Thread: Latest concerts

Went to this last night:

Cocktail Hour Recital - Three Clarinets +
Monday 8 November 6.00pm
Sydney Conservatorium of Music

Ros Dunlop clarinet, Sue Newsome clarinet, Natascha Briger clarinet,
Christopher Kimber violin, Valmai Coggins viola, Julia Ryder cello,
David Miller piano

Schoenberg Suite Op. 29 for violin, viola, cello, piano, Eb clarinet, Bb/A clarinet, Bass clarinet
Feldman Three clarinets, cello and piano
Smith T(F)ree Radicals for three bass clarinets and electronics

Enjoyed this recital. Margery Smith is an Australian composer, and she was there at the performance at the electronics console for the performance of her piece. It had disssonance, some quite groovy jazzy moments, with the electronics providing a vague backdrop of sounds which I was constantly trying to work out what they were - natural or man-made? The Feldman was a slow, quiet and very intense piece. In complete contrast, the Schoenberg was very busy, full of this Baroque like counterpoint married with serialism. I was a bit exhausted by this piece because I'd never heard it before, and was trying to follow the various voices, but eventually gave up and just tried to listen without being too **** about it. All in all, this was a great recital...

Tonight was the first night of the New Music Festival at University of Louisville (and the guest composer is... yes, Norgard).

Norgard: Mating Dance
Satterwhite: Van Gogh's Flowers
Knehans: soar
- interval -
Norgard: Images of Arreso
Plog: Horn Quartet No. 1
Persichetti: Sonata for Solo Violin
Norgard: Secret Voices (arrangement of movements 1-3 and 5 of the viola solo piece Secret Melody (the fourth movement is forthcoming))

For me, the best part of the concert was afterward, when I had a small discussion with Norgard himself, mostly about the Secret Melody, to which I have the score. It was really neat to talk to him; he's very unassuming, very quiet-voiced and nice. He recommended a book to me (from which the Secret Melody got its title) and we also talked a bit about his Voyage into the Golden Screen, in which I'm also playing. I hope I can talk to him in the next few days somewhat about Remembering Child, his viola concerto; it's one of my favorites of his.

This week is shaping up to be really awesome.

Yes, WV, it's always good to go to these kinds of low-key events and get a chance to talk to the musicians involved...

This Tuesday, Evgeny Kissin had a recital in Lisinski hall in Zagreb.
One wonderful pianist, two great composers and in whole a beautiful event.

He played:
R.Schumann: Fantasiestucke op. 12
He played all 8 parts.I liked maybe half of them, Schumann isn't really my favourite composer.Kissin played it great.He had everything in control, crystal sound...

F. Chopin: Four ballades
G-minor
F major
A flat major
F minor

He really showed his great talent in the second part!Once again, everything was in control, crystal sound, all notes played correctly, technically perfect musically wonderful, I really enjoyed
He played three pieces after a giant ovations by the public -- two valse and a Scherzo b minor, Chopin.
And again WONDERFUL
I really enjoyed in this concert, such a talent and such lovely music.After the concert I bought a CD and Evgeny Kissin gave an autograph.I was really happy

Yes, the Chopin ballades are always good to hear live & a bit of Schumann never goes astray, either!...

Just went to this one here at City Recital Hall Angel Place, Sydney:

"A Little Lunch Music" with Selby & FriendsTaryn Feibig, soprano
Kathryn Selby, piano
Emma-Jane Murphy, cello
Dimity Hall, violin

Schubert - Gretchen am spinnrade (soprano, piano)
Amy Beach (1867-1944) - Two Songs for vioice, violin, cello and piano Op. 100 No. 1 & Op. 100 No. 2
Shostakovich - Seven Romances on Poems of Alexander Blok Op. 127 (1967), Vocal-instrumental suite for soprano, violin, cello and piano (sung in German)
I. Ophelia's Song
II. Gamayun, the Bird of Prophecy
III. We Were Alone
IV. The City Sleeps
V. The Storm - VI. Secret Signs - VII. Music
Encores: a song by Gershwin & "I could have danced all night" from My Fair Lady

I really enjoyed this performance. I had never heard this apparently popular Schubert song, and think it's the darkest and most tragic piece I have heard by him. Amy Beach was an American composer who studied in Germany, and these two songs reminded me strongly of Wagner. The Shostakovich was quite dark and moody. The fifth song, "The Storm" was the perfect evocation of a world in chaos. This song cycle was written after the composer's first heart attack, on the behest of cellist Mstislav Rostropovich. Kathryn Selby told of how the composer had experienced "writer's block" after his recovery, his wife had disposed of all of the alcohol in the house, but he found one tucked away in a cupboard corner, drank it, and the work simply poured out of him. After the darkness of the Shostakovich, the two encores finished the concert with a bit of froth and bubble. Just shows the range of Taryn Feibig's voice. All in all, this was a very enjoyable concert for me & I hope to go to more of theirs next year...

Hello...again! It's been a while!

Last night, my wife and I went to this...



To put it mildly, it was by some margin the most fullfilling and special evening's music I have heard in many years, performed to a packed audience in Blackburn Cathedral by the most superb cast of soloists, instrumentalists, and choristers. Monteverdi's music is of course timeless, and clearly as potent a force in a north-west England city centre cathedral in 2010, as it was when it was first created and performed in Venice over 400 years ago, some of the most spiritually uplifting and inspiring music known to me, the Vespers last around 2 hours, but as I said to the cathedral verger as we left, if it had gone on for another 5 or 6 hours, I still would not have tired of it! There are several fine recordings of the Vespers of 1610, most notably the one by John Eliot Gardiner recorded in St Mark's, Venice, but nothing can prepare you for a live performance in such a sublime setting, we were all transfixed!

Nov 20: Sydney Opera House. Berlin Philharmonic / Rattle.
Rachmaninov Symphonic Dances, Mahler 1.
Tickets were expensive, but it was worth selling a kidney for.
Definitive performances. To hear a Mahler 1 where your attention never wanders for a moment is practically unheard of.
The BPO can make some impossible unearthly sounds.
If you ever get the chance to hear them, do it. Whatever it takes, whatever you have to cancel, however much rain you have to tramp through - GO.
cheers,
G

Went to this yesterday:

"DOUBLE DUOS"
Performers: Laura Chislett Jones - Flute, Thomas Jones - Violin, Daryl Pratt - Percussion, Alison Pratt - Percussion, David Gilfillan - Sound Projection

Recital Hall East, Sydney Conservatorium of Music
PRESENTED BY: NEW MUSIC NETWORK

Wolfgang Rihm - Drei Vorspiele zu einer Insel (Three Preludes to an Island) for flute, violin and percussion
Elliot Carter - from 4 Lauds, Rhapsodic Musings for solo violin
Rosalind Page - Courbe dominante for flute in C, alto flute & saturnian sound source
Hanna Kulenty - A Fifth Circle for flute and delay
Giorgio Colombo Taccani - Luz for flute and violin
Diego Luzuriaga - Double Duo for flute, violin and 2 percussionists

These musicians are virtuosos at the top of their game. It was an excellent program, but I particularly liked Page's work, which included sounds recorded from the planet Saturn, which interspersed the acoustic flute parts; and Luzuriaga - who is an Ecuadorian composer - whose work took me to the heart of South America. The last movement was particularly fun - a fast dance, very percussive, from the Ecuadorian Andes. I'll have to check out what some of these composers have on disc. The only piece I knew was the Carter, the rest was entirely new to me...

Originally Posted by GraemeG

Nov 20: Sydney Opera House. Berlin Philharmonic / Rattle.
Rachmaninov Symphonic Dances, Mahler 1.
Tickets were expensive, but it was worth selling a kidney for.
Definitive performances. To hear a Mahler 1 where your attention never wanders for a moment is practically unheard of.
The BPO can make some impossible unearthly sounds.
If you ever get the chance to hear them, do it. Whatever it takes, whatever you have to cancel, however much rain you have to tramp through - GO.
cheers,
G

thankfully i didn't have to tramp to rain or cancel anything - but i just MIGHT sell a kidney to hear them again, they are SOOOOOOOOOOOOO good. They're doing the Mahler and Rach programme tomorrow - am considering spending a fortune for a ticket even though i wasn't intending to go originally.

23 Nov, Esplanade Concert Hall, Singapore
Haydn Symphony #99
Berg 3 Pieces for Orchestra Op 6
Brahms Symphony 2

OMG.

i wish i had the language to describe the Berlin Phil sound. What wouldn't i give to live in Berlin. If anyone else here was at the same concert - give a shout-out yah? It'll be nice to rave with other fellow fanatics.

Originally Posted by eothen

They're doing the Mahler and Rach programme tomorrow - am considering spending a fortune for a ticket even though i wasn't intending to go originally.

Go, go, go, go, go.

I bought cheap (relatively) tickets for the Sydney Opera House concert, and was aware even when listening how much better they would have sounded in a better part of the hall.
Won't hesitate to spend more next time they come (if ever!).

It really is unforgetable.
cheers,
G

Originally Posted by GraemeG

Go, go, go, go, go.

I bought cheap (relatively) tickets for the Sydney Opera House concert, and was aware even when listening how much better they would have sounded in a better part of the hall.
Won't hesitate to spend more next time they come (if ever!).

It really is unforgetable.
cheers,
G

i went. managed to get a (relatively) cheap ticket this MORNING (a miracle - THANK YOU GOD), and.
O.M.G.
such a rich, LIVING sound. it defies description.

and i am now officially a Mahler fan.

wishing i were living in berlin....

Well done!
G

Just went to this recital last night by the Melbourne based Flinders String Quartet here in Sydney at the Conservatorium.

Berg String Quartet Op.3
Richard Mills String Quartet No.4 ‘Glimpses from my
book of Dada’* (world premiere)
Mozart Clarinet Quintet in A major K.581
Clarinet Quintet fragment in B flat

Guest Artist Paul Dean, clarinet

*Commissioned with assistance from the Australia Council and dedicated to Flinders Quartet on their tenth birthday.

I really enjoyed this concert. I had not heard the music of Australian composer Richard Mills for many years. His string quartet was appropriately a bit of Dadaesque fun, with movements titled in ways like "The circumspect Ibis," "The rise of the airheads in public life," "Reve circulaire du Wombat," "Scheming and latte drinking," "The octopus quadrille," and "Anti Tango from Berlin as Premonition of invasion by Russian Herbalists." That movement's title was taken from the memory of a dream by fellow composer Grahame Koehne's mother, who died while the quartet was completed, so the last slow movement, a prayer, was dedicated to her. There were even paperclips inserted near the bridges of the first violins in the "Anti Tango," talking to the violinist Matt Tomkins afterwards, he said Mills was taking the piss out of this same thing done by a German composer in an avant-garde string quartet. It sounded like an household appliance sound, like the noise made by a fridge, vaccuum cleaner or microwave or something. I was also reminded of Bartok by this quartet, especially in the use of Bartok pizzicato.

It was pretty amazing hearing the Berg opus 3 done live as well. Those rich harmonies. The quartet played the three main themes briefly and talked about them before playing the whole work. I also learned that Berg wrote this very passionate work when he was dating his wife to be, but her father was quite obstructive and against the relationship.

To finish off, Paul Dean joined the quartet to play the sublime Mozart Clarinet Quintet in A. This is one of my favourite works by Mozart, and it is the second time that I have seen/heard it live. Paul Dean basically used his whole body to play the clarinet, and he had a very fine sense of dynamics. They also played the incomplete Clarinet Quintet fragment in B flat, which sounded a bit like the first movement of the other quintet, but it ended abruptly and only lasted 5 minutes or so.

All in all, I loved this (my first) taste of the Flinders Quartet, and plan to go to a couple of their recitals next year (they do three recitals throughout the year, touring Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane)...

Very much looking forward to this tomorrow night at Manchester Bridgewater Hall...providing we are not snowed in and can even get out of the drive, let alone to Manchester!!!....

LINK : Halle/Mark Elder/Robert Cohen

We have friends with children in the Halle Youth Choir, who are to perform prior to the main concert, so that ought to be excellent, they are a top notch youth chorus. The Prokofiev 'classical' symphony seems to me to be one of the most perfectly formed, charming, and colourful works in the whole symphonic repertoire, and one very rarely hears ALL of the Dvorak Slavonic Dances performed live in their entirety, and I suppose it is most likely that one STILL won't!!... as I am unsure if they are to play the Opus 46 dances, or the Opus 72 dances, or just 'bleeding chunks' from each set, or indeed all 16 of them!! - which I very much doubt, as that must be easily 75 minutes of music, even at a brisk pace. So all will be revealed, and I shall report back in due course!