Sep. 21, 2002
Musikverein Vienna, Großer Saal
Joseph Haydn: Symphony #96
Anton Bruckner: Symphony #4 (version 1878/80)
London Symphony Orchestra, Bernard Haitink
Scan of my ticket

I don't know a lot Haydn works, and I didn't know this symphony, but it was really fun. I can't write a lot since I can't compare the interpration to any others, but it sounded solid to me; at least being exposed to it for the first time, there was nothing about the performance that sounded wrong to me. The LSO's woodwinds sounded magnificent.

The Bruckner symphony was of course my reason to go to this concert. Although Bruckner is regularly played in concerts in Vienna, you only get few good interpretations, since most conductors' Bruckner is a rather disappointing experience. I had read great things about Haitink's Bruckner interpretations, although I have a recording of the 4th by him and the Vienna Philharmonic on CD and never was very impressed by it. But ever since I heard the LSO play Goldsmith last year, I wanted to hear their Bruckner, and so I was really excited when I found out they were going to play one of my favourite symphonies right here in Vienna, and with an experienced Bruckner conductor, too.

And Haitink is indeed a Bruckner conductor. No jumpy or abrupt tempo changes or blurred transitions, like those so many other conductors torture Bruckner's with. Of all the recordings I've heard, this reminded me the most of Karajan's classic Berlin version. Some sections were a bit slower, but the balance of tempos was very similar. And Haitink managed to make those "little bits" in the first movement shine like hardly anyone but Karajan ever did. There were very few bits I would have preferred to be played differently, but nothing that distracted me, and certainly no problem when they managed to get 99% right. The LSO didn't quite manage to give the dance parts in the finale that folk music-like sound it usually has, but aside from that they were of course excellent, amazingly precise, and in most cases a great balance between the different instruments, creating a very clear sound which I think is so important to Bruckner's orchestrations. It wasn't the best Bruckner performance I've heard, but it certainly was a very good one by one of the greatest orchestras and a conductor who clearly is an excellent Bruckner conductor. If this combination comes again to Vienna to play Bruckner, I'm there.

Philipp

As for concerts, I'm probably not going to see (m)any this year. Local programming sucks.

quote:

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Originally posted by Dinko:
I have been able to hear Wolfgang Sawallisch's EMI recording of the 4th Symphony with the Philadelphia Orchestra, and I really like that piece of work.

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Sawallisch is a good Bruckner conductor. I heard him conduct the 8th last year, it wasn't great, but it was good.

The 4th is a favourite of mine, but technically, Bruckner's later symphonies (like #5 and #8) are better.

Rach

Time: 7:30 pm (with the last lights of the sunset)
Orchestra: Mexico City Philharmonic Orchestra.
Conductor: Neal Stulberg (One of the greatest and funniest conductors I’ve got to see)

Program:

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 – 1791)
Symphony No. 32 in G Major, K 318
Well, Mozart is from my pint of view, the most talented composer to date. I love Mozart’s symphonies. This one was fantastic. The conductor was perfect and the MCPO did a great job too. It is one of the most cheerful symphonies I’ve listened to. It was amazing to be listening to the masterpiece, breathing this “electrified” air, and watching the perfect sunset from the castle.

Eduardo Angulo (1954)
Concert for flute and orchestra. (2002, International release)
When I heard it was a “contemporary” piece, I though it was going to be one of those hymns to atonalism (I think that in the classical music field, the only current composers that are truly enjoyable are jazz <if considered as classical> and film music composers. However, the common classical composers seem to be improving by taking after some film music composition techniques)
Since the piece began, I immediately perceived a film music sense, and wow, it was terrific. It was like listening to a live film music concert. You guys would love it! Unfortunately there isn’t a CD recording of the concert (Maybe later)
It has a passage of bombastic trombone’s glissandos, with drums, the majestic French horn on the top, and strings of chores, pure film music. Love it!

Alexander Scriabin (1872 – 1915)
Symphony No. 2 in C Minor.
Well, Scriabin is one of the enterprising film music dudes along with Prokofiev, Stravinsky and Shostakovich. He was interested in the problem of the colored light visualization of music, and he investigated what melodies, what chords and what instruments, produced which feelings.
This symphony was great. I imagined a whole dramatic story while I was listening to it.
The symphony’s finale is powerful and tremendous, not recommendable for people with heart problems.

That was all.

Rach.

N.P. Braveheart - James Horner

I'll say this much: live opera sucks, much of the time. This is only my second live opera, but I have heard many more live recordings on CD, and live broadcasts on the radio, and virtually all of them lacked the advantages of a controlled studio recording.

Yesterday was no different. As good as the cast was, the pacing of the whole project - for various reasons - could not be very energized, and came off as flat compared to the CD (a studio recording) I was able to hear recently. The vocalists all deserve praise for delivering the goods.

The orchestra was weird. After a timid and uneven start, they got better as things went on, until at one point in the middle of a performance they lost it and became Praguely cacophonous for a few instances. When they were good, the strings were incredible, the woodwinds excellent, and percussion good too. The brass came off as the most uneven part.

Set design, apparently done for the Philadelphia Opera company, and costumes, for the New York City Opera, were all first rate.

That said, I haven't been at the opera in months. I should go there again, if only to check out their new subtitling system (something which they had already planned once, a long time ago, but then dropped because Karajan was strictly against it).

I really need to get to the opera one of these days. I've got the Chicago Lyric Opera virtually at my fingertips, but no money to attend. And, of course, no one to go with.

It was clear in my head, but I forgot to write it. What I meant when I said live opera sucked was really the musical side rather than the whole performance.
The visuals add a lot, as do the overtitles/subtitles, but I was really more interested in the music and how it was performed than how the opera as a whole stood together.

You're both right when you say that opera without the visuals is incomplete, but as I just said, that is not the problem. My problem with live operas is that I am annoyed by the actual performance of the singers + orchestra + chorus relative to studio recordings.

A free Loto-Quebec/Gaz Metropolitain/LaPresse concert.

The Montreal Symphony Orchestra
Rolf Bertsch, conductor
Quartango quartet, special guests

In a beautiful natural surrounding, held outdoors. The MSO played some music from Strauss (one of the Waltz-Strausses), Bizet (Carmen excerpts), and some tango pieces by Piazzolla, as well as 'La Cumparsita' and some less popular tango pieces.

Followed by the Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor and the two usual encores, Ravel's Bolero and some polka or other (the type made popular by James Last).

Given that it was free, it was all in all a nice concert, except the tango part which was really lame. These were mostly 'concert' tangoes which sounded like concertos rather than actual dances. Even La Cumparsita was screwed up.
The opening Strauss waltz was nice, but nothing to write home about. The Bizet suite was good.

The orchestra really showed what it was capable of in the Polovtsian dances, even though a few more rehearsals would have been better.

The two encores were extremely well done, but given how many times the MSO has had to play these, it was no surprise.

I enjoyed most of it, though frankly what made it so much more enjoyable was the scenery in the park.

Salaberry-de-Valleyfield is not a huge place, and it seemed as if all the locals were attending the concert. From what I understood, this would be the first time the MSO has played there.

Funniest part: the Sauve park is a semi-island. One of the bridges used for crossing is very old. At the end of the concert, police officers had to let the crowd cross in small groups for security reasons. it all went well - no riots, though there was a huge lineup. but it was funny.

So there. I attended yet another MSO concert, but only because it was free.

Overall, fairly disappointing. The Swan Lake suite was announced as 'Suite from Swan Lake' with no details as to what would be played, and other than the theme, the rest I could have lived without. No Spanish Dance, no coda, no finale... bleh.

Palmer's Buzzard was a not-too-bad modern composition. Somewhat minimalistic in style. Like annoying chirping birds with an aggressive attitude. Not bad, not great.
Bad part: it had a dancer. A single lone (female) dancer trying to mimic bird movements in front of the orchestra using modern dance choreography. Sad. Really sad. I had to constantly pinch and bite myself in order not to laugh at how ridiculous it was.

Respighi's Fountains went by fairly fast, and wasn't too good. I really prefer the Pines of Rome.

Thank God the Stravinsky selection wasn't of the worst kind. This Firebird suite was fairly listenable, if not good.