What concert did you attend in 2018?

As it should!

My wife is very much looking forward to this production.

Be sure to report back! 

Well that was exciting! For once the acting was as good as the singing.
Malin Byström, was I first thought, slightly under powered for Salome, but she just got better as the evening went on with a spine tingling final demand for head of Jokanaan.
The dance was quite interesting with video giving hints of long term abuse of Salome by her step father, which may go someway to explain her current behaviour.
Looking back at my old programmes I see that the first time I saw Salome at The Royal Opera was 11th November 1977 with the wonderful Grace Bumbry in the title role.

Thanks for your report Morton. With opera, there are so many more things could go wrong than just a concert. It's nice when everything just works perfectly!

What I enjoyed most was two Sibelius pieces they played. Warm and rich hues, what a beautiful colours they drew!

I have their excellent BIS recording of Beethoven Symphony 9 and the rendition the 7 was along the same line. Well balanced and dynamic. This was a  nicely packaged contemporary set. Altho, my preference is still with *hot blooded* Toscanini and Cantelli which they weigh more importance in rhythmic pulse and raw power over tonal prettiness and roundness.

Tchaikovsky's PC1 was a total non starter for me. Too slow of a tempo and I kept comparing Barnatan to Horowitz. ( I know it's not fair but, that's what I measure everything against ) This was one of the boring set where I lost my interest half way through. Felt it was filled with cliche riffs and he kept adding this pauses ( I suppose he was trying to add some drama ) but this stop-and-go schtick was tripping me over. There was no sense of surprise.

But Vanska's Sibelius was worth the price of ticket for me and pleased to find out he'll be back to Chicago next season with more Sibelius program. ( he'll be leading the CSO )

A real great concert yesterday, fantastic Liszt and good Prokofiev. Seen him before, but yesterday more impressive...

He's slated to make a debut at the Orhcestra Hall next season. I was gonna skip it but now I am tempted to get ticket to go see him.

I love the Liebestod and piano reduction of Romeo and Juliet would be interesting.

Quite a candy shop this evening. With mixed results.

Mittwoch, 07.02.2018 | 20:00 Uhr | Meistersingerhalle

Denis Matsuev | Klavier
Valery Gergiev | Dirigent
Mariinsky Orchester St. Petersburg

Debussy, Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune
Rachmaninow, Klavierkonzert Nr. 3 d-Moll op. 30
Tschaikowsky, Symphonie Nr. 6 h-Moll op. 74 „Pathetique“

Debussy a delight.

Rachmaninov - amazing dazzling performance of Denis, but at the beginning the orchestra and Dennis not sharp in sync, have seen this more often specific with this concerto

Tchaikovsky, solid performance...

I'm going to see Paul Weller on the 17th at the Brighton Centre which I'm very much looking forward to.

Philip Glass - Satyagraha (English National Opera)

The acclaimed English National Opera/ New York Met joint production at the Coliseum.

Excellent, if a little long and a bit bum-numbing. The opera is odd in that there isn't any pretence at a plot (it's a series of tableaux/scenes from Gandhi's time in South Africa prior to World War One) and it's all sung in Sanskrit. And it's a three and a half hour sit (with a couple of intermissions for outrageously priced wine).

The cast, orchestra and the production were magnificent though - particularly the use of dynamics between singers and the orchestra, partly making up for the fact that there are no Big Tunes (even by Glass's standards) in the whole thing. I'd love a recording of this id they could capture that shading.

Here's a section form Act 2 (the same production but in 2010). It starts to get weird after about 3:30.

Tony Allen, Warwick Arts Centre, 8th Feb 2018

really chuffed to get to see Tony Allen (drums) and his band (saxophone, trumpet, double bass, electric guitar, piano/keyboards). Playing stuff from their recent album The Source, they were great, really excellent musicians, as you might expect.

Tony Allen is a real cool cat, his drumming is really loose, but brilliant timing, perfect jazz style. Shame the audience wasn’t larger, but those of us who were there were really appreciative of / for what we saw. Recommend catching him if anyone has the chance to go and see him!

Recital at the Square Chapel, Halifax.

Amy Harman bassoon
Adam Walker flute
James Baillieu piano

Beethoven Trio in G major WoO 37
Debussy Syrinx
Poulenc Flute Sonata
Dutilleux Sarabande et Cortege for bassoon and piano
Weber Trio in G minor

Absolutely compelling concert. The three young musicians, all around 30, are the principal bassoon for ENO, principal flute for the LSO and a pianist who’s accompanied Bostridge and others while having an active chamber career as musician and programmer. A fantastic programme, the two trios bookending shorter works which showed the virtuosity of,the two wind players. The sheer talent on display was mind blowing, they took great joy in their playing, and made each piece a sheer joy. 6 weeks in to 2018 and I may well have seen my concert of the year. 

On Thursday evening we went to hear Shostakovitch's 5th Symphony at the RCM in London. What i hadn't expected was a world premiere of a piece called "Severed" by Bertram Wee.  It was quite an unnerving piece, reminiscent of the score to some modern horror film.  Not really to my taste, and thankfully over after 10 minutes..

Tristan und Isolde, in Amsterdam, given a searing performance by Marc Albrecht and team. The whole cast was spectacular, but Stephen Gould was as impressive as Tristan as I’d ever hope to hear, very musical, with huge power in reserve and a ringing top effortlessly scaling the orchestra at full power. The staging and light were excellent, too - a memorable evening.

Cheers

EJ

Gaslight anthem (10 years 59sound tour) at Cologne and Beth Hart, Bochum.

EJS posted:

Tristan und Isolde, in Amsterdam, given a searing performance by Marc Albrecht and team. The whole cast was spectacular, but Stephen Gould was as impressive as Tristan as I’d ever hope to hear, very musical, with huge power in reserve and a ringing top effortlessly scaling the orchestra at full power.

That's very nice, EJ.

The last time I have heard Gould, he was suffering from a cold!

kuma posted:

EJS posted:

Tristan und Isolde, in Amsterdam, given a searing performance by Marc Albrecht and team. The whole cast was spectacular, but Stephen Gould was as impressive as Tristan as I’d ever hope to hear, very musical, with huge power in reserve and a ringing top effortlessly scaling the orchestra at full power.

That's very nice, EJ.

The last time I have heard Gould, he was suffering from a cold!

Isolde would have had a potion for that!

EJ

EJS posted:

Tristan und Isolde, in Amsterdam, given a searing performance by Marc Albrecht and team. The whole cast was spectacular, but Stephen Gould was as impressive as Tristan as I’d ever hope to hear, very musical, with huge power in reserve and a ringing top effortlessly scaling the orchestra at full power. The staging and light were excellent, too - a memorable evening.

Cheers

EJ

I must agree about Gould, I have seen him a couple of times as Tristan, he is as good as any I have heard since Jon Vickers. How was Ricarda Merbeth as Isolde, she is not someone I am familiar with.

Tosca last week at ROH , I don’t have much luck with this Opera, I have yet to see a really good Scarpia, this time it was Gerald Finley, ok, but I thought underpowered for the role.
The clear star was Joseph Calleja as Cavaradossi.

EJS posted:

Isolde would have had a potion for that!

How was the soprano?
Looks like a beautiful stage production, too!

Wish they would come to Lyric Opera!

kuma posted:

Starting a new thread for the new year!~

So did anyone go to the New Year's Concert in Vienna?

Not sure its possible. I have Austrian friends who cant even imagine getting a ticket. 

kuma posted:

EJS posted:

Isolde would have had a potion for that!

How was the soprano?
Looks like a beautiful stage production, too!

Wish they would come to Lyric Opera!

The picture you added was part of Act II - there was a cloth over the egg, which at a crucial point during the duet, disappeared. It must be suggestive of something... even though Audi has Tristan and Isolde hardly touch each other throughout the opera. What the whale bones have to do with Cornwall beats me, but all this looked incredibly cool, the lighting especially. (The lighting was the unsung star of the production in any case - never saw the stage so beautifully lit in all the years I've been going to Amsterdam).

Isolde was sung by Ricarda Merbeth - by the time I saw her, near the end of the run of performances, she had grown quite comfortable in the role.  Technically, she has the power and stamina to let rip in Act I, meet Tristan on equal ground in Act II, and do her best singing in the Liebestod. Interpretatively, she gave us a technicolor Isolde, a woman obsessed with herself, uncertain, vengeful, eager and fatalistic - a high maintenance Isolde. I couldn't always hear the words very well, even though the stage was essentially a sound box making it easier for the singers.

Cheers

EJ

Morton posted:

EJS posted:

Tristan und Isolde, in Amsterdam, given a searing performance by Marc Albrecht and team. The whole cast was spectacular, but Stephen Gould was as impressive as Tristan as I’d ever hope to hear, very musical, with huge power in reserve and a ringing top effortlessly scaling the orchestra at full power. The staging and light were excellent, too - a memorable evening.

Cheers

EJ

I must agree about Gould, I have seen him a couple of times as Tristan, he is as good as any I have heard since Jon Vickers. How was Ricarda Merbeth as Isolde, she is not someone I am familiar with.

This was my first live Tristan, so all my reference material comes from CD. I imagine hearing Vickers live must have been a life altering experience - although going on recordings, Gould, now in his 50s, seems to have the more beautiful voice.

EJ

EJS posted:

The picture you added was part of Act II - there was a cloth over the egg, which at a crucial point during the duet, disappeared. It must be suggestive of something... even though Audi has Tristan and Isolde hardly touch each other throughout the opera. What the whale bones have to do with Cornwall beats me, but all this looked incredibly cool, the lighting especially. (The lighting was the unsung star of the production in any case - never saw the stage so beautifully lit in all the years I've been going to Amsterdam).

EJ,

What I like about the set design is that it's the mood created by it. I see a clever use of lighting there. I don't get what those abstract objects mean but the overall ambience and mood are the kind I imagine when I hear this music. In some way this is more powerful to me than traditional heavily period costumed production.

kuma posted:

EJS posted:

The picture you added was part of Act II - there was a cloth over the egg, which at a crucial point during the duet, disappeared. It must be suggestive of something... even though Audi has Tristan and Isolde hardly touch each other throughout the opera. What the whale bones have to do with Cornwall beats me, but all this looked incredibly cool, the lighting especially. (The lighting was the unsung star of the production in any case - never saw the stage so beautifully lit in all the years I've been going to Amsterdam).

EJ,

What I like about the set design is that it's the mood created by it. I see a clever use of lighting there. I don't get what those abstract objects mean but the overall ambience and mood are the kind I imagine when I hear this music. In some way this is more powerful to me than traditional heavily period costumed production.

Definitely, I fully agree, a great set. This picture was the Liebestod - we’re still not sure about the body (?) on the structure on the right hand side, but the box represented both a sort of mirrored cave where Tristan is lying ill at the start of III, and after the mirrors had folded away, a light and sound box that allowed Isolde to stand in silhouette, and easily soar over the orchestra without forcing her voice. Beautiful, and practical.

just learned the beautiful production of Zauberflote is returning next season - promises to be another great one!

EJ