What was the last concert you went in 2015?
Posted by: kuma on 11 January 2015
My first concert for 2015 started with youthful pairing of Paul Lewis/Vasily Petrenko at the Orchestra Hall last night.
- Elgar In the South (Alassio)
- Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 5 (Emperor)
- Rachmaninov Symphonic Dances
Petrenko opened with Elgar's 'In the South' Overture and I was pleasantly surprised how lively and energetically it was played. Even the CSO musicians seemed more upbeat and animated than usual. I throughly enjoyed Petrenko's refreshing take on this tune.
Lewis has been a *regular* at the CSO for a few years. His Emperor Concerto is heroic, bold and confident as I expected him to be. The only draw back I felt was the orchestra was a bit soft and not as rhythmic feeling they were trailing a tad behind Lewis. A bit of a surprise really after such a lively Elgar piece.
Lewis did not offer his own cadenza in the Emperor but he played Schubert's Allegretto in C Minor as an encore. The trouble was he was still on the Beethoven mode. ( I love his Beethoven but not totally sold on his Schubert work )
Symphonic Dances was exciting Petrenko keeping the CSO on their toes. Perhaps it did not have the menacing weight of Berliner/Rattle set but the CSO Brass rose to the occasion adding an extra brilliance.
And it was cool that noone coughed after the final gong and kept the silence for a pretty good duration.
Salonen Conducts Ravel/Debussy
Chloé Briot Soprano
Marie-Eve Munger Soprano
Kate Royal Soprano
Marianne Crebassa Mezzo-soprano
Elodie Méchain Contralto
Manuel Nuñez Camelino Tenor
Stéphane Degout Baritone
- Ravel Mother Goose Suite
- Debussy La damoiselle élue
- Ravel L'enfant et les sortilèges
Month of May, CSO has been running all French themed program lead and curated by Esa-Pekka Salonen.
Ma mère l'Oye was enjoyable with lots of textures and colours coming through in lush orchestration but Salonen kept a relative cool in emotional department. I still prefer a long lovel build to the finale. Plus, Salonen decided to play the original piano versions with a missing tune and several Prelude and out of sequence.
By far most interesting was the The CSO premier of L'enfant et les sortilèges where a conductor had to organise and coordinate between the orchestra, 8 various solo singers, full chorus and a separate children's chorus. This is an Opera but more or less this is in an informal narrative style. Most singers were French but I wasn't familiar with any of the names. I particularly enjoyed Chloe Briot who played a child. What a lively charming performance but every one of the singer were excellent.
Here Brio ( a child ) and Camelino as the Wedgwood Tea Pot in 'How's your mug' number.
Stunning Marianne Crebassa miaowing in the Cat Duet with Stéphane Degout.
There was no costume or set design, but the orchestration was so vivid and rich, you can feel you are in the forest with all that sound of nature.
The CSO has done this format before with Tristan und Isolde ( this was also with Salonen, IIRC ), but this was much more successful performance partly due to better singers involved.
It was hard to believe CSO never played this score in their 125 year history. It was a full house and they ran out of the program.
Status Quo - The Blue Bell Hotel - Burton Agnes - 16th May 2015
At an up and coming event, I hope, in East Yorkshire.
The Quo played, what else would you expect, a rockin' set through their extensive back catalogue on a rather cold evening out in a field around the back of the pub....but we all soon warmed up.
Great fun!
Richard
Parsifal at Symphony Hall Birmingham last night.
In a universally good cast the Kundry of Mihoko Fujimura stood out for me, I have never heard the role sang with such passion.
I think the amazing vocal lines Wagner gives to Kundry in the 2nd act look forward directly to the Schoenberg of Erwartung & even Pierrot Lunaire.
The orchestra & chorus were also on top form.
Concert performances such as this have the great advantage of not having an opera producer ruin the experience. I enjoyed this far more than the 2013 Covent Garden production at about a quarter of the price.
Apologies for the appalling picture quality.
Rush - Toyota Center (Houston, TX) - May 20, 2015
Great show, as far as visuals, setlist and the nightlong tour through Geddy's bass collection. I'm sure his bass tech has worked harder on this tour than any other, as Geddy played a different bass on each song. His #1 Jazz bass only appeared a handful of times, though there were probably another half dozen Jazz basses, in addition to a seemingly endless assortment of Precision basses, Gibson Thunderbirds, Rickenbackers (including the pictured double-neck) and many more. Unfortunately for a bassist that really got into the band in the late '80s and early '90s there were no Wals or Steinbergers.
The sound was horrible (as is standard at this venue). The bass was muddy, the guitars were screechy and incoherent and half of the drum set was M.I.A. in the first set. The second set was better, but not hard to improve on how bad the sound was in the first set.
The only show I've seen in this venue with decent sound, of the 25-30 shows I've seen here, was The Wall. I wish they had played our local amphitheater instead, as it has much better acoustics.
Salonen/CSO
- Debussy Syrinx
- Ravel Piano Concerto in G Major
- Messiaen Turangalîla-symphonie
Salonen closed the CSO's French Festival with unusual but spectacular Messiaen's Turangalila.
The program started with a low key Debussy's Syrinx with a single flutist spot lighted in a complete dark then Thibaudet's Ravel's Piano Concerto. I have seen him last playing Ravel's 'Concerto for the Left Hand' rather poorly about 10 years ago. This time it was a note perfect performance with a coquettish light touch. I loved his Bill Evans transcription but he's turning into a flamboyant Earl Wild in his old age.
Messiaen's Turangalila was rather challenging due to its repetitiveness and roller coaster dynamics which goes on about 80 min. non-stop. There are a several audience could not handle it and left in the middle of performance ( including my friend who is more of a traditionalist )
I thought that the band was tight and Salonen did a good job keeping everyone on the toes and on the same wave length.
I did get to hear this unusual instrument called 'Ondes Martenot'. An elecrical keyabord that makes that flying saucer sound from cheezy low budget 50s scifi film.
This is what it sounds like:
Last night I went to see Mark Knopfler and his band play at The Royal Albert Hall. I had gone to see him there with a friend back in 2013 on the Privateering tour and was really impressed, so the opportunity to do it again so soon was not to be missed. Co-collaborator Ruth Moody opened the show and bravely covered The Beatles In My Life. Clearly the lady has guts aplenty, and she got away with it... MK has surrounded himself with some superb musicians, each incredibly talented in their own right, and he is always generous in allowing them to be very much a part of the show , never letting himself hog the limelight. You feel it is very much a group effort rather than one man and the support band. A couple of Dire Straits oldies thrown in for good measure to keep everyone happy. A great night and something to really look forward to if you've got tickets for any of the remaining shows on the tour.
