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277K views 1K replies 265 participants last post by  Eramire156 
#1 ·
We already got thread to write about our latest purchases and stuff that we are actually listening. How about topic to write about your latest classical concerts? I guess at least some of us attend them regular.

So, today I went to live performance of Duisburger Philharmoniker orchestra conducted by Jonathan Darlington. The solist was Michael Roll. Setlist was fantastic - Vaughan Williams Fantasia On Theme by TT, Haydn Symphony B-dur, Berlioz Carnaval Romain and finally Beethoven's 4th piano concerto. Great performance. I almost lost my hands giving them applause they deserved.
 
#165 ·
I was at the Cincinnati Symphony the other night for a remarkable Brahms-centered concert conducted by Louis Langree (director of the Mostly Mozart program). The program opened with the Tragic Overture, followed by Schumann's cello concerto, then after intermission was the Brahms 1st symphony. The first half I thought was rather odd; I felt that the orchestra wasn't quite giving Langree what he wanted (he being a very charismatic, enthusiastic conductor and the Cincinnati Symphony having become rather homogeneous and--dare I say--boring in sound), especially in the overture. Jian Wang was the soloist in the cello concerto, and he was very good, but I felt there was nothing outstanding overall, except for a gorgeous middle movement.

The symphony, though, found the orchestra inspired. The second movement especially had that sort of incandescence that doesn't happen often, the violin solo particularly having a shimmering, ethereal quality that floated over everything else. The symphony as a whole was blazing--by the end of the finale I was wondering what had happened to Paavo's luxury vehicle of an orchestra; it had lost no precision, but it had a burnished clarity I was sure I had never heard before. The ovation lasted a long time and the orchestra refused to stand after Langree came out for about the fourth time.
 
#168 ·
Cocktail Hour, Sydney Conservatorium of Music - Schubertiade (6.00pm)

28 March 2011

Perfomers

Goetz Richter violin
Jeanell Carrigan piano

Program
Schubert
Sonatina in A Minor, D384 (1816)
Duo Sonata in A Major, op. 162, D574 (1817)
Fantasia in C Major, D934 (1827)

This recital was of three of Schubert's works for violin and piano. Violinist Goetz Richter explained the background of some of these works. Some critics of Schubert's time complained of the length of his pieces, the number of repeats & modulations, and said they were long-winded. One critic actually left halfway through the premiere of the Duo Sonata! In contrast to this, Schumann praised the "heavenly length" of Schubert's music. This made me wonder whether if the 8th "Unfinished" symphony would have been completed - all four movements - would it be as popular as it is today, or would it attract similar accustations of long windedness? Some people, even today, don't like the 9th "Great" symphony for similar reasons. The first piece in the recital, the Sonatina was published as such (and not as a sonata) in order to encourage amateur violinists to take up the work. This was quite a light work, in a more classical era kind of style. The Duo Sonata (also called the Grand Duo) was a longer work, in four movements. This was the only work on the program that I knew, I have it on disc, and I think they played it brilliantly here. The final work, the Fantasia, is a late work and seemed slightly darker than the other two. It was in four connected movements. The theme and variations had many repeats indeed, it was very intricate and involved. I particularly liked the energetic finale, a lot of vigorous bowing there. A thing I like about Schubert's chamber music is that he doesn't favour one or the other instrument, he treats them as equals. I liked this pair of performers (both lecture at the Sydney Conservatorium), I saw them last year perform three French violin sonatas, and the Schubert program was equally interesting and varied...
 
#170 ·
Vartoslav Lisinski concert hall, Zagreb
March 2nd, 2011

Ante Knešaurek and Pavao Mašić
Majstori orgulja (Organ masters)

J.S.Bach: 1.Toccata, adagio and fugue in C major, BWV 564
2.Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 645
3.Ich ruf' zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, BWV 639
4.Erbarm' dich mein, Herre Gott, BWV 721
5.Toccata in F major, BWV 540/1


1.Toccata and fugue in d minor, BWV 565
2.Fugue in G major, BWV 577
3.Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele, BWV 654
4.Fantasie i fugue in g minor, BWV 542
5.Improvisation on B-A-C-H

Two Croatian organists, both teachers on Zagreb Music academy, played some of the best known and most popular Bach organ pieces.A wonderful concert, great interpretation, and also a great instrument.Organ was built in 1973.
This is a part of their project in which they'll play all Bach's organ music.This was, I think 7th out of 11 concerts.
 
#171 ·
I'll be attending tonight:

Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra

RIMSKY-KORSAKOV. The Great Russian Easter Overture
SHOSTAKOVICH. Cello concerto No. 1
BRAHMS. Symphony No. 4
Conductor - Yuri Temirkanov
Soloist - Alisa WEILERSTEIN cello
 
#172 ·
Just returned from this concert:

Sydney Conservatorium of Music Conductors' Series - Moderne revisited - Modern Music Ensemble (6.00pm)

8 April 2011

Perfomers

Modern Music Ensemble
Daryl Pratt director


Steve Reich (b. 1936) - Vermont Counterpoint for eleven flutes (three each of flutes, alto flutes, piccolos & solo part)
Faeron Pileggi, solo flute, alto flute and piccolo/SCM Flute Choir

Haflioi Hallgrimsson (b. 1941) - 'Sonnambulo' Concerto for Double Bass & Chamber Orchestra, Op. 42
Maxime Bibeau, bass soloist

Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928-2007) - From 'Tierkreis' (Aries - Taurus - Gemini - Leo - Aquarius - Pisces - Aries (reprise))
Jacob Abela, piano/Ivan Cheng, clarinet

Stephen Montague (b. 1943) - At The White Edge of Phrygia, for chamber orchestra with three percussionists and piano

This was a very interesting and enjoyable concert. The two pieces I know (& have on disc) were the Reich & Stockhausen; I had not heard any of the music of the other two composers. Reich's Vermont Counterpoint would be known to many here. It is an exhuberant and bouncy work. Here it was performed fully 'live,' there were no recorded elements.

The Hallgrimsson Concerto for Double Bass included prominent parts for one keyboardist, playing piano and celesta. The central cadenza had an interplay between the soloist, going through the whole gamut of the double bass' range, and the keyboardist. The nocturnal world and delicate colours of this piece reminded me a bit of Dutilleux's string concertos. The theme at the beginning - which sounded a bit new age - eventually came back at the end. Hallgrimsson is a prominent Icelandic composer.

After the interval, selections from Stockhausen's Tierkreis, here for two players who were decked out in golden costumes. The clarinetist played while moving to choreographed movements, taking in the whole of the stage. At times, the clarinet was held high when he was playing the high notes, and held low when playing the low notes. This is quite a fun piece which is best experienced live (I also saw it last year in an arrangement for four players playing a plethora of instruments).

The 'discovery' of the night for me was the Montague piece. The notes by the composer say that "the title refers to the use of "white sound" as well as the Phrygian scale or mode: e to e on the keyboard without any sharps or flats." "Stylistically, the work has been called 'post-minimalist', since it is a fusion of both American minimalism and the European symphonic tradition." The repetitiveness of this work reminded me a bit of Ravel's Bolero, but unlike that work which simply goes from soft to loud, this work was more organic. It had a sense of ebb and flow, like watching waves come in and go out at the seashore. The three percussionists played a variety of instruments - from the usual things like bass drum, high-hat, xylophone, marimba, wood-blocks, tam tams, triangle to less familiar instruments like maraccas and even a set of paint tins! The rhythmic propulsion created by this tightly woven ensemble reminded me very much of Harry Partch's music. Finally the delicate "white noise" in the piece - eg. the use of the prepared piano, string players playing on the wrong side of the bridge to create an almost silent mechanical sound (& also hitting the strings with sticks), the use of muted brass, and the blowing of air through the wind instruments - all had an effect similar to that of a piece I saw in 2009 by Australian composer Brett Dean. By the end of the piece, the objects were taken out of the piano, the mutes were taken out of the brass, and the strings were played normally with a bow, so the dynamic level was gradually raised. I so enjoyed this piece that I'll have to investigate what things I can get from this composer on disc. It's the first time I have heard this 'post-minimalist' music, which I've only read about before. All in all this was a fantastic concert, showcasing the talent and hard work of these students and the mentoring of their conductor, Sydney Conservatorium senior lecturer Daryl Pratt...
 
#173 ·
April 4th 2011
Vatroslav Lisinski concert hall, Zagreb

PLAY & PRAY FOR JAPAN

ZAGREB PHILHARMONIC
Academic choir Ivan Goran Kovačić
UROŠ LAJOVIC, conductor


Johannes Brahms: Tragic overture, op. 81
Tin Ujević: Pobratimstvo lica u svemiru
Ludwig van Beethoven: 5. simphony in c-minor, op. 67
Ivan pl. Zajc: Nikola Šubić Zrinjski - U boj, u boj


A humanitarian concert for Japan was held last Monday here in Zagreb.
It is always nice to hear Beethoven, especially his 5th symphony, one of my favourites.

It was the first time I heard Brahms's Tragic overture, and I liked it a lot, Brahms is wonderful!

Pobratimstvo lica u svemiru (Brotherhood of people in the universe) is a poem by Croatian author Tin Ujević.It was recited by Goran Matović, an actor.Main idea of this poem is: "Do not be afraid, you are not alone", a great message for Japanese people.

The last piece they played was finale from the Nikola Šubić Zrinski opera composed by Ivan pl. Zajc, Croatian romantic composer. U boj, u boj literary means "To fight, to fight!".This opera is a story of the battle of Siget, where a small group of Croatian soldiers fought for days against a great Turkish army.Because they had no supplies left, Croatian soldiers decided to go out of the castle and confront the Turkish army.Although they lost, the Turkish sultan Suleiman the Magnificent died in battle along many of his soldiers.This somewhat a Croatian Thermophiles.The battle was fought in 1566 in Siget, today's Hungary."U boj, u boj" is nowdays a very popular among Croatians, especially during the war in Croatia, but also our football (and other sports) fans use it very often. Ivan pl. Zajc used it in the last act of his opera Nikola Šubić Zrinski. Nikola was a Croatian ban (a honored title, something like a duke), who led Croatian army in the Siget battle.

A video from youtube:
 
#174 ·
26th Zagreb Biennale
Festival of contemporary music
7 - 14 April 2011

April 7th 2011
Vatroslav Lisinski concert hall, Zagreb

This year we celebrate 50 years since Biennale was founded by Croatian composer Milko Kelemen.
I went so far on two concerts in this years' biennale.

Choir and Orchestra of Music Academy of Zagreb University
Mladen Tarbuk, conductor
Jelena Pavić, piano

Ivo Malec: Sigma
Ivo Malec: Pokreti u boji
Milko Kelemen: Piano concerto

Igor Stravinski: Symphony of psalms


First two pieces are pretty avangard compositions of Croatian composer Ivo Malec, one of the co-founders of the festival.Interesting, but a bit too much for my ears.

The piano concerto was, as opposed to previous, was not only interesting but also beautiful.Composed by the founder of the Biennale, Milko Kelemen.
The soloist was a student of the Music Academy, and she had a decent performance, I can say only the best for her.
In the second part the choir sang Stravinski's Symphony of psalms, which I find also very nice.Stravinski was a pleasant surprise, because I heard a lot about him, and it was not nice :D

Second concert
April 9 2011
Vatroslav Lisinski concert hall, Zagreb

Orchestra of the Verona Arena foundation
Marko Letonja, conductor
Günther Sanin, violin
Aldo Orvieto, piano
Biao Li, percussion

Luciano Berio: Requies for orchestra
Carlo Galante: Violin concerto, Yeliel
Bruno Maderna: Piano concerto
Giampaolo Coral: Requiem for the World Trade Centre for orchestra
Berislav Šipuš: In the proximity of the planet Coral for percussion and orchestra


Interesting program, contemporary music, of course.
I liked every piece they played, because they are very interesting and "not so unlistenable" if you know what I mean :)
The first piece was a bit boring for my taste, but the others were very good, especially the last one, for percussion.
 
#175 ·
Just went to this one at Sydney Conservatorium last night:

Cocktail Hour - A Glorious Spanish Feast (7.30pm)

11 April 2011

Faculty and their guests present a program of chamber music concerts featuring repertoire that ranges from baroque to contemporary music.

Perfomers
Georg Pedersen cello
Natalia Sheludiakova piano


G. Cassado (1897-1966)
Suite for Cello Solo
Prelude - Fantasia
Sardana - Danza
Intermezzo e Danze Finale

M. de Falla (1876-1946)
Popular Spanish Suite (transc. cello & piano)
El Pano Moruno
Nana
Cancion
Polo
Asturiana
Jota

E. Granados (1867-1916)
Spanish Dance No. 5 - Andaluza (Playera) from 12 Spanish Dances (transc. cello & piano)

P. de Sarasate (1844-1908)
Zapateado (transc. cello & piano)

M. de Falla
Ritual Fire Dance (transc. cello & piano by Gregor Piatigorsky)

The recital opened with a solo cello work & the rest of the pieces were transcriptions for cello & paino. I had not heard anything by Cassado before, but I was familiar with the other pieces in other shapes and forms. Cellist-composer Cassado's cello suite was a very imaginative piece which often had an improvisatory feel. I particularly liked the last movement which had a bit of plucking (like with a guitar) and harmonies that reminded me of a troubadour song from the middle ages. de Falla's famous set of Seven Popular Spanish Songs - from which we heard six (not all of them were transcribed) has a very earthy feel, employing elements of Spanish folk music like flamenco. Granados is one of my favourite Spanish composers and this the 5th of his Spanish Dances is the most famous. It's my favourite & cellist Georg Pederson said it was his favourite as well. Compared to the more vigorous and dissonant de Falla, the Granados sounded more refined and restrained, but still just as emotional in other ways. About the Sarasate, a fun flashy piece, Pedersen jokingly introduced it as "Now I'll attempt to play a piece originally for violin with my cello. I might end up enjoying it much more than you!" This piece left everyone with a smile on their face. Then to finish up, an encore of de Falla's famous Ritual Fire Dance, transcribed by Pedersen's teacher, the great Russian cellist Gregor Piatigorsky. The piece lost none of it's intensity in this chamber version.

All in all, this was a great recital. The audience was made up of all ages, from children aged 6 accompanied by their parents to adults of all ages. It's good to go to a more mixed recital like this, as often I go to concerts where I am lost in a sea of grey heads. I look forward to going to more recitals by this excellent cellist, who gives quite a few throughout the year at the Sydney Con, of which he is a senior lecturer. His accompanist on the piano Natalia Sheludiakova also did a great job...
 
#176 ·
Yesterday I performed two piano pieces in a composer's concert. It was a composition majors' graduation recital, all new music. One of the pieces I played had a feel of perpetual movement and unresolved harmonies that reminded me of Scriabin; I liked it very much. The other was much more conventional.
 
#177 ·
Went to this last Saturday night:

Australia Ensemble @ University of New South Wales

Saturday April 16, 8pm

Sir John Clancy Auditorium UNSW

Theatre in Music: Surrealist Dreams and Sydney Harbour Anecdotes

Johann STRAUSS Jr (1825-1899): Emperor Waltz (Kaiser-Walzer), Opus 437 for flute, clarinet, string quartet and piano (1889/1925)

Barry CONYNGHAM (b 1944): Showboat Kalang for flute, clarinet, piano, two violins, viola, cello - commissioned by the Albert H. Maggs Foundation for performance by the Australia Ensemble @UNSW (2010)

Arnold SCHOENBERG (1874-1951): Pierrot Lunaire for reciter-singer, flute/ piccolo, clarinet/ bass clarinet, violin/viola, cello, voice, piano (1912)

A friend and I went to this concert, with a multimedia aspect (dance & visuals) & we enjoyed it. The choreographer/dancer in the Conyngham & Schoenberg was Connor Dowling, from the Sydney Dance Company. The reciter-singer in the Schoenberg was Fiona Campbell (mezzo soprano) from the Australian Opera.

Strauss' Emperor Waltz, in an arrangement attributed to Schoenberg, was not quite what I expected. I had only heard Strauss' original work for orchestra before. This arrangment was not run of the mill or chliched by any means. I liked how there were solos for each instrument.

Barry Conyngham is a fairly prominent Australian composer in his sixties. He studied with fellow Australian Peter Sculthorpe and the Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu. Like their work, Conygham's music is of a late c20th modern/experimental style. This work was about the history of the Showboat Kalang, a vessel which plied the waters of Sydney harbour from the 1930's to 1960's. The composer's father worked as a banjo player in the dance bands that played on this vessel. The boat was also refitted for war service in Papua New Guinea and Borneo during WW2. Then it came back to Sydney to be a pleasure boat again, but was eventually broken up and ended it's "life" in 1972. This was an interesting piece, that changed mood and style to fit in with what the particular scene was about. It was a journey through Australian history from 1938 to the present. The most dissonant and loud part was in the 1942 scene, when Japanese midget submarines came into Sydney harbour and torpedoed another boat. I remember seeing these actual subs, which were salvaged from the harbour after being attacked & sunk, in an exhibition at the Sydney Maritime Museum on a high school excursion. The music of some others scenes echoed the music that would have been played on the Kalang - eg. the foxtrot and waltz. At the very begining and end of the piece, there was a recording of banjo music from the 1930's. This was an interesting piece, bought to life by the lighting and dancing.

Schoenberg's seminal Pierrot Lunaire was also brought to life by the dancer. I thought that the middle section describing the 'atrocities' was the darkest rendition of this I had ever heard. Perhaps it was because I'm familiar with recordings of it sung by sopranos, but here the voice was deeper and darker, more mysterious (mezzo-soprano). I had listened to the recordings a lot during the past fortnight, so I was so familiar with the piece, that I anticipated most of what happened. The dancer was in a clown outfit, black chequered tights and white painted face, with a black robe that was used to interesting effect. There was one flicker of colour, a red ribbon which appeared and disappeared quickly during the pivotal 'atrocity' scene. There are a lot of references to blood and gore in the text, which was projected in English translation on a screen.

All up this was a very enjoyable evening. Even though I was quite tired after a busy day, I decided to go. These performances aren't repeated, it's just the one night. The friend and I plan to go to their next one next month, which will be a conventional concert of works by Liszt, Richard Meale & Beethoven (the great string quartet Op. 132)...
 
#178 ·
Just came back from a lecture/recital about Liszt's music by pianist Dr Leslie Howard at Sydney Conservatorium (it was free).

Dr Howard is a pianist specialising in Liszt, who has recently finished recording the composer's entire piano output on 99 discs. He's middle aged with thick greying hair & a neutral British accent. He spoke clearly and engagingly (without notes) for an hour about Liszt's life and work, illustrating his lecture with two pieces. After a break during which the audience had a complimentary drink and some nibblies, Dr Howard treated us to a recital of more of Liszt's works. There were no programs given out, he just announced the pieces & talked about them in depth from the stage. So if the titles I wrote below are incomplete or whatever, please forgive me, because a number of them were announced in languages other than English.

I really enjoyed both the lecture and the recital. Dr Howard was like a limitless fountain of knowledge about this fascinating composer. I took notes during his lecture, and I'll probably put them on my blog by the end of next week. I would describe his playing as quite pumped but restrained at the same time - a bit like the contradictory character of Liszt. Dr Howard knew how to let things rip with a frenzy, but he also made the calmer and more lyrical moments very interesting. He played without music (except the second piece below), and he had a studious gaze, his head looking down at the keyboard during his playing.

Pieces played during lecture:

- A piece composed at age 21, later revised and incorporated into the set of pieces called Harmonies Poétiques Et Religieuses (1850's)

- Piano version of the "Calming of the Storm at Sea" from Part 2 of the oratorio Christus (This was a very dramatic piece, the very vivid storm came first, then the calm which had harmonies not far away from Debussy or even Messiaen)

The recital:

- Grand Concert Solo (1849), composed as a test piece for the Paris Conservatoire (Dr Howard played the 1851 version) (a percursor to the Sonata in B minor, which in some ways it was similar to - Dr Howard described this work as "kind of like a sonata but not a sonata.")

- Variations for piano on a motif from Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen (from J. S. Bach's Cantata BWV 12), written in memory of Liszt's first daughter Blandine who died aged 26 while giving birth (this piece showed Liszt's mastery of counterpoint & his concept of thematic transformation)

- Sarabande and Chaconne on theme from the opera Almira by Handel (1879) (my favourite piece of the set - it was like hearing a work composed by Handel imagining that he was Liszt! A beautifully balanced and imaginative piece. The last half had these rapid rippling figures that reminded me of Debussy's watery pieces allied with a song-like lyricism that sounded similar to Schubert)

- Nocturne on a Polonaise by Chopin (Dr Howard announced this in French, this my attempt of writing the title in English!) (Liszt & Chopin admired eachother immensely - Chopin dedicated his Etudes to LIszt. Liszt's nocturne sounded less melancholic to my ears than those of Chopin, it had a kind of sweetness and lightness)
 
#180 ·
Thanks for reading, Vaneyes. To answer your question, if you mean "personal life" in terms of romantic attachments, Dr Howard only mentioned one of Liszt's wives, Marie d'Agoult but didn't go into any detail (I think she was his first wife?). On a somewhat related front, he did rattle off a list of Liszt's acquaintances, friends & admirers - both musical and non musical - but he was so rapid I couldn't note all of them down (they included names like Berlioz, Dumas, Delacroix, Chopin, Schumann, Hiller, Mendelssohn, Hummel, many prominent aristocrats & even the Pope!...). As I said, I'll post my notes of the lecture soon on my blog or maybe even create a seperate thread on it. Dr Howard's lecture only lasted about an hour, but talking to one of the audience members after, we both had the feeling that he could have easily gone on for another 5 hours and he still wouldn't have covered enough (& there wasn't a dull moment to be had). He is clearly not only an excellent musician but a very erudite and knowledgeable speaker, and that handy combination isn't always the case with our musicians...
 
#182 · (Edited)
Last night I went to the recital by pianist Daniel Herscovitch at Sydney Conservatorium of Music. The program was titled "Ancient to Modern" -

Chopin - Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 35 (1839)

Stravinsky - Sonata (1924)

Graham Hair (b. 1941) - Three Transcendental Etudes on Themes from Australian Poets (from set of 12)
- Snatched Voices (Poet - Rosemary Dobson)
- Naming the Stars (Poet - Judith Wright)
- Wild Cherries and Honeycomb (Poet - John Shore Nielsen)

E. Carter (b. 1908) - Two Thoughts About the Piano (2005)
- Intermittences
- Catenaires

Encore - A. Webern - Children's Piece (1924)

I'd never heard any of these pieces before, and I hadn't heard any of the music of Graham Hair. The pianist Daniel Herscovitch (a faculty member at Sydney Conservatorium) talked in some depth about the pieces before playing them. His title for the recital "Ancient to Modern," was just a bit of fun, he said. Chopin's music can't really be described as "ancient," although maybe Eliot Carter who is now aged 102 can be!

The Chopin 2nd sonata was a great opener and my favourite piece of the evening. Daniel said that it's still a somewhat controversial work, some leading Chopin pianists refuse to play it. The 3rd movement, the famous Funeral March, was written first in 1837, the rest of the work came in 1839. Daniel outlined some interesting aspects of this work. The second & third movements have no tempo markings. There are three possible places to put repeats in the first movement, but Chopin didn't specify where. Having listened to this work, I can now somewhat understand why Schumann criticised it for lacking cohesion. But at the same time, this can be a "plus" as each of the movements are like worlds within themselves. The 1st movement was really pumped - ideas just tumbled out, one after the other. I'm pretty amazed at how Chopin could get these many ideas down on the page. The first theme of the 2nd movement (scherzo) reminded me a bit of the witche's sabbath part of Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique. It was pretty macabre and dark. This was followed by a longer lyrical and calmer section which struck me as being full of hope. Then the first theme reappeared, more intensely, but the quieter theme had the final word. The 3rd movement started with the famous funeral march theme (or intro?), but the other idea was more lyrical and poetic. The finale (4th movt) was over in a flash - it lasted only about 2-3 minutes. Liszt said this made him think of winds blowing over graves, Chopin said he meant it like mourners chatting after the funeral. To me, this sounded like a frenzied and hair-raising take on Bachian counterpoint. Despite there not being any crossing of hands in this work (unlike the other works played later), it still looked and sounded quite difficult to play.

Stravinsky's much shorter sonata (Daniel described it as more like a sonatina) came across to me to be the complete antithesis of the Chopin. This was quite light and bouncy, the world of Les Six was not far away. The counterpoint again sounded like it was influenced by Bach, the piano was played almost as daintily as a harpsichord. But the jerky & more changeable rhythmic patterns could be by no-one else but Stravinsky.

Then the only Australian composer on the program, Graham Hair. He was director of this very institution, the Sydney Con, during the 1980's, but now he is working in academia in Glasgow, Scotland. These three works come from a recent series of studies inspired by Australian poetry. The 1st and 3rd pieces reminded me of the tangled and complex piano works of Ives and Ligeti. They were pretty intense, with runs up and down the keyboard, and they looked devlishly difficult to play. The middle one was slow and calm, it had a kind of celestial quality as Daniel said, and it kind of reminded me of Takemitsu.

Then Carter's Two Thoughts About the Piano, which looked no less difficult than the Hair. They were also inspired by literature - the first one on Marcel Proust. These started off as two seperate pieces, which Carter joined together later. They were composed in 2005 when Carter was 97 years old. These pieces were studies in constantly changing dynamics, rhythm, and harmonics. The first piece was slower overall, it had many silences, and the second one was helter skelter. It was described by the composer as being like "a fast one line piece without any chords." Daniel said that he met Carter a few months ago, and thought that though he looked pretty frail, his mind is "still sharp as a tack." Carter was then writing a song-cycle on the words of T.S. Elliot.

As an encore, Daniel played a short one minute piece by Webern that looked much simpler to play than the other pieces. It was written in the same year as the Stravinsky sonata, but totally different.

I was sitting next to a group of women who, it turns out, were friends of Daniel. I got talking to one of them about American composers in particular, and I mentioned Copland. She said that she showed Copland around Sydney when he visited (I didn't find out when, but she said it was in his older years). She said he had a liking for French cuisine, so she took him to a French restaurant in Kings Cross. This was an interesting conversation, particularly because I didn't know that Copland had ever come here. We both agreed that the turnout to this brilliant recital was pretty abysmal - the hall seats around 100 and I'd say there were less than 50 audience members in attendance. On a positive note, the women took me backstage to meet Daniel, which I did. I briefly spoke to him thanking him for his performance. I asked him whether the Graham Hair pieces were as difficult to play as something by Ligeti, but he said that Ligeti was much harder. But I told him that I was watching his hands, particularly in the Hair & Carter pieces, and what he was doing looked like it was near impossible to me.

All up, this was one of the best piano recitals I remember going to. Both the playing and the music were excellent and interesting. I look forward to seeing Daniel play at any other time that he does so in the future...
 
#183 ·
Sounds insteresting, that you went backstage to meet the key performer and all that. (I've done that a few times before during the concerts I attended mainly to get a few autographs but didn't engage much in conversation with them).
 
#184 ·
Thanks for reading. Yeah, well the thing I like about these "Cocktail Hour" recitals at the Sydney Con is that they're quite low key. Audience members are pretty welcome to go backstage - well, it's really a big room between the two small rectial halls - & meet the musician/s. I'm quite a shy person, so I don't usually do this, but Daniel's friends at his recital really encouraged me to meet him, so I did. There have also been a few ocassions when composers were present & I could have approached them after the recital, but I didn't. I also like that many times, the performers talk about & give their impressions of the music before playing the pieces. It comes across as being more "real" than just reading printed program notes before the performance. You might cringe but I think we owe a part of this more "open" attitude to the violinist & bandleader Andre Rieu, whose concerts come across as being quite warm and friendly, even though his music is like :eek: ...
 
#185 ·
Maybe 200 plus years later, our modern day attempts at interaction ('open attitude')has brought us nearly full-circle. Well, we can hope. Truth is, for the big names such face-to-faces often require contacts or extra money. "Sorry sir, Maestro has a restricted list, " giving the you-gotta-be-kidding interloper an anti-terrorist glance.

Chopin Sonata 2, thatsa biggie. I don't know if I'd have the courage to hear an "unknown" play it, being that Pogorelich, Michelangeli, and Argerich are so imbedded. Now I'm acting like a gatekeeper myself, with that song of comeuppance.

Good report as usual, Andre.
 
#187 ·
Maybe 200 plus years later, our modern day attempts at interaction ('open attitude')has brought us nearly full-circle. Well, we can hope. Truth is, for the big names such face-to-faces often require contacts or extra money. "Sorry sir, Maestro has a restricted list, " giving the you-gotta-be-kidding interloper an anti-terrorist glance.
Yeah, well it's true, the "big names" often have no time for direct interaction with the audience. Especially if the performance is in a larger venue, which is usually the case with these elite performers. But I've found that in smaller non-mainstream venues musicians actually don't mind a bit of a chat with the audience. I was also at a performance by pianist Dejan Lazic who played with the Australian Chamber Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House in 2009 (Beethoven's 4th concerto, this performance is now on disc, but I wouldn't buy it as I wasn't to happy with Lazic's cadenzas, although his playing was excellent overall). During the interval, Lazic made himself available to sign his cd's. I didn't meet him, but at least this kind of thing is happening even in the bigger venues here, which is at least something.

Chopin Sonata 2, thatsa biggie. I don't know if I'd have the courage to hear an "unknown" play it, being that Pogorelich, Michelangeli, and Argerich are so imbedded. Now I'm acting like a gatekeeper myself, with that song of comeuppance.
Well I hadn't heard Chopin's 2nd sonata before, so I had little or no preconceptions. The only sonata I have on disc by Chopin is his 3rd, which is an entirely different beast, it's so different to the 2nd that it could almost be by another composer. Over my 20 plus years of classical listening (on & off), I've only skimmed the surface with Chopin & maybe that lack of familiarity is a good thing. Whatever I've heard by him - like those two sonatas, or the nocturnes, ballades, waltzes - has come across as quite fresh to me & not as cliched as I would have thought, them being mainstream pieces & all...

@ Lunasong:

You must be new here, welcome to the forum, btw. That live performance of Bernstein's Mass sounded like the real deal. I've heard the Naxos recording & it sounded like an interesting work. Unconventional to say the least, but I love unconventional things like that. As you say, it's a work with a strong theatrical element, so ideally it has to be seen as well as heard. This is a bit like Harry Partch's music, which combines mime, dance, lighting, costumes, & of course music - both instrumental and vocal - the whole box and dice. Hearing the recording is like getting 50 cents out of the dollar, at best. These kinds of works were composed (or really designed) as "total art" experiences, much like Wagner's operas...
 
#186 ·
I attended Bernstein's "Mass: A Theatre Piece for Singers, Players, and Dancers" last night in Dayton OH; presented by the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra and Wright State University. The orchestra did the playing whilst the singers and dancers were cast from WSU's departments of Theatre, Dance, and Motion Pictures, and Music. It was terrific, especially since I'd went not quite knowing what to expect. It didn't seem dated at all (this year is the fortieth anniversary of the work's premiere at John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts). The brass section was seated stage left whilst the woodwinds were stage right; the balance of the orchestra was in the pit. The choir was stage rear. The theatrical performers filled the rest of the stage, including the use of vertical pieces and height. It really is a work, because of the visual element, that needs to be seen and not just heard.
"Mass" was conducted by Neal Gittleman, but required the collaboration of many groups and people (cast of 200) between the orchestra and university. The Celebrant was sung by John Wesley Wright. I hope you enjoy this video on how this presentation was brought together.
 
#188 ·
Went to this concert with a friend last night:

AUSTRALIA ENSEMBLE @ University of New South Wales, Sydney
(Incorporating the Goldner String Quartet)
Dene Olding, first violin
Dimity Hall, second violin
Irina Morozova, viola
Julian Smiles, cello
Ian Munro, piano
Geoffrey Collins, flute
Catherine McCorkill, clarinet
Daryl Pratt, percussion; David Stanhope, conductor (both guests, in Incredible Floridas only)
(Prof. Roger Covell, director of programming)

Ferenc (Franz) LISZT (1811-1886)
- At Wagner's Grave (Am Grabe Richard Wagners) S202 for string quartet and piano (1883) - 200th anniversary of Liszt's birth

Richard MEALE (1932-2009)
- String Quartet No. 2 "Cantilena Pacifica" - 5th movement
- Incredible Floridas (Homage to Rimbaud) for flute/alto flute/piccolo, clarinet/bass clarinet, violin/viola, cello, piano and percussion (1971)

Ludwig van BEETHOVEN (1770-1827)
- String Quartet in A minor, Opus 132 (1825)

This was a great program which we both enjoyed. I knew the last two works from recordings, the first two were completely unknown to me.

The first two pieces were in memory of friends of the respective composers who had died. Liszt's piece was in memory of his friend and son in law Wagner. It was very brief and had a lightness which reminded both my friend and I of chamber music by Debussy and Ravel. I'm not sure who Australian composer Richard Meale dedicated Cantilena Pacifia to, but the violinist Dene Olding announced it from the stage and talked about it briefly (it wasn't in the program). Olding said that this group played this work at Meale's funeral service in 2009. It had a flowing and sinuous violin solo backed up by gentle repetitive waves from the other strings. It kind of reminded me of Philip Glass' Facades. These two works were poignant for my friend, as the day before was the anniversary of his brother's death in an accident 6 years ago. He said it bought back the memories.

Then a longer half hour piece by Meale, from his earlier avant-garde phase (like Penderecki, Meale went tonal after initially being more experimental). Incredible Floridas is a sextet that was written in 1971 to mark the 100th anniversary of French visionary poet Arthur Rimbaud's poem "The Drunken Boat." This was quite a complex work, requiring a conductor and everyone except the pianist to play multiple instruments. There's quite a bit of fragmentation in this work to begin with, the first movement dominated by a flute solo upon which much of the rest of the work is based. A lot of it was quite intense and percussive. The 4th movement is my favourite part, throughout it the piano plays this chord which kind of comes across to me something like Satie or Rachmaninov slowed down to the nth degree. Everything is suspended in time. In the 5th movement, the two string players each have a solo, the music moving towards their top registers, a bit like in Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time. Funnily enough, these two solos kind of passed me by in the recording, which I'd listened to several times. The flute is always there, but it has a solo in the concluding 6th movement where the earlier fragmentary material is unified and more coherent. Like Rimbaud's poem, which is like both a physical and mental voyage (to where, who knows?), Meale's work has a dreamlike quality to it. It begins with the players quietly reciting sentences from the poem in French, and in the end it dissolves into nothingness. All of the players were soloists in their own right in this work. The music of Varese, Messiaen, Boulez and Takemitsu comes strongly to mind & as my friend pointed out, Balinese gamelan. Incredible Floridas is considered by many pundits to be Meale's masterwork, and I'd recommend it to anyone interested in c20th chamber music. Meale could very well be Australia's finest composer so far, not least because he had such a huge stylistic range. To see this work played live was a real treat. My friend has been familiar with Meale's opera Voss since he got it on disc in the 1980's & I made this composer's acquaintance more recently.

After a nice cuppa & a bit of chocolate during the interval, we headed back to the auditorium to hear Beethoven's String Quartet in A minor, Op. 132. This work is just sublime, from the solemn opening theme that opens it, right through to concluding dance like movement which brings back that theme, totally changing it's mood. This is music at it's very best, it's most sublime and passionate. Words are not really adequate to describe this sort of thing. I was interested to read in the program notes that the harmonies of the pivotal third slow movement, the famous "Hymn of Thanksgiving," may well have been inspired by the music of Renaissance composer Palestrina. I'm not surprised by this, it definitely has the radiance and purity of Palestrina's style. I thought that the Goldner String Quartet played this work slower than what I've heard on recordings, but this was just a hunch (I didn't check the time, listening to music for me isn't a matter of doing things like that). It was a very detailed performance, full of nuance. I loved watching how they played those complex cross rhythms, it looked very very difficult. An odd thing that I noticed was that from left to right, it was the two violins, cello then viola. Usually the viola is before the cello. I don't know why they played in this order?

After the concert, we both headed to the city for a nightcap before calling it a night. We both enjoyed the concert & felt we got a lot out of it, and one couldn't really ask for more...
 
#189 ·
Just went to this one on the weekend -

Music In May - Macquarie University Sydney
Mahler Tribute (Family Concert)

The Occasional Performing Sinfonia (TOPS)
Sally-Anne Russell, mezzo soprano - in all works (from Opera Australia)
Sarah Berkelman, soprano (in Humperdinck only)
Mal Hewitt, conductor (in Humperdinck & Mahler songs)
Steve Hillinger, conductor (in Mahler symphony)

Humperdinck
- Sandman's song, evening prayer & forest music (Hansel & Gretel, Act 2)
Mahler
- Songs of a Wayfarer
- Symphony No. 4 in G major

TOPS is a Sydney-based orchestra that presents large symphonic works rarely tackled by amateur orchestras. TOPS plays in venues such as Sydney Town Hall and occasionally tours regional NSW. Last year they played a program which included Shostakovich's 5th symphony, which was excellent, and this year's Mahler 100th anniversary tribute was no less enjoyable. These are two of my favourite works by Mahler. A good friend of mine came along as well.

Neither my friend and I are greatly familiar with Humperdinck's music (the "original" Englebert Humperdinck, as conductor Mal Hewitt joked!). He was a major operatic and vocal composer at the end of the c19th, and Hansel & Gretel is his only big hit. He also assisted Wagner in the orchestration of his late operas, and Humperdinck's orchestration was very rich and Wagnerian indeed. The two vocalists sang this lovely song and left the stage, while the orchestra carried on and played a marvellous elaboration of the tunes. Soprano Sarah Berkelman is a high school student who is currently working in the Sydney production of the musical Fame. It was great to hear the blending of the soprano and mezzo soprano's voices.

Next was Mahler's set of four Wayfarer Songs, which is one of my favourite works by him. This work is pure genius and mezzo soprano Sally-Anne Russell gave a knockout performance. All emotions under the sun are encapsulated in this work, both in words and music. I especially like how Mahler wrote for the woodwinds. The last stanza of the final song titled "The Two Blue Eyes of my Beloved" is the part which just floors me every time, and this performance was no exception. The poet is reminiscing about his love and loss, sitting under a linden tree which "snowed its blossoms over me." This is captured by the music with this sense of floating tonality, time is suspended. I kind of hear Schubert in this as well. My words cannot adequately describe the very ending, so I'll simply give you the words "All, love and sorrow and world and dream!"

After a good cuppa at interval (what can be better than that, apart from the music?) we headed back to the 500 packed seater hall to hear Mahler's 4th symphony. This is my favourite of all of his symphonies which I'm familiar with, because for the most part, it is light and happy (though there are dark undertones and shadows there, but they quickly dissipate). I feel that the orchestra didn't get off the ground as much as they could have in the first two movements, but their performance of the last two were basically as good as any I've heard. Like the Wayfarer Songs, the slow movement contains so many emotions and contrasts. The two climaxes put me on the edge of tears, but the optimistic last movement with vocals "The heavenly life" cheered me up a bit. The song upon which the finale was based was written about a decade before Mahler began this symphony. The last movement came first, and formed the thematic basis of the whole work. It's no wonder that some scholars say this is his most unified and holistic symphony. This is a child's view of heaven, which is full of many delights, particularly food. There are the sounds of cattle and oxen, animals which will be sent to slaughter to provide a wholesome feast. As conductor Steve Hillinger said, a lot of the children in Mahler's time were malnourished, and he himself had a childhood of poverty, by today's Western standards anyway.

All in all, this concert was great, we both enjoyed it. The orchestra played with commitment and passion, adding refinement and balance in the last two movements of the symphony. The vocalists were excellent. There were many children at this family concert, who were not always quiet, but I was so absorbed in the music that I hardly noticed them. I may well go to a concert in September at Sydney Town Hall of this orchestra, who will be joined by combined Sydney choirs in a program featuring Carl Jenkins' music (another composer I'm unfamiliar with)...
 
#190 ·
Interesting report there, Andre. I have never heard of The Occasional Performing Sinfonia and what a name that is.
 
#191 ·
I hadn't heard about them either, before I saw them last year at the same venue, Macquarie Uni. As I said, they played very well, both my friend & I enjoyed their performance. They are mainly amateur musicians with professional conductors and soloists. They do a few concerts per year in Sydney, and also a few in regional areas of our state...
 
#193 ·
Just got back from Haydn's Theresienmesse (Mass in B flat major). OSOM. This rich classical counterpoint is what I love in choral music, no romantic equivalents by genre can match this beauty and unbeliveable craftmanship, it's long work but I wasn't tired at all, a true experience HMMMMMMMMMMM
 
#194 ·
Good. Now you need to explore the six other late masses that he wrote between 1796 and 1802. He wrote one mass each year to celebrate the name day of his employer's wife, which was one of his duties. Theresienmesse was the third last.
 
#195 ·
@ Aramis - Like you have, I have just discovered Haydn's choral niche & am looking forward tonight to hearing his great "Creation" live. He was expert at setting the texts with great feeling and emotion. He was one of the true optimists of the classical spectrum. Engaging, innovative, unique, joyful, beautiful beyond words and I could go on. This guy was amazing, his music simply "has it all"...

@ HC - I'm impressed - even inspired - by your detailed appreciation and knowledge of this repertoire in the older classical realm. Needless to say, I will be seeking your advice about this area, because I'm truly "hooked." Simply show the way, my friend, and I will gladly follow!...
 
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