Classical Concert Diary

Just a brief reminder to people to look out for Mikhail Pletneev's Rachmaninov Piano Concertii series if you can get to London or Reading. We heard a fabulous Rachmaninov 4th concerto last night. Not one of those life-and-death battles with the piano, much of his performance had an improvisatory, jazzy feel to it. You imagine Bill Evans might have played it a bit like this. There was plenty of power on tap when necessary but deployed with subtlety which is not always found in this repertoire. It fits with his refreshingly reticent stage manner. The Philharmonia seem to be on a bit of a roll at the moment too. I’m not a great fan of this composer generally but this won me over completely. Get along to the Festival Hall or the Hexagon if you've the chance.

duncan

Email: djcritchley at hotmail.com

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not quite what one expects from a genial looking 78 year-old.

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I heard another youngster, Rostropovich, play Dvorak´s cello concierto a short while ago. He is still remarkably virtuoso and agile. The performance was a bit more lyrical than the more austere Yo Yo Ma recording I have.

I can understand why Rostropovich´s recording is still the benchmark (according to ramophile, anyway).

Steven

With which orchestra and conductor was Rostropovich playing, if I may ask? And how was it?

Talking of Beethoven's symphonies in performance, we saw a great performance of the 5th in Singapore a couple of months ago, with Myung Whun Chung and the Tokyo Philharmonic. Played at a fast, but articulate tempo - very exciting!

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With which orchestra and conductor was Rostropovich playing, if I may ask? And how was it?

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Herm:

Rostropovich was playing with the Spanish National Orchestra. Its playing was good, though I think Rostropovich was in a league of his own. The orchestra seemed to dutifully follow him.

As good as it was, the music played second fiddle to the ceremony afterwords. The bride of Prince Felipe appeared alongside him for the first time in public, and the crowd was awed.

Steven

Sunday, December 7th I was at an all-Stravinsky concert by the Rotterdam Philharmonic, the Kirov Men Choir conducted by Valery Gergiev (music director of the Rotterdam Phil).

After the brief choral work Zvezdoliki, the stage was rearranged for Agon a 1957 piece with both pre-baroque and tentative serial elements. It's also famous as the score for which Balanchine made the ballet with the white woman wrapping her leg around the black guy's neck. It's a very delicate score, with chamber music textures and funny instruments like a mandolin, piano and castagnets.

I have to say Gergiev's account didn't quite satisfy me. Especially in the first ten minutes the orchestral coordination didn’t quite click. There's a part (the whole piece is a suite of quasi-galant dances) where the violin is doing hefty stehgeiger stuff while piano and trombone support with a kind of basso continuo. In order to provide this bass seamlessly the pianist, trombonist and conductor have to listen very closely, and I didn’t get the sense they did. Later on things got better; they even got very good, but I'm not sure whether this was because of the efforts of the various section leaders (the string folks were working very hard) or Gergiev. Perhaps this kind of music is not really Gergiev's bag, and I'm wondering why he put it on the program. In a couple of months the Dutch National Ballet will do a Balanchine Centennial program featuring Agon, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the ballet orchestra will do a better job at this score. At least they get more face time with the conductor.

After the intermission: Oedipus Rex. This oratorium, again, is a rarely performed piece. It needs a narrator, four male singers and a mezzo, singing Cocteau's neo-latin text about the guy who killed the king and slept with the queen. I like neo-classical Stravinsky, I like Latin, and I absolutely liked this performance, from the minute those vast roiling opening chords were unleashed. The Rotterdam is a fast and agile orchestra; they don’t have a hall like the Concertgebouw slowing down the pace.

I take it the singers are from the Kirov pool; they may well be the same guys who performed the OR in New York City earlier this year. The Jokasta soprano (Zlata Bulytsjeva) was particularly good. She opens the second act, and, boy, that is one hell of an aria she's singing there, after which she gets a tortured dalogue with the Oedipus tenor, who's getting the uncomfortable feeling he may not be Mr Nice after all; maybe he did kill the king. (Never mind, says Jokasta, nobody's perfect.)

It's interesting to realize how often the music is at complete ironic odds with the libretto. While the singers are pondering doom and moral obligations, the orchestra is playing a lusty march, saying (as it were): pontificate what you will, fate will run its course anyway.

So, after all, a satisfying concert. Did I mention that Gergiev, again, was conducting with a toothpick-sized baton? He's got those tiny baby hands, and his sticks are getting smaller too.

Herman

Interesting concert and I like neo-classical Stravinsky too.

My last concert at the Disney Hall with a friend was a Takemitsu (sp?) piece called "From me flows what you call time" brought on by a poem about a glacier. What ever gets you off I guess. Never heard Takemitsu before and really liked it. Much calmer than Messien. 5 percussionists with lots of marimba, xylophonne, gongs and wind chimes and several sounds of silence to let it all sink in. Very beautiful the way the percussion floated around and pierced the woodwind and brass/strings melodies.

Then the last half was Tchaikovsky's Pathetique. Well done. in the 3rd movment the conductor was working so hard he hit the stand with his batton and broke it, it flew into the front row and he was left with a stub, but exchanged it for another right away. I'd never seen that happen before but he was prepared (we were sitting behind the orchestra so I got a direct view of the conductor). It was strange going from spare contemparary to romantic excess. The evening program notes were really streching it to come up with why the two were put together. All was incredibly beautiful in the new hall as I've come to expect it.

glenn

Life is analogue

A couple of weeks ago - Beethiven's Violin Cto and Strauss II pieces, very disappointing. Can't figure out why, butvery disappointing...followed a few days later by the Chicago and Yefim Bronfman doing a superb Prokofiev Piano Cto 2. It was so good it made up for the disappointing Beethoven.

Phil

catch your lucky star

Last night's concert looked particularly ill-starred. I got the tickets long ago as a birthday anniversary gift for Rosie, who's nuts about Kyung-Wha Chung, the great violinist, who was going to perform the Brahms Cto with the Concertgebouw and conductor Christian Thielemann, performing the Schumann Fourth Symphony after the intermission. A rather safe program, but heaven just the same.

A month before we got a letter saying Thielemann couldn’t make it, due to problems with his Berlin Opera orchestra - I guess he's too busy making anti-semitic remarks about Barenboim to do his guestwork in Amsterdam. (Just kidding.) Irvine Krivine would replace Thielemann. (I'm not making any jokes about that one.)

At the same time as our tickets were handled on entering the Concertgebouw we were handed a flyer, which said Chung hadn't been able to make the concert, due to flue. Okidoki. More bad news for Rosie. However, the good news was on short notice Joshua Bell had been found willing to replace Chung for the Brahms. In my heart of hearts I rejoiced. I like Chung immensily, but then I'm talking about the seventies and eighties Chung. Right now, I prefer Joshua Bell.

And before Brahms's second theme arrived sweat was appearing on Bell's pretty face and Rosie had to agree. This was pretty good. As often with Bell, the gluggy heavy bass was removed from the score, and so it was a fleet, powerful, emotional and fast Brahms Concerto we got. Bell wore a black casual pants and a black open-necked shirt. Good for him. I don't need no tails, and neither does he. Often he pitched himself against the celli, across Krivine's rostrum. His attitude was intense and lyrical. The stage was littered with bow hairs when he left, and it is amazing how much sound can be projected from such a bite-sized instrument as a violin. Rosie claimed she had had some extra special eye-contact with Bell (concerning the fact that I was clearly having such a great time) so I guess it was a nice gift concert anyway.

The Schumann? The fourth is my favorite Schumann symphony. But I have to confess I had to listen to every minute as I was sitting there, eight rows into the auditorium, with no escape, and it made me realise how weak the first movement is. All those boring question answer calls btween violins and celli or bassoons. Yawn. Why does it work in Beethoven 4 and not in Schumann 4? Dunno.

The second movement however is wonderful, and the trio of the third mvt, again, got a wonderful treatment by the marvellous Concertgebouw strings and woodwinds. Beautiful lyricism. But maybe Krivine (who conducted the entire evening from memory and sometimes beat time with a baton, and sometimes with bare hands) is just not big enough to keep those crazy marches swift and light.

All in all not the best Concertgebouw concert I have been at, lately. But still a great experience.

Herman

After a day fighting to get my cable internet access fixed and fighting with the pigs at Dell to get them to take responsibility for an error they made that will delay fixing a customer's laptop by a further 4 days (and thereby cutting my income as well, since I'll have to do this week's work next week),

I was delighted to read about this concert, even if it's not the best you heard from the orchestra. It's nice to know something good is going on in the world.

I think I'll rant in another place.

On a short visit to the UK I managed to catch a concert earlier today at the Holywell Music Room, Oxford, having waited for over half an hour in rather chilly conditions for a returned ticket.

The Royal Philharmonic Ensemble was playing two pieces. First up was Mozart's Clarinet Quintet K581. I hadn't appreciated before that this was scored for a clarinet that could produce a bass note that could rival the lower registers of the cello, and the interplay between these two instruments was very interesting. The clarinet playing (Michael White) was really excellent and held the piece together, despite some occasionally loose ensemble from the violins, By some distance, the Larghetto was the movement that most successfully realised Mozart's freeflowing bittersweet melodies to light up a rather grey Sunday morning.

Next up was Smetana's quartet From My Life. I did wonder a little if the ensemble would cope, but the violinists switched positions, and right from the start launched into a searing attack on the first movement, that continued unabated through this great quartet. The third movement, a beautiful memory of his wife, was sublime. The sudden dissonance in the final movement that signifies the onset of Smetana's deafness had a jarring effect that felt like hitting a brick wall. I had not appreciated before this performance just how intense this piece is - for me it had always been an interesting adjunct to Janacek and Dvorak - but I see it in a different light now.

So, a good concert, nicely rounded off by meeting the players in the pub down the road afterwards - that's what chamber music is all about.

This is the first season for the Oregon Symphony’s new music director, Carlos Kalmar. I’ve read good things about him: the local paper has almost canonized him already – he’s from Austria, don’t you know, so he must be great. He conducted a well reviewed disc (of what I can’t remember, but it was even in Gramophone). He’s shaken up the traditionally very conservative music programs: next season has music by living composers in six of the fourteen subscription concerts, up from the usual 0-1 per season. He’s even appointed a woman (gasp!) as assistant conductor. (And he’s invited Yakov Kreizberg back for two shows next season!) The only thing I’d not done is heard his conducting. Until last night.

I decided to wait to hear his Beethoven first. Erstwhile Oregon Symphony conductor James DePreist was not a good Beethoven conductor. Of the several times I heard him conduct ol’ Ludwig van, it was only when pianist Eteri Andjaparidze came to play the Emperor that a truly good performance was extracted from the orchestra in this repertoire. DePreist even made the Fourth Symphony boring. Kalmar decided to start his Beethoven concerts with the Fifth, so I had to go, but he also decided to play the entire incidental music to Egmont, complete with narrator and soprano.

The show started with Egmont and what a fine surprise. I’d never heard the complete incidental music before, though obviously I’m quite familiar with the overture. After the dramatic overture, a professional stage actor named Scott Coopwood started in on the English narration. His Shakespearean background was obvious and helpful throughout, as he breathed some real drama into the text, especially the closing passages. The tiny soprano, Anna Christy, looking perhaps aged eighteen (though she’s in her mid-20s), and wearing a rather flattering little black dress with a really low back, did a reasonably good job in the soprano part. Her singing was quite beautiful, but her projection was non-existent. Several times she was way too quiet – and I was in the fifth row and no more than 20 feet from her. She was obviously nervous, so perhaps that played a part, but her bio states that she’s played the Queen of the Night, but unless that was in a really small opera house, I cannot understand how she could have. Now lieder, that I can see. As to the orchestral playing, well, it was crisp, taut, and just dramatic enough. Kalmar never allowed anything to drag or to swell to unsustainable proportions. Vibrato was well controlled – the man is no HIPster, but he’s obviously picked up a few things. Overall, it was a fine opening.

The Fifth was next. The same characteristic that informed the Egmont informed the C minor. The opening had plenty of thrust and excitement, but I’ve heard better. The second movement was somewhat surprising in that Kalmar actually ratcheted up the tension. While there’s never really any rest in this work, the second movement usually is not this relatively intense. The third movement was more intense yet. I was sensing a pattern: Kalmar made each movement more tense and dramatic than the previous movement until the orchestra erupted in the finale. Throughout, speed and clarity were paramount, and the orchestra responded exceptionally well. Kalmar did allow himself a few small touches, a few lingering string passages in the second movement, some extra attention to the winds in the fourth, but overall, this was a very straight and direct reading. No fussiness and plenty of energy. Upon completion he and the orchestra received a well deserved ovation. No, he’s not the greatest Beethoven conductor out there (though I liked this performance better than Rattle’s VPO effort), but he’s very good; finally, there is the prospect of good Beethoven in stump town. I’ll soon see if that’s the case, for next week I hear The Ninth.


"The universe is change, life is opinion." Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

[This message was edited by Todd Arola on SUNDAY 22 February 2004 at 20:25.]

Last week’s all-Beethoven program was excellent and showed promise for the future; this week’s concert was something else entirely. I need not worry for the future. In his brief pre-concert speech, Kalmar revealed that he has conducted The Ninth since 1987, and his conducting verified that contention. Also in his pre-concert speech, the music director said that he saw more value in paring Beethoven’s last symphony with something darker to create a nice, contemplative juxtaposition between the beginning of the concert and the end of the concert. What work could possibly be paired with the Ninth? It would have to be relatively short and quite powerful. Kalmar came across the perfect companion piece for the concert in Arnold Schoenberg’s A Survivor From Warsaw. His conceit for the concert: play them without intermission.

The Schoenberg hit with powerful force. From note one on, it was a bitter, angry piece. Scott Coopwood, the narrator for last week’s Egmont returned to do his thing. Once again, he performed far more than admirably. His voice never really dropped below a growl, and mostly he delivered his speech in either red-faced anger or puckered sorrow. His screams of “Achtung” were almost frightening. For some reason he was miked; that was not the best decision. The man can project his voice quite well, and I would think he could have risen above the orchestral din of even Schoenberg. As it was, when he yelled he drowned out the orchestra. As soon as his part was over and the chorus began, he stamped off-stage. His was a remarkable performance. (Since he does local theater, methinks I shall have to meander to something by the Bard one of these days.) Throughout, the orchestra played the piece with amazing coherence and precision, responding perfectly to every animated command of the maestro. When he brought the piece to a close, it was perfect; every one stopped on cue, not even an extra breath out of place. The music’s harsh dissonance was so wonderful to hear. This piece has never been played in stump town before. Indeed, Schoenberg gets short shrift here, as in most places. I sincerely hope Kalmar programs more Schoenberg, because he knows his stuff.

After a pause of perhaps half a bar, The Ninth began. The extended stage rendered my fifth row seat a third row seat, so I was closer than normal to the action, and blessedly so. As the orchestra stirred to life in this piece, one could just tell that the initial orchestral eruption would be powerful. ‘Twas. As with the Fifth last week, tension, speed, and excitement were evident throughout. The entire first movement was a breathless yet monumental experience. The strings responded as one, the timpani were whacked with perfect timing and heft. (And for once there were very clear dynamic gradations.) The winds were positioned directly in front of the conductor, and he lavished notable attention on them. The second movement continued where the first left off, once again being played at almost breathless speed. Only in the middle section did Kalmar allow for slight relaxation, and there it was to highlight the winds, again, and to bring out the evident humor in the score, as well as the cello and violas immediately afterward. Indeed, despite its speed, this scherzo was delivered as a musical joke. The great Adagio was exactly that. Everything was once again precise and coherent. Kalmar had obviously drilled the orchestra for a lengthy amount of time because they did everything right here; the sound they created, beyond the precision, was quite beautiful. It was quite moving. Then came the finale. From the beginning, he built the theme up until it the entire orchestra revealed it in all its glory. Last week he got the opening of Fifth’s finale right, this week he got the appearance of the Ode to Joy right. Whatever mistakes he may make (and they appear to be few), he definitely knows how to get the most important moments right.

While Kalmar can obviously train his orchestra to do what he wants, he’s at the mercy of others when it comes to singers. The quartet was not quite as inspired as one would hope, the bass aside. Indeed, when the young bass, one John Relyea, belted out the first words of the text it was quite moving. His tone is attractive, his voice control admirable. The program notes stated that he works with the big boys: he does secondary roles in major works at the Met, and otherwise works mostly with A-list opera houses and orchestras. Given his obvious youth, I’d say he has a bright future. The tenor was good, but not as good, and the soprano and mezzo were both somewhat disappointing. And the chorus was definitely the weak link in the chain. They did not perform horribly, but they were not up to the standard of the rest of the concert. They were a bit soggy, if you will, lacking the oomph they needed, particularly at the start. Nearer the end they improved a bit. In a merely good performance they would have sufficed. Here they did not. But still, for all that, it was still an astounding performance for this orchestra.

Back to Kalmar and his conducting. He brought the work in at a brisk 65 minutes, and his command of the score was obvious. He looked at his score perhaps four or five times per movement, less in the first movement. He never lost sight of the whole but would attend to a number of details simultaneously: he’d make a gesture to the violins (on his left), nod to the timpanist, for instance, and also bring the brass down a bit in volume at the same time. That’s what a conductor is supposed to do, of course, but his delivery was impeccable and a notch above what came before. I must say that last night’s concert was one of the three or four best I’ve heard the Oregon Symphony do in the last six or seven years. As to orchestral control and precision, only Yakov Kreizberg has delivered at this level when he led an exceptional Mahler First. I think I shall be buying some more subscription tickets for next year. It’s a shame I have to wait until May to hear my next concert: Mahler’s Second.


"The universe is change, life is opinion." Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

Interesting, Todd.

3 weeks ago, the CSO and Barenboim did this same program, with an intermission. I think the intermission is necessary; it allows the Survivior to sink in.

I, too, objected to the amplification in the Schoenberg; perhaps it's the composer's choice. Hmmm...without the amplification, the nazi would have been less frightening.

I really enjoyed the 9th under B, though I think it was slightly unconventional - very slow in the slow movement. Very slow. This time, IMO, it really worked to bring out details of the music without turning it into an incoherent mess.

I heard the CSO under Abbado do the 9th a few years ago and concluded that the conventional wisdom - mediocre poetry set to mediocre music - was accurate. This performance made me conclude that the 9th is a lot better than mediocre.

We sat in the upper balcony in O. Hall, so I could have used a volume control - but on the whole, I'm incredible delighted to have heard this concert. (The Schoenberg makes the term 'enjoyed' out of place.)

Lats night, Daniel conducted and played Beet's 2nd and 4th piano concerti and led Schoenberg's Variations for Orchestra.

The people behind me commented that they had dropped their subscriptions for a couple of years because of all the new music that was programmed. Of course, the Schoenberg Variations is more distant in time today than was Brahms' 4th symphony from the first concert I attended.

I think the Schoenberg was by far the most successful piece of the concert. I don't know if I liked it or not, because it seemed to open up a whole new world of music.

Based on these 2 concerts, a Schoenberg piece would attract me to a concert.

The 2nd Piano Concerto didn't hold together at all, IMO. The 1st and 3rd movements of the 4th were excellent, but the second was not in any way persuasive. The orchstra was great throughout; this was simply one of the rare times DB was not at his best, as far as I can see.

Ever since the renovation of O. Hall, I've bounced around from section to section. Until I got to the Terrace, I had a hard time understanding how the CSO could be so well thought of. The Terrace provided some supoort. The Upper Balcony showed me the light. Even though I wish for more loudness, the CSO is GREAT!

Regards.

Phil

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Originally posted by Phil Barry:

The people behind me commented that they had dropped their subscriptions for a couple of years because of all the new music that was programmed. Of course, the Schoenberg Variations is more distant in time today than was Brahms' 4th symphony from the first concert I attended.

I think the Schoenberg was by far the most successful piece of the concert. I don't know if I liked it or not, because it seemed to open up a whole new world of music.

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That is such a poignant observation. I just can't help thinking that the CSO and Barenboim are just a gorgeous orchestra stuck in some glacial rut.

Maybe the CSO should try a season in Portland, Or. See how the audience likes it out there.

I don't know...people everywhere seem to shy away from new music, especially since Schoenberg and Bartok are considered new.

The CSO actually plays quite a bit of new music, some of it is very moving, some not.

It might be easier to sell seats if the concerts were longer, and it would allow us to hear more and different music while hearing the standards, too.

Regards.

Phil

Murray Perahia must have on nights and off nights. Over the years I’ve read a number of highly critical reviews of his concerts and recitals, mostly on various ‘net message boards, with words like ‘bland’ and ‘boring’ most often used to describe his playing. Well, last night I got to hear Perahia play, and bland and boring are among the last words I would use to describe what I heard.

I’ve mentioned previously that I didn’t even know what his was going to play. I finally found out last Friday, and the news was largely good: Beethoven’s Op 31/1, Schumann’s Fantasiestücke Op 12, and Brahms Handel Variations. Only the Brahms didn’t excite, at least on the page.

So last night I meandered into the performance hall at my alma mater – a nice, small (capacity around 500) recital hall – took my seat in the twelfth row and waited for the show to begin. About four minutes late, to accommodate the people still filing in, Perahia strode to the piano, made a formal little bow, sat and began to play an astounding recital. The Beethoven was the opener – always a good sign – and right from the outset it was clear he was on. Earlier in the evening I listened to his op 31/3 in preparation; I’ve always liked the two LvB discs of his I have, but this was better. In overall approach and sound the 31/1 was similar to the 31/3, except that in person he played with noticeably more energy. The scales were taken crisply, the little waltz-y / landler-y sections were taken with a nice, subtle break between left hand and right, and overall it was just dandy. The rest of the work was taken similarly, never losing sight of the humor in the piece. Was it perfect, as the woman next to me claimed to her companion? Um, no. Perahia missed a few notes here and there, especially with the right hand, and it seems as though the piano was not ideally tuned in the upper registers, but overall it was truly excellent. There are better Beethovenians out there, but this was really good stuff.

Then came the Schumann. My limited experience with Perahia’s Schumann is positive, but this was something else. He opened the piece just splendidly, paying attention to every little detail, phrasing everything just right, varying his volume just so. Then the second piece came and Perahia played with a level of power I’d never associated with him. I mean he played loudly. (This in stark contrast to last year’s Kovacevich recital, where he played more quietly than I expected.) He just tore into the piece with Florestanian abandon, hammering those keys, though never becoming harsh sounding. But when Eusebius returned, Perhia transitioned absolutely flawlessly; it was really something to hear. And back and forth the work went, with beautiful insights where appropriate and blazing attack where needed. The highlight of the concert, I surmised to myself.

After the intermission, it was time for some Brahms. I’ll confess that the Handel Variations is not my favorite work, and so I did not expect much. So the fact that my expectations were surpassed should not be a surprise. Perahia began the piece presenting the main theme in a perfectly ordered manner: everything was clear and lucid. Then he proceeded through each variation in meticulous fashion. That startling power returned a few times during the variations, with the sound easily reaching satisfyingly loud volumes. Nothing really jumped out, but I wasn’t bored to death, either, so I deemed it a success. And then the concluding fugue began. Perahia’s playing here was remarkable. Each contrapuntal voice was clear and poised, and as the piece progressed, and the demands increased, Perahia’s pianism rose to the challenge. Yes, yes, a few notes were missed – he’s no Pollini or Hamelin – but he hit the mark. Despite the wildly enthusiastic response, the Schumann was still the highlight of the recital, I surmised.

After the appropriate applause, Perahia came back out for the encores. What would they be? Perhaps some of the Chopin Etudes? Maybe a taste of Bach? Nah. ‘Twas time for Schubert. Two of the Impromptus. D899, numbers 2 and 4, to be exact. They were just incredible. From first note to last, Perahia perfectly captured the mood of each piece. These are not just happy little pieces, but works with some depth to them. For the fleeter passages, he just glided along effortlessly; in the more complex passages he was more contemplative. The piano tone was just lovely, nothing played too loudly or too softly. These were the highlights of the recital.

So, then, an altogether highly successful recital that laid waste to the criticisms I have read before. I’m sure Perahia has off nights. Last night was not one of them.


"The universe is change, life is opinion." Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

Two weeks ago I went to the LA Phil and heard Alfred Brendel play Beethoven's 3rd Concerto and then the second half was Shostakovich 8th which was really dynamic. All conducted by David Zinman. It was a real treat my first time for both of them and well worth the money. I was sitting behind the double bass section at the new Disney Hall and felt like I was right in their position.
Next week is a Green Umbrella series which is by living composers, we'll have to wait and see.
glenn

Life is analogue

I put on my idiot hat and attend a Chicago Symphony concert....

Dutilleux: Fanfare for Slava and Timbres, espace, mouvement

Shos: Symphony 10

Rostropovich conducting

You must know the context of the 2nd work befopre hearing it. For some reason I simply didn't read the program notes until I had been thoroughly stumped and mystified by the piece. After reading the notes, the piece made perfect sense.

The performance of the 10th symphony was sublime and mind-blowing.

I fear my entries in this thread aren't very informative; my musical thinking is still in the 'I (didn't) like(d) the performance', and at my age it's probably not going to get any better.

I'm writing simply to share the pleasure (or not) that I received from a concert. It's so nice to enjoy a concert, and I think 'enjoy' is a valid response.

The music played last Saturday probably wasn't not meant to be 'enjoyable', though a little bit of the music brought a smile to my face. The music was moving and thought-provoking.

Regards.

Phil