chamber orchestra bit. It probably doesn't make sense to anyone who is not familiar with the work, so here's why. The requiem is written for three 'partitions': first, the full orchestra plus the choir, and soprano soloist; second, the chamber orchestra plus the two male soloists; and third, the boys choir. The first and second partition are on stage, while the boys choir sing in the foyer.
The best bits that I enjoyed from the concert is the part written for the boys choir, the twist in the poem in the Offertorium regarding the ending of Abraham and Isaac, the highly original settings of the 'Pleni sunt coeli et terra' in the Sanctus where the choir was quickly chanting those words in different pitches and rhythm, creating this magnificent mumbling effect, the Agnus Dei, and from the duet of Tenor and Baritone in the Libera Me to the end. I really think that the duet was heavily influenced by the last movement of Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde which Britten loved. How so? Both poems concern with two people, although in Mahler the concern is about two good friends departing, while in Britten, it's about two foes reuniting in the after life. The end of the piece is dissonant, just like how it should be, I think for a war related piece, to remind the listeners how terrible a war can have.
Wait, hang on, now if I look bad, I actually quite like a lot of the piece, but what ended up as a disappointment is the 'Dies Irae'. I don't know, maybe it's just not exhilarating as Mozart's or Verdi's. I'm not talking about the opening stanzas of the 'Dies Irae' sequence, I'm talking about the whole thing. I guess I'm used to certain way a composer sets certain part of the sequence. For example, Liber Scriptus and Recordare are usually given to the soloists, and Rex Tremendae is usually given to the chorus. Britten reversed a lot of them, and his settings sounded a bit rush, and a little bit less imaginative and creative compared to again, the two requiems by Mozart and Verdi. Oh yes, the biggest let down is the 'Kyrie', which is basically using the fragment of the Introit.
The orchestra played well in general, although I think the orchestration is on the sparse side, with the full orchestra usually stay put during a long chamber orchestra bit, and vice versa. As this was the first time I heard this piece, I can't really comment on the `correctness` of the playing. Both adults and boys choirs were good, no complaint in there. The soloists were alright, although yeah, now I remember it, I felt almost indifferently all the time during the male soloists prolonged settings of the poems. That's another aspect of the piece that I have to get used to enjoy it fully.
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.
- 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 13 July 2010
Australian Chamber Orchestra concert 11 July 2010 - Barefoot Fiddler
Featuring:
- Schuetz German Magnificat (transcribed for strings)
- Tigran Mansurian Violin Concerto "Four Serious Songs"
- Sandor Veress Four Transylvanian Dances
- Kats-Chernin Zoom and Zip
- Haydn Violin Concerto in G major
- Vivaldi Violin Concerto, RV. 253, "The Storm at Sea"
Patricia Kopatchinskaja - Guest Director and Lead Violin
To be honest, this is the concert that I am least interested in when looking at the ACO brochure last year. How glad I was to be proven wrong big time - I think I enjoyed this concert as much as the previous 'Romantic Symphony' concert, and it's simply one of the best ACO concerts I have had the pleasure to attend.
With the closure of Hamer Hall, ACO moves its concerts in Melbourne to Melbourne Town Hall. I have previously remarked my concern about the acoustic of Town Hall in regards to the smaller orchestra like ACO in my previous post, but I'm glad that my worst fear is unjustified. The ACO still produces a stellar sound, worthy of a full-sized symphony orchestra, while none of the details are lost. It's a slightly different acoustic than Hamer Hall, true to that, but the change of venue doesn't bother me as much as I was anticipating.
The concert started in a subdued tone with Schuetz's German Magnificat on offering. While the piece was originally written for two choirs, and an organ, ACO performed the strings transcription of it by replacing the two choirs with equally split strings, and the organ with the harpsichord. Schuetz's Magnificat is a smaller in scale compared to say Bach's or Vivaldi's or Monteverdi's and lacking part for solo voices. It's a bit strange for me to listen to a settings of Magnificat without the text sung, but the quality of the composition shone through. I think I would've enjoyed this piece better in a cathedral, and performed in its original settings, due to the pious feel and the restrained exuberant joy. Having said that, I still enjoyed this transcription immensely, due to the ACO's ability to bring out the sonority of different voices in this piece.
We were then transported from the pre-Bach baroque music to 2006. Mansurian's violin concerto "Four Serious Songs" drew its inspiration from the same source as Brahms' late song cycle of the same name. Painting the "transience of life", and described by the composer as "reflections on death", the violin concerto showcased Patricia's technical skills in dispatching high-register notes fearlessly and without any slight hesitations at all, her virtuosity in fast moving passages, and her musical abilities in conveying emotions the music carries in a more meditating passages. The program notes discussed the folk music influence in this piece, and the influence is showed in traces of melody and a more non-conventional harmonies throughout. In one section of the piece, I even felt like I was listening to Khachaturian's Violin Concerto! (Khachaturian is an Armenian, and his violin concerto is imbued with folk music influence too).
The highlight of the concert for me is Sandor Veress' excellent Four Transylvanian Dances, which again, has its roots from folk tunes. The first dance, Lassu, with its long, arching, and yearning melody reminded me a lot of the main melody of Rimsky-Korsakov's third movement of the Scheherazade (the Young Prince and the Young Princess). Ugros, the second dance, is just pure delight, and very fun to dance too that Pat and some members of the ACO swayed their body to the dance rhythm. The third dance, Lejtos was more serious in tone where suddenly in the end, it shifted to a brighter mood. And the last dance, Dobbantos (aka. stomping dance), must be the most memorable piece in the concert. Fast tempos, and dispatched with brilliant virtuosities from the orchestra, and the most memorable bit: Unison feet-stamping from all the musicians (three times, IIRC) that caught the audience by surprise. Marvelous performance!
Kats-Chernin's cheeky Zoom and Zip was next after the interval. Although I found it a bit repetitive at times, the audience was treated by something special in this piece: at one section, Patricia actually sang the main melody of the piece! Although her voice is not a first-rate opera star quality, its sudden appearance makes it very memorable, and her pitch, singing the not so straightforward tonality of the melody, was spot on. I'm not sure if this is an improvisation or not, but I'm more impressed by Patricia's musicianship by the second.
After a series of contemporary music, we were then offered music from the bygone era. Haydn's G major Violin concerto perhaps is not his best work, but Patricia offered a very enjoyable performance, especially the dreamy second movement of the piece, and straight after, dispatching these dreamy qualities with a brilliant finale.
The final piece of the night, Vivaldi's "The Storm at Sea" was published in the same collection as his more famous "Four Seasons". In turn, the fast tremolo passages in the Storm of the Summer movement of the Four Seasons, find its way to the "Storm of the Sea". The Largo was short, and borders on improvisational performance. In the finale, there were 2 members of the orchestra running their fingers up and down the harpsichord strings while the others keep playing. For a baroque piece, I'm surprised to find radical harmonic shifts used by Vivaldi. It's so extreme that it will not be out of place in late-Romantic era music.
After a long applause, Patricia said something to the audience which I didn't quite catch, and subsequently didn't know what's the piece that she and the orchestra played as the encore.
Whoa, this concert was awesome. First of all, it's so unconventional already that a solo violinist played barefooted in the concert, but Patricia's musicianship is something to be admired, and praised. Her constant swaying to the music, stamping, and the energy she brought in to the performance engaged the audience to another level of music enjoyment. For a more seasoned concert-goer, her technical abilities, and her confidence bow attacks reassured us that she is really one of the top violinist in the world. I'm glad I've attended this concert, and really looking forward to attending her concert again next time.
- Schuetz German Magnificat (transcribed for strings)
- Tigran Mansurian Violin Concerto "Four Serious Songs"
- Sandor Veress Four Transylvanian Dances
- Kats-Chernin Zoom and Zip
- Haydn Violin Concerto in G major
- Vivaldi Violin Concerto, RV. 253, "The Storm at Sea"
Patricia Kopatchinskaja - Guest Director and Lead Violin
To be honest, this is the concert that I am least interested in when looking at the ACO brochure last year. How glad I was to be proven wrong big time - I think I enjoyed this concert as much as the previous 'Romantic Symphony' concert, and it's simply one of the best ACO concerts I have had the pleasure to attend.
With the closure of Hamer Hall, ACO moves its concerts in Melbourne to Melbourne Town Hall. I have previously remarked my concern about the acoustic of Town Hall in regards to the smaller orchestra like ACO in my previous post, but I'm glad that my worst fear is unjustified. The ACO still produces a stellar sound, worthy of a full-sized symphony orchestra, while none of the details are lost. It's a slightly different acoustic than Hamer Hall, true to that, but the change of venue doesn't bother me as much as I was anticipating.
The concert started in a subdued tone with Schuetz's German Magnificat on offering. While the piece was originally written for two choirs, and an organ, ACO performed the strings transcription of it by replacing the two choirs with equally split strings, and the organ with the harpsichord. Schuetz's Magnificat is a smaller in scale compared to say Bach's or Vivaldi's or Monteverdi's and lacking part for solo voices. It's a bit strange for me to listen to a settings of Magnificat without the text sung, but the quality of the composition shone through. I think I would've enjoyed this piece better in a cathedral, and performed in its original settings, due to the pious feel and the restrained exuberant joy. Having said that, I still enjoyed this transcription immensely, due to the ACO's ability to bring out the sonority of different voices in this piece.
We were then transported from the pre-Bach baroque music to 2006. Mansurian's violin concerto "Four Serious Songs" drew its inspiration from the same source as Brahms' late song cycle of the same name. Painting the "transience of life", and described by the composer as "reflections on death", the violin concerto showcased Patricia's technical skills in dispatching high-register notes fearlessly and without any slight hesitations at all, her virtuosity in fast moving passages, and her musical abilities in conveying emotions the music carries in a more meditating passages. The program notes discussed the folk music influence in this piece, and the influence is showed in traces of melody and a more non-conventional harmonies throughout. In one section of the piece, I even felt like I was listening to Khachaturian's Violin Concerto! (Khachaturian is an Armenian, and his violin concerto is imbued with folk music influence too).
The highlight of the concert for me is Sandor Veress' excellent Four Transylvanian Dances, which again, has its roots from folk tunes. The first dance, Lassu, with its long, arching, and yearning melody reminded me a lot of the main melody of Rimsky-Korsakov's third movement of the Scheherazade (the Young Prince and the Young Princess). Ugros, the second dance, is just pure delight, and very fun to dance too that Pat and some members of the ACO swayed their body to the dance rhythm. The third dance, Lejtos was more serious in tone where suddenly in the end, it shifted to a brighter mood. And the last dance, Dobbantos (aka. stomping dance), must be the most memorable piece in the concert. Fast tempos, and dispatched with brilliant virtuosities from the orchestra, and the most memorable bit: Unison feet-stamping from all the musicians (three times, IIRC) that caught the audience by surprise. Marvelous performance!
Kats-Chernin's cheeky Zoom and Zip was next after the interval. Although I found it a bit repetitive at times, the audience was treated by something special in this piece: at one section, Patricia actually sang the main melody of the piece! Although her voice is not a first-rate opera star quality, its sudden appearance makes it very memorable, and her pitch, singing the not so straightforward tonality of the melody, was spot on. I'm not sure if this is an improvisation or not, but I'm more impressed by Patricia's musicianship by the second.
After a series of contemporary music, we were then offered music from the bygone era. Haydn's G major Violin concerto perhaps is not his best work, but Patricia offered a very enjoyable performance, especially the dreamy second movement of the piece, and straight after, dispatching these dreamy qualities with a brilliant finale.
The final piece of the night, Vivaldi's "The Storm at Sea" was published in the same collection as his more famous "Four Seasons". In turn, the fast tremolo passages in the Storm of the Summer movement of the Four Seasons, find its way to the "Storm of the Sea". The Largo was short, and borders on improvisational performance. In the finale, there were 2 members of the orchestra running their fingers up and down the harpsichord strings while the others keep playing. For a baroque piece, I'm surprised to find radical harmonic shifts used by Vivaldi. It's so extreme that it will not be out of place in late-Romantic era music.
After a long applause, Patricia said something to the audience which I didn't quite catch, and subsequently didn't know what's the piece that she and the orchestra played as the encore.
Whoa, this concert was awesome. First of all, it's so unconventional already that a solo violinist played barefooted in the concert, but Patricia's musicianship is something to be admired, and praised. Her constant swaying to the music, stamping, and the energy she brought in to the performance engaged the audience to another level of music enjoyment. For a more seasoned concert-goer, her technical abilities, and her confidence bow attacks reassured us that she is really one of the top violinist in the world. I'm glad I've attended this concert, and really looking forward to attending her concert again next time.
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.
Saturday 5 June 2010
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra concert 4 June 2010 - Mozart Magic
Featuring:
- Mozart Cosi fan tutti: Overture
- Mozart Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466
- Mendelssohn Capriccio brilliant for Piano and Orchestra
- Haydn Symphony No. 96 'Miracle'
Howard Shelley - Piano/Conductor
First Town Hall Proms this year. And Town Hall Proms = Organ recital by Calvin Bowman. That night he played Sinfonia from Cantata No. 29 Wir danken dir, Gott which turned out to be the arrangement of the famous Preludio from the 3rd Partita for solo violin. Next on the offering was Mendelssohn's Third Organ Sonata in A major, Op. 65. I enjoyed this 2 movements piece very much, the first movement sounded like a majestic Bach chorale, and the second movement more introspective in nature, and calming. Franck's rather lengthy and less interesting piece Chorale No. 3 in A minor closed the recital.
The title of this concert is your usual cheesy marketing programming, "Mozart Magic", and would infer that the night triumph would belong to Mozart's music. Sadly, it's Haydn's music who stole the show for the night.
Mozart's overture to Cosi fan Tutti started the concert, but the MSO was just getting warmed up for the night. While the woodwinds passages are beautifully rendered, the performance in general lacked energy, and the strings sounded muffled. It's a good performance, and yet there's nothing so memorable about it. After this short piece, the members of the orchestra stood up to have the seat arrangements fixed up. A piano is needed for the next piece and this which should have been clear from the program was apparently not so clear after all for a patron sitting behind me which uttered quite loudly, "what? that's it?". Anyway, Howard Shelley came back stage and with the piano positioned so that the audience faces the performer's back, explained the reason of this awkward position and also the glass cover that replaces the piano lid on the piano. To be succinct, the glass is so that he can see the woodwinds section, and help with the clarity and the acoustics of the hall. He also talked a little bit of Mozart's composition which was composed during the same period. He also played some excerpt of Mozart's 19th, 21st, 23rd, and 24th piano concertos.
After all that, he finally started the concerto. MSO was better here, but still lacking punch (for my taste). I always associate the d minor key signature to pieces with high tension. On top of my head, I can name Mozart's Requiem, Mozart's Don Giovanni, Brahms' 1st piano concerto, 2nd movement of Brahms' 2nd piano concerto, Beethoven's 9th Symphony, Mahler's 3rd Symphony, Sibelius' violin concerto, Haydn's Nelson Mass, Bach's Chaconne for solo violin, Schumann's 4th symphony, Rachmaninoff's 3rd piano concerto, Dvorak's 4th and 7th symphonies. All of them are masterpieces which are famous for their high tension. My disappointment is that MSO did not play these high tension passages as tense as they could be played, the string attacks are not furious enough, I might say that they played the music just a bit fierce compared to how they would play a major key classical symphony, where I would have liked VERY FIERCE. Anyway, that's only my problem. The piano playing was fine, I enjoyed the beautiful 2nd movement a lot, although the contrasting episode was rather tame. Howard played Beethoven's cadenza for the 1st movement, as he did for the last movement. I like Howard's phrasings in general, and he did take some liberty in changing some notes in the 2nd movement to my fascination. The piano's clarity was much better this time, maybe because of the fact that it's a brand new concert grand piano just shipped from Hamburg (as told by Howard)?
Mendelssohn's piece was okay, but I couldn't say I enjoyed the performance very much. I enjoyed the arpeggios that started the piece, but from there it all went downhill. There were some passages in the piece that reminded me of one of Mendelssohn's own piano concertos, but I couldn't remember which one.
Finally, some remarkable playing from the orchestra. Howard brought some wits and energy to Haydn symphony which he didn't for the other programs that night. The highlights were a graceful minuet in the 3rd movement with the long oboe solo. The finale was played as marked, 'Vivace assai', the best moment of the night for me, really. And as always, a wise lesson for newcomers to Town Hall Proms: there's always encore after. You can kinda see it when David Thomas (principal clarinet) running back to the stage. I wondered what would happen if the audience didn't really like the performance and the planned encore would not go ahead simply because the applause is not long enough :). Anyway, Howard teased the audience if they would like some romantic music to end the night, and offered Sibelius' Valse Triste, but unfortunately, despite beautiful playing, no one seemed to take Howard's suggestion to waltz to this music in the concert hall.
Next concert: ACO playing 2 of my favourite symphonies: Schubert's Unfinished symphony, and Brahms' majestic 1st symphony.
- Mozart Cosi fan tutti: Overture
- Mozart Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466
- Mendelssohn Capriccio brilliant for Piano and Orchestra
- Haydn Symphony No. 96 'Miracle'
Howard Shelley - Piano/Conductor
First Town Hall Proms this year. And Town Hall Proms = Organ recital by Calvin Bowman. That night he played Sinfonia from Cantata No. 29 Wir danken dir, Gott which turned out to be the arrangement of the famous Preludio from the 3rd Partita for solo violin. Next on the offering was Mendelssohn's Third Organ Sonata in A major, Op. 65. I enjoyed this 2 movements piece very much, the first movement sounded like a majestic Bach chorale, and the second movement more introspective in nature, and calming. Franck's rather lengthy and less interesting piece Chorale No. 3 in A minor closed the recital.
The title of this concert is your usual cheesy marketing programming, "Mozart Magic", and would infer that the night triumph would belong to Mozart's music. Sadly, it's Haydn's music who stole the show for the night.
Mozart's overture to Cosi fan Tutti started the concert, but the MSO was just getting warmed up for the night. While the woodwinds passages are beautifully rendered, the performance in general lacked energy, and the strings sounded muffled. It's a good performance, and yet there's nothing so memorable about it. After this short piece, the members of the orchestra stood up to have the seat arrangements fixed up. A piano is needed for the next piece and this which should have been clear from the program was apparently not so clear after all for a patron sitting behind me which uttered quite loudly, "what? that's it?". Anyway, Howard Shelley came back stage and with the piano positioned so that the audience faces the performer's back, explained the reason of this awkward position and also the glass cover that replaces the piano lid on the piano. To be succinct, the glass is so that he can see the woodwinds section, and help with the clarity and the acoustics of the hall. He also talked a little bit of Mozart's composition which was composed during the same period. He also played some excerpt of Mozart's 19th, 21st, 23rd, and 24th piano concertos.
After all that, he finally started the concerto. MSO was better here, but still lacking punch (for my taste). I always associate the d minor key signature to pieces with high tension. On top of my head, I can name Mozart's Requiem, Mozart's Don Giovanni, Brahms' 1st piano concerto, 2nd movement of Brahms' 2nd piano concerto, Beethoven's 9th Symphony, Mahler's 3rd Symphony, Sibelius' violin concerto, Haydn's Nelson Mass, Bach's Chaconne for solo violin, Schumann's 4th symphony, Rachmaninoff's 3rd piano concerto, Dvorak's 4th and 7th symphonies. All of them are masterpieces which are famous for their high tension. My disappointment is that MSO did not play these high tension passages as tense as they could be played, the string attacks are not furious enough, I might say that they played the music just a bit fierce compared to how they would play a major key classical symphony, where I would have liked VERY FIERCE. Anyway, that's only my problem. The piano playing was fine, I enjoyed the beautiful 2nd movement a lot, although the contrasting episode was rather tame. Howard played Beethoven's cadenza for the 1st movement, as he did for the last movement. I like Howard's phrasings in general, and he did take some liberty in changing some notes in the 2nd movement to my fascination. The piano's clarity was much better this time, maybe because of the fact that it's a brand new concert grand piano just shipped from Hamburg (as told by Howard)?
Mendelssohn's piece was okay, but I couldn't say I enjoyed the performance very much. I enjoyed the arpeggios that started the piece, but from there it all went downhill. There were some passages in the piece that reminded me of one of Mendelssohn's own piano concertos, but I couldn't remember which one.
Finally, some remarkable playing from the orchestra. Howard brought some wits and energy to Haydn symphony which he didn't for the other programs that night. The highlights were a graceful minuet in the 3rd movement with the long oboe solo. The finale was played as marked, 'Vivace assai', the best moment of the night for me, really. And as always, a wise lesson for newcomers to Town Hall Proms: there's always encore after. You can kinda see it when David Thomas (principal clarinet) running back to the stage. I wondered what would happen if the audience didn't really like the performance and the planned encore would not go ahead simply because the applause is not long enough :). Anyway, Howard teased the audience if they would like some romantic music to end the night, and offered Sibelius' Valse Triste, but unfortunately, despite beautiful playing, no one seemed to take Howard's suggestion to waltz to this music in the concert hall.
Next concert: ACO playing 2 of my favourite symphonies: Schubert's Unfinished symphony, and Brahms' majestic 1st symphony.
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