What classical concert did you attend?

[bart]

Copied from the classical thread:

Tchaikovsky - Saint-Saëns - Ginastera
Müncher Rundfunkorchester, Ari Rasilanen
Sol Gabetta, violoncello




We just saw this great cellist live, with the Basel Kammerorchester.
She played these Rokoko Variations in a wonderful way.
The rest of the concert was entertaining. Interesting, but not top.
Mozart's Overture of Le Nozze Di Figaro, and Beethoven's 3rd were played with too little nuance, too fast and too loud.


Here she is, clearly pregnant:

[Antonmb]

A busy day on Sunday. We started with an afternoon concert of our local community symphony (the Whatcom Symphony Orchestra) billed as "An American Celebration." The program consisted of Copland's "Appalachian Spring," 3 selections from Leonard Bernstein's "On The Town," and finished with Gershwin's "Rhapsody In Blue" with guest pianist Christopher Guzman. Guzman was excellent, and the other pieces were generally well played, although the Copland did suffer from some minor timing inconsistencies and one off-key blat from a French horn. It's a community orchestra in a college town of 100,000 people, so it's not the BSO, but they put on a very enjoyable performance in a nice small theatre with great acoustics.

We then had just enough time to have dinner and drive the 25 miles to the next town south of us for a concert of Hawaiian slack-key guitar with the legendary Keole Beamer. A wonderful show with hula dancing, Beamer had the audience singing along and swaying in unison.

[Antonmb]

Last night we were at Benaroya Hall in Seattle to see Ludovic Morlot conducting the Seattle Symphony. The advertised program was Mahler's 5th, but the concert opened with György Ligeti's Requiem. I was not familiar with this piece, but it turned out to be quite a fantastic performance, with full chorus and a solo soprano and mezzo-soprano. The music is disconcerting and difficult at times, but also fascinating and moving at other moments. It's probably not something I will ever play at home, but to see and hear it live was a great experience.

Mahler's 5th was also an excellent performance. The 5th is not my favorite (so many themes) but it was great fun. We often attend concerts by our local community orchestra, which we enjoy, but seeing a major orchestra is a real treat.

[bart]

Tony, thank you for sharing.
Must have been a great evening.

My wife and I also often attend a concert where a very modern piece is performed, with some other well known works also on the programme.
We like these "adventures".

[Antonmb]

Originally Posted by bart

We like these "adventures".

Yes, that's a great word for it, adventure. It's good to stretch out and challenge ourselves with the unfamiliar occasionally.

[eljr]

Great thread, I just found it.

This past season I was fortunate enough to see some great concerts in some great spaces. Lot's in fact.

Highlights:
Starting in late December
Messiah at Carnegie Hall. When 200 plus voices of the Oratorio Society regale you in unison, you come away fully contented.

Of course that meant I had to see them again. So a few months later at the the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, I again saw this assemblage of vocal power perform with Manhattan School of Musicians. Britten’s War Requiem.
Over 350 choral singers, what power of voice.

Other highlights; Being at Philip Glasses 80th birthday celebration benefit at Carnegie Hall.

Front and center at Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center (yes, I know the name has been changed to David Geffen) to see Absolute Jest, with Mr. John Adams beaming with delight. Alan Gilbert conducting.

Again at Avery Fischer, Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting, Also sprach Zarathustra. The classical equivalent of Rock musics Stairway to Heaven?

Kronos "bringing down the house" with their program ending selections and encore. (In one of the smaller theaters within Carnegie Hall.)

C.P.E. BACH: St. John Passion, not captivating musically but well worth the first row seat I had as Saint Thomas Church is exquisite in every way. It's on Fifth Ave. in NYC, diagonally across from Trump Tower.

But my favorite of all was seeing Jordi Savall and Hesperion XXI in one of the smaller theaters withing Carnegie Hall.

and I do have to mention also how much I enjoyed Misha Quint with his cello at another show.

Oddly, my daughter accompanied me on to several of these concerts but her favorite did not make my list of highlights. She enjoyed the piano duet of Anna Polonsky and Orion Weiss performing Mozart's Concerto for two Pianos.
These tickets were a Christmas gift from her so maybe this being her favorite was not by chance! The tickets were at the very top of Stern Auditorium (Carnegie Hall big stage), 6 flights up! Interestingly, the sound and sight lines were tremendous. Ingenious ticket selection by my college student daughter.

[aardvarkbark]

Originally Posted by eljr

....This past season I was fortunate enough to see some great concerts in some great spaces. Lot's in fact.

You seem to frequent Carnegie Hall. Did you consider attending any of Barenboim and the Staatskapelle Berlin Orchestra performances of the entire Bruckner cycle in late Jan? I was set to go for two consecutive nights' performances but had to cancel due to a conflict.

Originally Posted by eljr

....The tickets were at the very top of Stern Auditorium (Carnegie Hall big stage), 6 flights up! Interestingly, the sound and sight lines were tremendous....

If I remember my thermoaudiodynamics -- warm sound rises, no?

[bart]

Ed, what a tremendous series of concerts you could enjoy! Wow!
Thank you for sharing.

[eljr]

Originally Posted by aardvarkbark

You seem to frequent Carnegie Hall. Did you consider attending any of Barenboim and the Staatskapelle Berlin Orchestra performances of the entire Bruckner cycle in late Jan? I was set to go for two consecutive nights' performances but had to cancel due to a conflict.

sooooo much to choose from in NYC, no I did not attend.

I always stay on 57th street, across from Carnage Hall, so yes, I do tend to favor the venue. It's so convenient to everything. Only St John's the Divine required a subway ride.
Broadway is all walking distance too. St Patrick for Sunday morning...

[bart]

Program

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Beethoven Close-up: lecture-performance, with live musical examples
Symphony no. 9 in D minor, opus 125

Performers

Anima Eterna Brugge
Collegium Vocale Gent: choir
Korneel Bernolet: conductor
Yeree Suh: soprano
Isabelle Rejall: mezzo-soprano
Markus Schäfer: tenor
Thomas Bauer: bass
Pieter Bergé: introduction

Exactly 10 years after their touchstone recording of Beethoven's complete symphonies on period instruments, Jos van Immerseel and Anima Eterna zoom in on what many consider to be the cornerstone and showpiece of Beethoven’s orchestral oeuvre: his masterly Ninth. Completed in 1824, and blessed with even more monumental dimensions than its predecessors, this consummately crafted cathedral voices the birth of triumph from upheaval, and the journey of the soul from introspection to jubilation. Its legendarily tough score is brimming with technical challenges. With the addition of Schiller's Ode to Joy – this evening performed by a dream choir with ditto soloists - this work easily surpasses all boundaries. Prepare to be fully immersed: as an opener to this evening, born storyteller Pieter Bergé offers insight and explanation, all backed up by the necessary live musical examples.


Jos van Immerseel thinks about tomorrow; he has already found his successor to conduct our fabulous orchestra: Korneel Bernolet.




I have to say: we had a marvellous performance.
The orchestra was fantastic, the soloists were convincing, and the choir - Collegium Vocale! - is always great.
I was moved to tears; experience this all time masterpiece live and in full strength is quite a treat.