Recent Concerts You've Enjoyed

Thought this might be a fun thread and a way to find out about acts on tour.

My wife and I saw the Smoke Fairies at the Tractor Tavern last evening as the opening act for Rasputina. The Smoke Fairies are a 'folk blues' duo from Wales and have been described as "Bob Dylan's dream." I thought that their debut release "Through Low Light and Trees" was one of last year's best. It was just the two principles singing and playing guitar. Really terrific concert with excellent acoustics and thankfully not too loud.

If you are ever in Seattle, the Tractor Tavern is a great venue in the Ballard neighborhood. Very fun people watching...I think my wife and I were the only ones without tattoos! I got to chat with them after their set and had my LP signed. I love the lilting Welsh accents!

Here's a video of "Hotel Room" from their debut LP:

[video]

 

M3 at Carnegie Oct 15, 2024

Last night, Yannick and his Philadelphia Orchestra performed Mahler’s 3rd Symphony to over-whelming heights for an appreciative New York crowd at Carnegie. It’s a concert I’ve seen several times live, but was rendered into blissful silence nonetheless. Since he’s also performing Mahler’s 9th and 6th at Carnegie later this season, I’m guessing that he’s probably recording the complete Mahler cycle for his new label, DGG . Since there were no microphones on stage, my guess is that they will record these at Verizon Hall in Philadelphia, where they generally play a week or so before the Orchestra tours in NYC (as was true for M7 last spring).

Hearing this orchestra perform at Carnegie is always a treat as NYC is sort of his second home (as he is the conductor at the Metropolitan Opera as well). What makes Yannick exceptional is anyone’s guess. But what makes the orchestra exceptional is the musicians.

This year was saw an extraordinary coup d’etat for the Philly as Esteban Battalan is now the permanent 1st Trumpet, a position that has been vacant for quite a while. What astonished the classical music world is that he was appointed the 1st Trumpet at the Chicago only a short time ago. But apparently he defected to the Philly in large part because he greatly admired the playing of Jennifer Montone, the 1st French Horn. Such musical attractions are often what cause the leading players of the world to change teams! Batallan's off-stage trumpet playing in the third movement was a highlight for me- so sweet and beautiful. Very appropriate for a movement Mahler called "What the creatures in the forest tell me". You can hear an excerpt (another performance entirely by Bernstein and the NY Phil) here:

Stopping Time—Mahler 3rd Posthorn Solo — RUSSELL STEINBERG

Smack in the center of the mighty sonic sprawl of the six movements of Mahler’s 3rd symphony is a moment that arrests time. We hear an offstage “post horn” solo sounding completely foreign to anything we heard previously in the symphony. It establishes its own world, and note by note hypnotizes us

www.russellsteinberg.com

Last evening, the great Joyce DiDonato was the featured soloist, and she was wonderful, as were the choirs. The Philly also has an abundance of other top world class musicians, such as Ricardo Morales, the 1st clarinet, who many consider to be the finest orchestral player playing today (on any instrument). The list of superlatives go on but the bottom line is this is one hell of a band. Their playing is just extraordinary and always a treat to hear. I would like to think Mahler himself would have given them a big thumb’s up if he were in attendance last night!

No small measure of their greatness is due to their maestro, who is always a revelation to watch as he conducts. As he said, he always ends up crying when he conducts M3, and many in the audience joined him after the last movement (the adagio) which just took my breath away with its beauty and grace in typical Mahler fashion. What makes Carnegie special, like many halls around the world, is that it hosts several of the world’s great ensembles throughout the year. But the Philadelphia Orchestra series there is always one of the season highlights and welcomed with great anticipation.