It is. $160 million of repairs completed due to damage incurred in the 2010/2011 earthquakes, it was reopened a few years ago. It’s a fantastic venue for classical and contemporary music. Occasionally the organ is dusted off, I hope some day we’ll hear Saint-Saens’ organ symphony played there.
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Hi
Yes he is. I’ve seen him on a number of occasions in the UK. A very nice little music festival in a church in little missenden (Beethoven Diabelli variations and Schubert impromptus D935) and in a very nice acoustic St George’s in Bristol (the last 3 Schubert piano sonatas)
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Very different performance from the last time I saw Midge. That was a small venue. Midge. Bar stool. Mic. Acoustic guitar. Awesome.
Voice and visions is stadium rock, speaker stacks, lights, bass. Revisiting Ultravox two most successful albums. Fantastic.
Across both performances you really get a feel for the raw talent of this musician.
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I also saw him play Schubert sonata pieces but not as good as Beethoven in my mind. He was playing Schubert like a Beethoven piece! Those last three Schubert sonatas are extremely difficult to play in terms of nuances and expressions. There aren’t many sets that I like actually out of living pianists currently.
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Yes they are challenging pieces to get everything just right. I see quite a large influence from Alfred Brendel on Paul Lewis. I have only heard them performed by him. I did manage to see Radu Lupu perform the D845 which was amazing, Grigory Sokolov the D850
I try to see Sokolov each time he comes around and it would possibly be about time for a performance of the D959 or D960.
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A few different gigs over the last few days
Brandt Brauer and Frick on Saturday night at the Jazz Cafe in Camden
The following evening A Winged Victory for the Sullen at the Barbican
And Dominic Miller at the 606 Club in Chelsea
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Sokolovs’ Schubert live must be wonderful. I only have his D 894 & D960 on a CD but that particular performance is not my fave.
My all time go-to Schubert interpreters are Schnabel, Richter and Kempff.
There is no upstaging or showing off. Schnabel tells his story in somewhat in monotone flashback manner. One of the most moving 2nd
movement I have heard so far. He really lets the silence do all the talking.
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Thanks for that, I have a performance by Richter from the Russian archives (combined with coughing/sneezing etc from the audience….) and the DG set of Wilhelm Kempff. I will dig them out and have a listen. I will keep an eye out for that at the charity shops.
I think in the coming concerts with Sokolov, it is possibly time for either the D960 or D959.
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Not a gig, or concert…
Rocky Horror Show
At the Peacock Theatre, tonight…
Fun show, if perhaps a little rushed compared to when we’ve seen it before. Still, a good production…
Plus, the pub after!
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Jeff Beck tribute at Royal Albert Hall last night. Rod Stewart, Eric Clapton, Ronnie Wood, Imelda May, Billy Gibbons among others… a brilliant night.
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Fergus McCreadie Trio at the Octogon Chapel Norwich. Doing his jazzy Scottish folk form thing beautifully in a lovely venue. Could maybe do with a more propulsive drummer - felt more that way at Love Supreme last summer.
He was pretty darn good on the last night of the tour, playing Birmingham Utilita Arena.
I’ve never heard him chat to the audience so much AND I have NEVER heard him SWEAR before either…
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A couple of nights ago at the Fondazione Teatro del Maggio in Firenze, Italy: Verdi’s Otello, conducted by Zubin Mehta, who took about 10 minutes to make it from the orchestra pit to the stage, while the final act cast took three times as many bows as normal, waiting for him. I guess memorable as possibly one of the last performances he will conduct, but as an opera it wasn’t as gripping emotionally as some, though certainly enjoyable.
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Had a nice concert with the Sisters Labeque and then after the break Strauss Ein Alpensinfonie. Well executed and also the sisters were an enjoyable listen. Didn’t realize they where already a generation older….
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Which orchestra are they Bert?
Yes, saw him last year here in New Zealand. Was really something very special.
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