It was a brilliant concert, just like you said he seemed to be really enjoying himself. He played a lot of Smiths songs but I prefer his later stuff. He makes it look easy but he‘s a master of arpeggiated triads 
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Amazing gig, loved every minute.
I agree - his solo stuff was really good. Loved hearing How Soon Is Now and the rest - and had a sense that a lot of the fans there went for exactly that - but Generate Generate as an opener was fantastic (good 1-2 punch with Panic!) as was Easy Money, New Town Velocity, and Hi Hello. That man is a genius.
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Awesome! Get any merch??
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Saw Agalloch in Melbourne last year and honestly, they were pretty awful. Pity as I loved this band back in their prime.
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Yup, the tour shirt. Was wearing it today.
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That’s a shame because when I saw them they were phenomenal. Absolutely nailed every song and had a great vibe. Up there amongst the best gigs I’ve ever experienced.
The Mozartists and Viktoria Mullova at the Cadogan Hall (London) last night. Part of the Mozartists’ Mozart 250 multi-year programme exploring Mozart and contemporaries works from 250 years before (so all concerts this year will be works composed in 1775), scheduled to finish in 2041 with works from 1791 when he died.
Mozart Violin Concertos 3&4, Haydn Symphony 68 and CPE Bach Symphony in D Major.
Lovely playing from the Mozartists, the Haydn was wonderful, the CPE Bach was a revelation to me, I’d always put him down as a fairly standard classical-era composer, this was wild with randomness that sounded like early 20th century invention, I need to explore his symphonies more. I love Mullova’s playing, and I really enjoyed the concerti. Her intelligence always shines through, but she captured the lightness and vivacity of the music, beautiful performances.
(Mozart was 19 when he wrote these, I’m reminded of Tom Lehrer’s line “It’s people like that who make you realize how little you’ve accomplished. It is a sobering thought, for example, that when Mozart was my age, he had been dead for two years.”)
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Do you actually mean the Cadogan Hall in London? Were you not allowed to take any photos of the performers?
Thanks Andrew, missed an autocorrect. I’ll fix that. And they asked for no photography, videoing or audio recording, I followed their wishes.
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Wow. It’s wonderful she’s still concertising. She was a sensation back in the 90s.
CPE Bach was a revelation to me
Me too. He is under rated! But he has done some interesting things.
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Muti Conducts Strauss, Hindemith & Dvořák 9
Program
Johann Strauss, Jr.
Overture to The Gypsy Baron
Hindemith
Symphony, Mathis der Maler
Dvořák
Symphony No. 9 (From the New World)
It’s nice to see Muti back in Chicago with CSO.
I was not too enthused with his Dvorak which was too slowish tempi and lacked impact. It was unusual for Muti actually but I felt perhaps the band was a bit off. Scherzo opening should have an impact of cutting air but it did not. Largo, however, was beautiful and rich.
I was sitting very close to the fleet of cello and I did not realise a huge impact they add to the score.
I thought Muti did great making something out of Strauss’ overture. I am not a big Strauss Jr. fan but they played the piece expressively ( almost like an opera ) not making a usual cream puff style.
Hindemith’s Mathis der Maler was relatively easier piece to digest. Again here Muti made this piece more interesting than I have heard them in the past. It’s a music depicting of a painting and the performance had enough colours and textures to make it come alive.
Muti + Concert Master
Principal Cello John Sharp
Principal Viola Teng Lee
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Last night we saw Destroyer (Dan Bejar) at the Barbican in London. Pretty close to the front row so only took 1 or 2 snaps. Good evening, although marred by sound issues. As soon as the lead guitarist went for it all the vocals became inaudible or at best unintelligible. On the quieter more reflective songs all was well. We realised after about 3 songs that no one was going to fix the sound, so shrugged our shoulders and carried on enjoying the evening.
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Last night I was up in London for a concert at the Royal College of Music. Martin Brabbins conducted the RCM Philharmonic for the world premiere performance of Tom Bradbury’s Treacle, followed by Brahms Piano Concerto No.2 with Misha Kaploukhii on piano. Sat in the front row (D’s favourite seats) almost able to touch the pianist, I did at times feel I was almost in the piano. To sum up - Visceral!
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Formerly of the wonderful The New Pornographers - @Neil-26 is a big fan of his.
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Yes, I love Destroyer. A shame about the sound issues.
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Wolf Alice on 5th November in Stockholm . Brilliant dynamic, energetic performance. Great live band. Really enjoying their latest album
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My wife and I are seeing WA in Nottingham in December. Far bigger venue than last time and I was a little disappointed with the latest album / direction, but I suspect it will still be very good if it is a mix of new and old tracks. I agree they are a great live band. I’ll check setlistfm nearer the time to do some lyrics homework.
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They started off with quite a lot of material from the clearing but still down and dirty with lots of earlier material
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Muti/CSO + Pablo Sáinz-Villegas
Program
Stravinsky
Divertimento, Suite from The Fairy’s Kiss
Rodrigo
Concierto de Aranjuez
Brahms
Symphony No. 4
Out of the program, I most enjoyed Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez. This is the first time I hear this familiar tune live and it was most fresh and lively rendition I have ever experienced. Sainz-Villegas was excellent with his superb technique and expressive rendering from piano to forte. I was almost in tears when he played a lovely encore piece reminiscent of Forbidden Games. ( I did not catch the name)
Divertimento was colourful and lively much better than Ansermet set I have on a record. It’s a ballet piece but most recordings have been wanting without the visual support. But live rendition gave me an advantage of hearing excellent instrument separarions in that I got to understand there’s a lot going on this short piece.
But the most disapointing was Muti’'s handling of Brahms 4th. I have noticed that last few times he has been keeping slowish tempi and more legato styling. Massed strings sounded laboured and mechanical not fluid enough and the final movement did not have enough stopping power. Last time when I have heard this piece with CSO was just a few years ago with Bychkov and It was much more convincing. Maybe Muti is getting older and softer… 
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