The 2017 Concert Season begins

[astrotoy]

I am in London and thanks to a recommendation from Ked, found myself tonight at an LSO concert at Barbican Hall, which is a nice warm-sounding hall. (Ked probably likes it because the entire back-stage wall looks like it was designed by Shun Mook!) I heard Sibelius' 5th (not my cup of tea) and some god awful premier of a modern commissioned work. But the gem was the Elgar Cello Concerto performed spectacularly by a German cellist named Daniel Mueller-Schott. He had it all, superb technique, emotion and intellect. It was the best I ever heard that piece performed live.

The Elgar is a great concerto! We heard Steven Isserlis play it at the Barbican with the LSO a few years ago.

We're off to London next month. Mueller-Schott recorded the Brahms Double Concerto with Julia Fischer on Pentatone on SACD. I very much enjoyed the recording (which I listened to in mch). I think the Barbican gets dissed a bit too much, especially if you are sitting somewhere in the middle stalls. However it probably is a moot point, since I believe the deal to get Simon Rattle back to the LSO is to also build a new concert hall for him to replace the Barbican (I think closer to the tube station.)

There are many fine halls in Europe. The most famous large halls are the Musikverein Grosser Saal in Vienna and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, often considered two of the three best halls in the world (along with Symphony Hall in Boston). We really like Wigmore Hall in London which is great for chamber music. Seats don't have enough leg room for me, however. Smaller halls are easier to have great acoustics. There are many smaller opera houses through Europe which are also fine. I remember two in Prague, one of which I think was used in the Amadeus movie. We like Glyndebourne south of London.

BTW, halls that are great for concerts are often not so good for recording. Decca used a different hall (Sofiensaal - an old dance hall) for their Vienna Philharmonic recordings in Vienna.

Larry

 

[bonzo75]

I haven't been to Vienna. I heard Bruckner 7 conducted by Haitink at both concertgebouw and barbican and much preferred the latter, though the orchestra is different. I actually like barbican just behind stalls center but maybe I am used to it. I like it more than wigmore and similar size to wigmore is King's place which I think is better though wigmore gets better performers with more frequency than King's place. Sheldonian at Oxford to me is far superior to all these.

Regarding Steve Isserlis I saw him do Shostakovich cello concerto at wigmore, and saw Sheku Kenneh Mason do it at King's place, the latter was possibly one of the best concerts I have seen.

 

[marty]

I believe the deal to get Simon Rattle back to the LSO is to also build a new concert hall for him to replace the Barbican (I think closer to the tube station.)

Larry

Larry,
I've come to really like Barbican Hall because it's a complete "Center" (hence the name Barbican Center) with plenty of food restaurants and stands where people can hang out before the concert (including some lovely gardens outside). There are even art galleries to browse for free inside the Center so it's a pretty happening place. You can't say those things about Carnegie, Lincoln Center, Boston or Chicago. in addition, the seats are comfortable with generous knee room. So if they do indeed build a new hall, I hope they give it the same trappings as the current hall. The current hall is only a (long) block from the tube which is just fine.
Marty

 

[bonzo75]

I was at the barbican yesterday to watch Maxim vengerov perform Brahms' sonatas. I saw the chief conductor (also founder and director) of sheldonian's resident orchestra, Oxford Philharmonic, strolling about with his wife (vengerov is a resident performer at the Sheldonian hence maybe why the conductor was here to watch).

I walked up to him and told him how much I love their acoustics and how I make the 90 min journey to sheldonian now and then. Gave him specific examples like a reviewer giving examples about recordings he used to AB equipment. He and his wife were initially surprised to see a stranger walk across and start talking, then they were both pleased and, I guess, amused

 

[bonzo75]

Yesterday was the the only day of the year that the Royal opera house orchestra comes up on stage to perform, otherwise they are usually in the pit to support the on stage opera. Yesterday they delivered a fantastic orchestral performance, I actually prefer the sonics here much more to the central London halls. Christian Gerharer had joined them so overall it was excellent. Strauss metamorphosen, Elgar's enigma, Shostakovich British and American folk songs, etc

 

[marty]

This weekend marked the end of another great concert season. On Friday I saw Ked's hometown LSO w Simon Rattle doing Mahler's 9th at Lincoln Center. Today, I saw their afternoon performance of Das Lied von der Erde. The tenor and baritone and indeed the entire performance were wonderful. If you're a Mahler fan, it is a daunting but delightful exercise to see these two pieces performed at almost the same time. Remember that Mahler never heard his last 3 "symphonies" (including Das Lied here to make a point) performed live. He was in the final stages of composing them during the time when he was the Conductor of the NY Philharmonic (1908-1911). Simon Rattle specifically said he wanted to his LSO to play these pieces now in NY so they could appreciate the NY influence on Mahler. Rattle said the 3 pieces (9, 10 and Das Lied) would never have been the same if Mahler had not been in NY when he finished composing them (he obviously never completed the 10th). In any event, the 9th and Das Lied are both very much about coming to grips with dying, yet the music and song (Das Lied) are very different. In the 9th, Mahler is resigned to accept death which he knows is inevitable (he knew he had heart disease) and comes to peace with himself over this acceptance. But in Das Lied, he not only accepts death, but embraces the eternity that he is sure will follow, so Das lied is actually a work of great uplifting beauty rather then resignation and this can easily be heard in the music. If you really want insight into Das Lied I highly recommend Bernstein's timeless commentary (in which you can obviously tell was done after he had a few drinks!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kf8lDWsOgWg

As good as the Mahler concerts were, neither was the best concert I heard this weekend. That distinction goes to a concert by Zakir Hussain and Dave Holland at Jazz at Lincoln Center. Accompanied by some of the finest jazz musicians anywhere, they call themselves "Cross Currents" and are now on tour. If they come your way, drop every time and go see them. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity if you are a jazz fan or fan of Indian classical music crossed with jazz. Hussain, a tabla player, is the world's best percussionist and is genuinely one of the fathers of world music. Dave Holland needs no introduction to jazz fans. But together, and with their sidemen, they are simply mesmerizng and jaw dropping. Hussain is 66 and plays like he is 26, and Dave Holland is a timeless wonder. Quite a show.

And that's a wrap. No more live music I think until the Blues and Brews Festival at Telluride in September.

 

[bonzo75]

I was at Mahler 7 at Barbican yesterday and was quite sure the old Japanese lady sitting next to me was Mitsuko Uchida. I could not be sure, but came home and checked a video and yeah it was her.

Maybe she went home and said, I could have sworn this guy sitting next to me was a hifi blogger. I could not be sure, but when I came home I checked his pics on Zero Distortion, and yeah it was him.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

I was at Mahler 7 at Barbican yesterday and was quite sure the old Japanese lady sitting next to me was Mitsuko Uchida. I could not be sure, but came home and checked a video and yeah it was her.

Maybe she went home and said, I could have sworn this guy sitting next to me was a hifi blogger. I could not be sure, but when I came home I checked his pics on Zero Distortion, and yeah it was him.

that put a smile on my face. thank you sir!

 

[marty]

I was at Mahler 7 at Barbican yesterday and was quite sure the old Japanese lady sitting next to me was Mitsuko Uchida. I could not be sure, but came home and checked a video and yeah it was her.

Maybe she went home and said, I could have sworn this guy sitting next to me was a hifi blogger. I could not be sure, but when I came home I checked his pics on Zero Distortion, and yeah it was him.

Good one!!
I have an Uchida concert booked for next season at Carnegie. She's a beautiful interpreter of Schubert piano Sonatas.
Next time you're in town, you should bring her to the house. She'll play the Steinway and we'll listen to her recordings on the system and then figure out what the Steinway is doing wrong because it doesn't sound like the system

 

[bonzo75]

Yes she has 4 performances in London year end, two of which are on Schubert sonatas.

 

[R Johnson]

I attended a donor luncheon today before the CSO concert ("Janowski Conducts Wagner & Beethoven 4"). Before lunch, three of the CSO musicians gave a 20-30 minute concert. The trio of violin, viola and cello was excellent and the sound from 15 feet away was fabulous.