On Saturday evening we went to two concerts at the Wigmore Hall in London. The Nash Ensemble played “Schubert era” music including his wonderful Arpeggione Sonata in the first concert and his Octet in the second concert.
We were close to the front so could see all the subtleties about how the players worked with their instruments and the way they looked at each other to get the timings right. And from the fourth row, the sound was fantastic!
The BBC recorded the concerts and some of it is on R3 on Tuesday evening, so I will enjoy hearing exactly the same performance on my own system at home.
Great to see the magical Ryley Walker back and in good health after cancelling last years UK dates due to personal issues. Superb guitarist and songwriter, played songs from his first three albums including:
Primrose Green
Summer Dress
The West Wind
Halfwit In Me
Funny Thing She Said To Me
Roundabout
Great And Undecided
Age old Tale
May You Never(John Martyn)
Banks of The Old KIshwaukee
I love this mans music, anyone with an interest in Bert Jansch/John Renbourn/John Martyn and acoustic guitar may also. Acoustic gig but he can really stretch out when playing electric with his band…more jazzy then.
New album next year and a tour…… probably.
Come on buy this mans music , look at that T shirt he needs the money!
First visit to” Café Oto”, small, good sight lines great sound fair bar prices, nice people, seated and standing…we’ll be back!
Elton John farewell tour. Mission estate Napier New Zealand. Beautiful conditions in natural amphitheater. Elton’s voice in excellent form. He’s just belted our Philadelphia Freedom and crowd went wild.
Saw Sol Gabetta with the Bamberger Symphoniker. A great concert. The playing of all was snappy and insightfull. She played the Elgar Cello concerto. The only critique I could have is that her cello sounds more agile than the earthy rawer sound I like to hear…, but her playing as such was great.
Did he finish the concert with Burn Down the Mission ?
It’s all time favourite of mine. It’s a beautiful tune and I used to bring this CD for a demo or at a show. I see that he hasn’t lost his pipe.
I bet it was great!! What a nice program and excellent artists!
Jakub Hrůša is my favourite young conductor. I was very impressed when he came around to Chicago. ( He’s gonna be conducting Brahms 4 and Dvorak Piano Concerto with Martin Helmchen soon ) He’s the kind of young talent Chicago needs after Muti retires in 2022.
Would love to hear Gabetta. Hope she’ll make it here soon. ( unfortunately, I don’t see her in next season program )
I guess he is soon getting a bigger conducting post, he is indeed very talented…, obviously assuming he is flexible to live anywhere. Will be hoping to see him a bit more, which should be possible as he conducts the Bamberger Symphoniker which has it’s hall relatively close to my home…
Don’t know what the current openings are. But I would argue that talented conductors always move around. Bayerischer Rundfunkorchester would need a new conductor - while some other names have emerged for following after Maris Janssons.
So let’s see but I wouldn’t be amazed if he moves in the next 1,5 years.
Seth Mulder and Midnight Run, at the Emsworth Community Centre earlier this evening. Bluegrass musicians from Tennessee on their first U.K. tour. Phenomenal players and lovely people. We put the gig on at short notice and it was just brilliant.
Beth Hart & her excellent band at Brighton Dome on Wednesday 6th. Outstanding concert and she played many tracks from her latest album, ‘War in my mind’, as well as some of her classics. Was determined to see catch a UK performance, as we missed her concert at the Royal Albert Hall in 2018 - we do have the BluRay though.
Sadly, we couldn’t make it Ese and The Vooduu People in E17 tonight, as I’m down with a nasty little green bug (other colours are available, but not in my hanky).
So, apologies @TheKevster and Ese - sse you next time! Hope it was a great night!
Hopefully, Kev will supply his usual great report on the gig.
The day after my Elgar Cello concert I even had a better but completely different concert. Dream Theater…, and a Dream came through. They played of course some songs from their last album which is also very good. But then after a short break they played there best album ever in it’s entity live. What a joy, what a great musicians. Tears of joy have been in my eyes. Over the years I have become finally a bit smarter and had for the first time earplugs in to avoid having clipping ears, a good experience as well.
For now the best concert of the year, let’s see if that’s still the case at the end of the year.
I knew it was going to be pretty good. Muti conducting Italian opera program has been always massively enjoyable. We were seated, front to the left so whilst the view to the principal singers were somewhat obscured, I got to see Muti actually conduct soloists and orchestra up close.
It’s all about timing and pacing. He makes sure a soloist plays stops and starts of note right on the moment. I saw a harpist glued to his que. I saw Muti paying attention extra hard in quieter passages. Making sure strings don’t get too sappy. Power and articulation. I really love that about his direction. ( sort of like why I like Naim gear )
I didn’t realise there was an organ used in Intermezzo. What an overwhelming sense of scale. I certainly felt the warmth!
I was impressed with Rachvelishvili in Aida last year but perhaps, in Santuzza’s role, her vulnerable quality was somewhat lost as she has a tendency to go over the top. Plus she lost a bit of colour and textures in some spots so it wasn’t her best performance last nite. Also, I wish Sarah Cooke ( Lola ) was soprano instead of mezzo. ( I just see Lola as a ditzy waif ) Out of three, I thought that Mamma Lucia sung by Ronnita Miller was most fitting of the role. She did not have much of singing time but her delivery of lyrics showed underlying feeling of caring and worrying mother.
Two tenors were excellent as well. Tho I prefer Luca Salsi (Alfio). I thought his voice a bit more fleshed out to my liking over Pretti.
