Another problem is that the dirigent for this program is Manfred Honeck doing Johann Strauss Waltz! Oy. Not sure if i can stay away for this. :x
Ivo Pogorelich Klavierabend
Sonntag, 17.02.2019 | 20:00 Uhr | Meistersingerhalle, Großer Saal
Ivo Pogorelich | Klavier
Ivo Pogorelich | © Malcolm Crowthers
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Adagio h-Moll KV 540
Franz Liszt
Sonate h-Moll, S.178
Robert Schumann
Symphonische Etüden op. 13 – mit den Variationen op. posth.
Fünf posthum veröffentlichte Variationen
Thema – Andante
Zwölf Etüden
Just returned back from an excellent concert with Ivo. A bit strange with a person besides him which is turning the pages and the fact that he plays everything from paper. But unsurpassed tonality from him, really enjoyed the concert. While he has a certain style of playing…
That’s really cool he’s still playing. I bet Liszt’s B Minor sonata must have been a treat.
Holy Holy - Bexhill De La Warr Pavilion, 17 Feb 2019
First up, who are Holy Holy? They’re a group playing the music of David Bowie from 1969-1974. However they’re not just any old tribute band, they are headed up by Tony Visconti, Bowie’s long time producer and occasional bass player and Woody Woodmansey, the drummer from the Spiders from Mars. Fronted by Glenn Gregory from Heaven17 and featuring other musicians of note in their own right. More of a supergroup than a tribute band.
First tune of the night was a rocking version of Width of a Circle from The Man Who Sold The World album and from that they went on to play the album in full. After that it was The Rise And Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars, again in full but not in order. Encore was a song from Blackstar then Changes, Life on Mars and Rebel Rebel.
As always the sound in the De La Warr was excellent and really showed off just how good a bunch of musicians they are. Glenn Gregory is a surprisingly good frontman and really did the songs of Bowie justice. Highly recommended if you like Bowie of that era, you won’t be disappointed. Still a few dates left on the UK tour.
The Style Councillors a Style Council tribute band at Patterns (the old escape club) in Brighton last Saturday. A very enjoyable night about 300 people tightly packed in, in front of the band and with the lack of any stage it all felt very intimate. Three piece horn section, bass, lead guitar, two keyboard players, a drummer and two vocalists, of course the sound wasn’t great but the energy made up for that.
Yeah with his kind of tonality it was the highlight of the evening. While his tempo choices could be argued where sometimes discussable…, I liked it a lot…
Had a great concert last night with Alice Sara Ott with the Ghotenburg Symphonic. Given her sickness Alice played the Ravel piano concerto instead of the Liszt concerto. And the Orchester parts where Sibelius Finlandia and the 5th Symphony with an encore as Valse Triste.
The Ravel concerto was very well played. The prat was flowing through the hall. She had a nocturne encore which was also very sensitive. The real surprise of the evening was the playing of the orchestra under the guidance of a great young conductor. We should watch him. Santtu-Matias Rouvali
1 Like
Beth Hart on Friday 22nd February, the Enmore Theatre, Sydney.
She really is one of the most amazing blues singers on the planet. The band were excellent and tight. The Enmore is a great small venue and although I was up in the gods, it’s not like being in one of the huge stadiums, it still felt intimate.
Check her out if you haven’t heard of her. YouTube “I’d Rather Go Blind Beth Hart Rock City Nottingham” for an example of her live performance.
2 Likes
CSO/Muti:
#### PROGRAMSchuman Symphony No. 9 (Le fosse Ardeatine)
Mozart Requiem
PERFORMERS
Benedetta Torre soprano
Sara Mingardo contralto
Saimir Pirgu tenor
Mika Kares bass
Muti/CSO premiered a grippling Schuman Symphony No.9. This score was dedicated to the victims of horrific Ardeatine massacre during WW II by Nazi not too different from Shosty’s Babi Yar.
Dark and brooding. It’s like a Copland’s patriotic war music without his optimistic american goodness. There aren’t much differences between the 3 movements in that the music feels awfully static rather than moving forward. A frightening ending is without much conclusion or resolution and open ended to have a stronger impact. Knowing the subject line helps to understand the intent of this tone poem. There is no sentimentality. All gore and ugliness of human atrocity. Muti is heavily involved on this throughout the score to make sure all the musicians are together right on their mark. Raw and barren, the only thing missing here is the smell of burning flesh. Powerful, dynamic reading with maximum impact and that the composer certainly accomplished what he set to do: ie. spread the word and remind us of the hideousness of ward every time the score is played.
What followed this program was rather appropriately reflective Mozart’s Requiem. Serene and solemn it was an excellent contrast to the dark Schuman program.
Muti took a slower and grand tempo here but I did not mind it at all. Large chorus backing was sometimes sounded like a ghosts or angels hovering providing Soothing atmosphere. Unlike the Schuman program, here Muti just let the music flow, he let the leash a bit looser just giving the band direction here and there but letting the music happen.
Muti usually introduces new talents and on this program, soprano Benedetta Torre ( Young Italian ) and bass Mika Kares ( Finnish bass ) made the CSO debut. The soprano performance was rather unsure and some opaque and wobbly tone ( must have been from nerve ) and she did not have the same control, expression and transparency of veteran Contralto Sara Mingardo. Bass Kares is also lacked the reach and resonance and sometimes slightly off key.
Tenor Samir Pirgu, last time I saw him was Falstaff again here was with Muti and I recall I loved his natural reaching voice. This diminutive tenor again delivered with clean distortion free easy on ear performance.
All’n’all, this was an excellent programing to combine very different yet connected scores which made me move greatly. As I get older I am more appreciative of music which make me * think* than just a mere background.
Elektra
ELEKTRA: Nina Stemme*
CHRYSOTHEMIS: Elza van den Heever
KLYTÄMNESTRA:Michaela Martens
OREST: Iain Paterson*
AEGISTH; Robert Brubaker*
CONDUCTOR: Donald Runnicles*
Attended my first proper opera. It was beyond my expectation and nothing other than spectacular! Nina Stemme who made the Lyric opera debut was in a top form both vocally and dramatically. Rest of the cast also was excellent. Operatic singing is different from a straight singing. Conductor was my fave Donald Runnicles who also made a Lyric debut. This is the first time I have heard the orchestra in a pit and it had a defused and warm and bloomy balance compared to the CSO orchestra.
The set was minimalistic and abstract sort of like 1920’s German expression a la dr. Caligari with skewed leaning walls and rumbles. Perfect to show a mental state of deranged family.
Civic Opera House was built in 1929 opened right after the infamous Stock Market crash in October. Art Deco interior throughout. Capacity is larger than the CSO at over 3600 seats.
2 Likes
Beautiful. Has me wanting to go to an opera if not just for the venue.
SS,
Compared to some European Opera Houses, it’s rather spartan, but pretty good for the Republic US!
BEATRICE RANA
PROGRAM
Chopin Twelve Etudes, Op. 25
Ravel Miroirs
Stravinsky The Firebird (trans. Agosti)
Chopin Prelude in F-sharp Major, Op. 28, No. 13 [ENCORE]
Chopin Prelude in B-flat Minor, Op. 28, No. 16 [ENCORE]
Rana made a Chicago debut yesterday. A few misplaying through the performance, but she offered up a delicate most beautiful harp like sound from a piano. ( like the 1st tune out of the Etudes ) The style was definitely more of romantic flowery Chopin than burred canons. Her right had was nimble and free yet her left hand seems to be not catching up. It can be deliberate to get that extra drama but her rubato sounded rather awkward.
I felt she was playing it safe. I don’t mind a pinist misplay here and there so long as her / his intenions are clear. I didn’t think, for instance, her Winter Wind - Ocean ( No. 11 -12 ) were turbulent enough. That said, I very much appreciated her thoughtful subtle playing. ( I much prefer this than other young drilling pyrotechnical piano players )
I very much enjoyed the The Firebird. I have never heard a piano reduction of the score but it was impressive that very little was missing. However the timing I thought was a bit slowish. Mind you, my favourite reading is Stravisnly’s own. Wishing Rana duplicated Stravinsky’s tempo as well as rhythmic accents. Also she failed to extract a bottom end reach and projection from the piano for the finale. Tho still plenty impactful.
I didn’t relalise how young she was so curious to see how far she can go.
1 Like
Behzod Abduraimov
PROGRAM
Liszt Isolde’s Liebestod from Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde
Liszt Sonata in B Minor
Prokofiev Ten Pieces from Romeo and Juliet
Liszt Étude No. 3 in G-sharp Minor from Grandes études de Paganini (La campanella) [ENCORE]
I was not at all familiar with this pianist but I recall I got the tickets as Bart went to on of his concert in Germany playing the same tunes and recall he liked it. His style was a complete opposite of Rana who I had listen to a few week ago from exactly the same seating spot and with the same house Steinway.
Abduraimov was able to get a huge sound out of the piano and very much all muscle like American car. Good on macro dynamics but where he lacked I felt was a delicate pianissimo and tremolo lacked finesse and liquidity.
I love that tune from Tristan and Isolde, especially the delicate so so beautiful ending but he wasn’t able to get that out of the tune.
Familiar B minor sonata is a kind of program perfect for him generating much excitement but of course, noone could duplicate a bi-polar disorder like manic of Horowitz.
What was really worth is for me was his encore ( just one ) of La Campanella!
Wholy smoke Bat man! 
All of sudden, he transofrmed from American muscle car to an Italian sports car! One of the rare hair raising experience.
I was also impressed that absolutely no misplaying throughout this difficult tricky entire repertoire.
I still prefer Matsuev or Trifonov as I think they are more versatile and get a wider range of expression and colours.
1 Like
as opposed to those you are planning to go to…
The great Steve Winwood and band followed by Steely Dan at Wembley last night.
Steve was fantastic as ever. One of the first times I saw him was in Norwich with John Martyn circa 1976/7.
Donald Fagen was on fine form and really swung/grooved with his band. I think I was disappointed that there wasn’t much change in tempo through the gig. The drummer, who must have been the hardest working drummer last night, played too hard and even when the song started at one pace it seemed to move into another, slightly too fast and hammering along. The colour of many of the songs seemed lost. And I am not sure that Aja actually worked because there was just too much crammed into it. All of that said, it was great to see and hear them.
1 Like
Richard, I see that I have duplicayed a thread so perfectly happy if you delete this one. (and I tried so hard to look for the existing thread! obviously an age thing!)
Slash at the Hammersmith Odeon last week. Scorching! And filmed for a release later in the year. I’ll be having it on the day of release to hear the guitar solo on Wicked Stone again that seemed to go on forever. Also Thunder at Gatehead earlier in the month, although they kept it 100% acoustic and didn’t rock out at all as was expected (boo).
Yes I saw Steely Dan and Winwood in Glasgow last week and took my 13-year old son - his first ‘proper’ concert. He loved it, thankfully as did I. Fagen and Co were excellent but really loved the Winwood set too, and have been enjoying the Winwood Live album since.
Youn Sun Nah last night in the small French town Lillebonne. First night of the tour in a wonderful theatre.
Her recorded voice is beautiful but live she is absolutely amazing - her vocal range is astonishing.
The new album is out on Friday but sadly not on sale at the venue. As usual some interesting covers including George Harrison’s (and Nina Simone) Isn’t it a Pity.
1 Like
