NCPA's Western Classical Season

And yet another season of music has begun. A very lovely beginning indeed.

I went for the SoI concert on the 30th, with Carlo Rizzi conducting the SoI.

The most common criticism, if it were, of western classical is that everything is written down and people just have to play with a conductor waving his hands about. While it is true that essentially the music is the same, the conductor/orchestra influence the sound so much that you may either like a piece of music, or be left cold, depending on the performance (which is why building a collection of W Classical is so tiresome). The timing, the emotional content, everything can change from one performance to another.

Which brings me to the point of this concert:

"Ta da da daaa"...how many times has one listened to the opening chords of Beethoven's Fifth. And different conductors take it on differently. Some at a fast pace (allegro), some weighty (generally preferred by me), some slowing down each note. In fact, I suspect that how it is played influences whether you like the piece or not (like the shimmering opening of Mahler's 1st).

Rizzi was of the allegro camp.

Which was underwhelming as it didn't meet what you thought it should be. But what a performance it was - all lithe with a focus on the melodies, texture and dynamics - it was like listening to a giant chamber orchestra.

Take for example the scherzo played pizzicato in the third movement. It was so beautiful and revelatory, it was like hearing for the very first time (sorry Madonna).

In fact, the commonly used adjective by members of the audience while talking about the concert was delicate. The strings played beautifully. And the newly commissioned double basses added a delightful growl to the sound.

All in all, it was a different, musical, delicate Beethoven's Fifth. If you listened to it instead of comparing to the other Beethoven Fifth's that you know (aka "my reference is Furtwangler, what is this?"), it was a treat.

The concert also featured Wagners beautiful Prelude and Liebestod (which means love death) which was bristling with emotions and, well, delicacy. And absolutely lousy coughing from the audience!

The other piece was Strauss Rosenkavalier, which I never got even while listening at home (perhaps good in an opera, but despite a beautiful waltz, I find it meandering in a way that I dont connect), and the same was true in the concert.

What a lovely concert experience. Thank you my friend TSB for getting me in!
 
We had the Rembrandt Piano Trio play the Schubert Notturno, Mendelssohn Trio No. 2 and Beethoven Archduke Trio at the NCPA this week.

Thanks again to TSB who ensured I got there, and a very enjoyable evening! The Archduke trio for me was played the best, including the sublime slow movement. All three pieces are very musical, and what this Trio brought was a sense of supreme flow and rhythm.

In fact, I could not stop moving/nodding through the concert - this Trio got me into the groove!

Also, a very engaging set of performers - it was relaxing with them on stage, in a way that few concerts are! Love to hear more from them!

Biographies - Rembrandt Piano Trio


Vivek
 
Vivek
I am a newbie as regards western classical is concerned. But i dont know , somehow it makes me wish i was in mumbai.Looks like retirement after a few years may not be so boring after all , a whole new frontier is waiting. (What with all the other frontiers being reasonably familiar indian classical, jazz ,rock ,blues, et all)
Cheers
Himadri
 
Hi Himadri,

Indeed Bombay is happening! We are going to have Justin Bieber this year! :)

I have not posted about a burst of Indian classical concerts that I have been to this year - that too at reasonably moderate ticket prices.

I too came into Western Classical through the jazz, rock, Indian classical route. So in case you start listening, it may be worth listening to the modern era and romantic era composers. I started listening to Stravinsky (Rite of Spring, Gergiev), Bartok (Concerto for Orchestra, Reiner/Solti), Mahler (4th, Haitink, Concertegebouw), Dvorak (7, 8, 9 - Kertesz or Kubelik) and then worked around to others - reverse chronological order nearly!

Not advertising, but please consider subscribing to Apple Music or its equivalents - you can get to hear a lot of music at low cost, and decide for yourself.

Lastly, as an audiophile, one nice aspect of Western Classical is that the concerts are played and heard without amplification - so it adds to the beauty of sound, as much as the music.

See you at a concert in Bombay!

Regards,

Vivek
 
We had the Rembrandt Piano Trio play the Schubert Notturno, Mendelssohn Trio No. 2 and Beethoven Archduke Trio at the NCPA this week.

The same Trio played at the Prithvi Theatre last Monday. The choice of program was weird - The King, the Cat and the Fiddle, an interactive tale by Yehudi Menuhin.

Let's just say Menuhin is a great violinist but the greatness didn't carry over into the composition:)

To my ears, it was most dissonant, disjointed and jarring though the occasional harmony shone through like a ray of sunlight on a dank and foamy day. I thought I'd inadvertantly stumbled into an acid jazz do:)

Surely, the fine talents of Ms Adelina Hasani, the former Principal Violinist of the SOI, were wasted. As were those of the other two members of the Trio.
 
Hi Himadri,

Indeed Bombay is happening! We are going to have Justin Bieber this year! :)

I have not posted about a burst of Indian classical concerts that I have been to this year - that too at reasonably moderate ticket prices.

I too came into Western Classical through the jazz, rock, Indian classical route. So in case you start listening, it may be worth listening to the modern era and romantic era composers. I started listening to Stravinsky (Rite of Spring, Gergiev), Bartok (Concerto for Orchestra, Reiner/Solti), Mahler (4th, Haitink, Concertegebouw), Dvorak (7, 8, 9 - Kertesz or Kubelik) and then worked around to others - reverse chronological order nearly!

Not advertising, but please consider subscribing to Apple Music or its equivalents - you can get to hear a lot of music at low cost, and decide for yourself.

Lastly, as an audiophile, one nice aspect of Western Classical is that the concerts are played and heard without amplification - so it adds to the beauty of sound, as much as the music.

See you at a concert in Bombay!

Regards,

Vivek

Hi Vivek
Thanks for the guidance into western classical. One of these days you may get a pm from me regarding some more.Being located in Bhilai Chattisgarh, Mumbai is quite far , but actually I have travelled to Mumbai twice in the last many years to attend jazz concerts- once for jean luc ponty and allan holdsworth for the other , both the times at St Andrews auditorium.
An accoustic western classical concert might just be the best way to get into classical music as the best indian music concerts i have been to were always small, intimate, unamplified, mehfil oriented stuff.
How will apple music sound in a hifi system?Does it not suffer w.r.t wave or flac files.(Recently ,The metrum dac has got me into computer audio through the dell laptop/foobar and the computer surely beats the marantz cd player as source.)
cheers
himadri
 
I am not sure how Apple Music will sound in a hifi system. I use it mainly while commuting or running. Perhaps you can use it as a sampler of music to decide what you like and then invest in better audio versions.

There are 9.5 Mahler symphonies and I have 20+ CDs of it. So you can see there is trial and error, which can be expensive.

Vivek
 
Hi Vivek
Thanks for the guidance into western classical.
The metrum dac has got me into computer audio through the dell laptop/foobar and the computer surely beats the marantz cd player as source.)
cheers
himadri

Sir,
Sorry, if this is O/T
What you may want to try - just a 'suggestion'
Optical 'Out' from Marantz in to the Metrum Dac.
Then listen & hear for differences.
The Apple Music is excellent for 'finding' [discovering] music.
The Hi Fi Aspect is a lot left to be desired. The Format is inadequate.
Anything less than 1440 kbps is a 'let down' [sonic-ally] !
Cheers !
 
The Symphony Orchestra of India (SOI) has a new resident conductor (Evgeny Bushkov). You can read his bio here: SOI

I was fortunate to witness his first concert with the SOI last night. One very apparent change he has brought in is to change the arrangement of the musicians. Instead of the second violin section occupying middle left, they've swapped places with the bass section and have taken up the hard right position. The physical separation between the two string sections produces a higher musical contrast when the violin sections play parts meant for only one section, or parts that rapidly change hands amongst Violin I, II, and Viola. The audiophile in me find this oddly satisfying;) I like. This is for the chamber ensemble. Time will tell if this arrangement is carried over into the full blown orchestra.

Bach's Selections from Suite No. 2 kicked off proceedings. This composition features a flute soloist. Aigerim Beisembekova did a fine job on the flute. It also features the harpsichord, often in "conversation" with the flute. The finale of this piece was Badinerie - a breathless, virtuoso piece played at a manic, breakneck pace. Aigerim showed why she's a virtuoso in her own rights.

Up next was Benjamin Britten's Simple Symphony, a composition he made for his music school graduation. Apparently the bulk of the material in this four-movement symphony was taken from the 90 or so compositions that he had already racked up by the time he was 14. The second movement Playful Pizzicato was quite a tour de force when it came out. It is still part of the popular repertoire. But the star movement had to be Sentimental Saraband.

The third piece was Beethoven's String Quartet No. 11, arranged for orchestra by Gustav Mahler. The idea behind transcribing the composition meant to be played by four musicians for a full orchestra is to give orchestral musicians a chance to attempt music meant for a quartet (quartets being often composed of four vituosi, and therefore more capable and accomplished than garden variety orchestra members). This means that there is a steep learning curve for the orchestra. Mr Bushkov pushed his team hard and they delivered. I especially loved the Allegro con brio. Manic paced, forceful, wild dynamic swings. Check it out on YouTube.

The finale of the evening was Leonard Bernstein's Hello, Lenny, arranged by Mnatsakavov. Very powerful piece by Bernstein who is known more as a conductor (think Beethoven Symphony #7). The piano in this piece was played in anger:).

A very fine performance by the SOI. One can't help but notice the ever increasing complexity in their repertoire over the years. Mr Bushkov shows a lot of promise. Hope he takes SOI to greater heights.
 
Just when you think you have bought enough classical CDs, you hear a new piece, and then, back in business chasing down nice versions from Apple Music and Youtube.

Last week went to the Arties concert at the Experimental. The concert featured a violin sonata by Lekeu (a late 1800s Belgian composer, died at the age of 24) which was beautiful. A beautiful first movement (melancholic with outbursts), followed by a slow melodic second and a passionate third. Thrilling.

The concert started with Liszt's Lugubre Gondola (cello and piano) which was prettily played and post interval, Brahms Piano Quartet No. 1, which, following the Lekeu, started off as emotionally less involving for me (the playing was great, it was the piece juxtaposition), and by the time the Gypsy Rondo was done, all was splendid thank you!

A beautiful encore concluded a very melodic musical evening.

Oh, there was also a performance of "Happy Birthday to you" for the violist!
 
Another absolute treat today.

Went with buddy TSB to see Andreas Haefliger, who has played in Bombay before - and inspired me to buy his Perspectives 2 CD which I highly recommend - has a brilliant Bartok's "Out of Doors" as well as a lovely performance of Beethoven Sonata 27 (what a melody movement 2 is, and how well he plays it).

Today, he played Beethoven piano sonatas 10 and 30, Six Encores by Berio and Schumann Fantasie. The sheer fluidity (as TSB aptly described it) was mesmerising, with an articulate sound. Awesome piano music reverberated in the hall, and you could feel Schumann missing Clara in the first movement of the Fantasie!

I also liked Luciano Berio a lot, and it was lovely to get an unusual choice. Very trippy, "ambient" sound! Even the "if it is classical, it must be Beethoven or Mozart" crowd tripped on it, I feel.

Uh oh...got to buy more of his CDs again now! (Lucky me!)
 
A classic review of Coltrane album, which got the highest reviewer rating, went something like "it got five stars not because the entire album was excellent, but because some songs were more than excellent".

I would kind of paraphrase this for yesterday's concert of Lukas Vondracek piano solo recital yesterday, which featured Mozart's Sonata No. 10, Smetana Czech Dances selection and Brahms Sonata No. 3 and a very good concert indeed.

The pianist use of dynamic contrasts was stunning, as was the use of tempi variations to express the music.

In particular, I liked the second movement of Mozart where the melody was played sweetly. From Mozart jumping on to Smetana required some adjustment from me (can't imagine the adjustment the pianist needed to make!) and once I got into it, was superb. It was more virtuostic playing than nationalistic, but I particularly enjoyed the Skocna. One more CD to buy!!!

Then came Brahms with its quotes of Beethoven's 5th. Played really enjoyably with the dynamic contrasts coming into play again, helping the feel.

Please switch off your mobile phones when you go to any live event!
 
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Sorry JLS001, just one more addition...it had a magnificent encore of one of Liszt's Transcendental Etudes. That alone, that alone! Worth it!!
 
Heard this tender piano + orchestra piece played by the students of the Symphony Orchestra of India last Monday:

https://youtu.be/Y6qnBuk3WDE

It's Forgotten Dreams by Leroy Anderson. When the last item on the printed program sheet was over, a small 8-year old girl walked up shyly to the stage and offered a bouquet to the conductor. The conductor accepted the bouquet and hugged the girl (who was wincing at the attention:)), and walked off the stage and disappeared. The orchestra was still seated. As if curious, the girl shyly and gingerly walked up to the piano and started playing the intro of Forgotten Dreams. She played standing - her hands were at just the right height for the keyboard. Then when the orchestra took over, she innocently walked around the stage, going to various players as if curious to see them up close and hear what they were playing. And when her part neared she gracefully walked back to the piano and played the second piano part.

One of the most beautiful encore I've heard/seen.

SOI students are playing again tonight at the NCPA. It's their annual concert (fifth year of the school). Having seen last year's performance too, one can't help but notice the tremendous improvements of the students. Bravo!
 
Hello a quick post to say that tickets are on sale for the SoI season. A good set of concerts, which includes Dvorak cello concerto, Symphony 7, Tchaikovsky 4, Beethoven Emperor and Mozart Jupiter, among others

And an exquisite solo program featuring the great Stephen Hough on September 26th - lots of Debussy. A must attend!!

Check the NCPA website for specific dates and programs - all in September.

Vivek
 
Kicked started my attendance of the season, by missing the first half! Hence, could not listen to the famous du Pre/Harrell cello, played by Istavan Vardai, who played Dvorak's cello concerto.

The Tchaikovsky conducted by Jacek Kaspsyzk however was a treat. What listening to the symphony live allowed one to do was closely follow the lovely melodic lines (despite this being one of the oft listened to symphonies by, dare say, many of us*), and the exquisite hand over of the Russian melodies from stings to woodwinds, and back.

So for me, the essence of an enjoyable concert was more than served - lovely music, rediscovery of the symphony and the joy of live sound (trumpets blaring out the fate motif in movement 1, timpani, bass drum and cymbals crashing away in movement 4).

*Rock fans may also have heard a really small part of the Final Movement in Floyd's "Shine on you crazy diamond", when the radio is being tuned in the beginning, and before the guitar intro of the song..
 
For those attending tomorrow's concert, here are the details:
17 Sep | 05:00 pm

Jamshed Bhabha Theatre: NCPA

Jacek Kaspszyk, conductor
Dan Zhu, violin

Verdi: Overture to Nabucco
Korngold: Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35
Dvork: Symphony No. 7 in D minor, Op. 70 B. 141.

The eminent Polish conductor Jacek Kaspszyk has been Music and Artistic Director of the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra since the 2013/14 season. One of Poland's foremost conductors, he has previously held positions as Artistic Director of the NFM Wroclaw Philharmonic, Music Director of the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra and of the Polish National Opera. He has conducted many major orchestras throughout the world including the Berlin Philharmonic, Bayerischer Rundfunk, RSO Berlin, Orchestra de Paris, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, and all the major London orchestras.

"(Kasyszyk) created an atmosphere, which results from great musicality and understanding."*
- Etel-Suomen Sanomat


Dan Zhu is widely recognized as one of the finest Chinese musicians on the international stage today. His recent performance with the Boston Symphony at the Tanglewood Festival was hailed by critics as "truly brilliant, compelling, and polished". He has appeared with many orchestras under the direction of such renowned conductors as Zubin Mehta, Philippe Entremont, and Christoph Eschenbach, amongst many others, and has been invited to perform and give master classes at renowned festivals including the Salzburg Festspiele, Tanglewood, Verbier, Schleiswig-Holstein, Ravinia, and Spoleto.

PS: thanks to moderator Santy the subject is made current (no more Sep 2014:)). The thread is now three years old and being updated so it was no longer fair to call it Sep 2014 season.
 
You are so very lucky in Mumbai to enjoy these concerts and performers. I miss the days I used to go to two concerts a week and end up with a dinner reception with the performers. .... and Martha was my neighbor :(
 
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