Russian Robotic Predictability

Last month I attended a Seattle Symphony performance highlighted by Alexander Melnikov, a Russian pianist. His playing was very animated and played with a musicality that was not very common amongst my previous experiences listening to Russian musicians. He even gave the audience a little finger waggle when they began to applaud between movements.

My first recollection of a Russian-origin performer was when I was growing up and had the opportunity to see the Russian National Orchestra in performance. The orchestra was the perfect definition of technical soundness, almost as if the orchestra was a well-oiled museum. What was particularly striking was that all the violinists played in the exact same style-they were virtually indistinguishable other than their personal appearances. Their postures were the exact same, and each would use their bows in an identical manner. We would joke at the time that most of the violinists were former students of the concertmaster, though I wouldn't be too surprised if that was true. Last year I did write about a performance of Tchaikovsky's first piano concerto by Daniil Trifonov, where he seemed to be a nervous mess combined with technical abilities. His lack of stage presence took away from the live performance, and almost turned it into a recording studio type of session.

It seems most curious that the Russian school of training seems to be technical brilliance at the expense of stage presence, whereas for many western soloists it seems to be great stage presence combined with some sloppy passages throughout the performance.

Lang Lang With The Seattle Symphony

Lang Lang With The Seattle Symphony

Sunday, October 11

2 PM

Coriolan Overture - Ludwig van Beethoven

Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K. 491

Allegro

Larghetto

Allegretto

Lang Lang, Piano

-Intermission-

Sections from Gli uccelli - Ottorino Respughi

Prelude

The Hen

The Cuckoo

Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16 - Edvard Grieg

Allegro molto moderato

Adagio

Allegro moderato molto e marcato

Lang Lang, Piano

This concert was a huge disappointment to me, particularly given someone of Lang Lang's stature. I was most disappointed in his use of "artistic license". It's one thing to make a good thing of ritardandos and accelerandos, but when you completely use it to obliterate any sense of rhythmic integrity (for example the piano's first entrance in the Grieg), the notes turn into noise that lacks any direction, and completely changes the tone of the music. Additionally, he would keep on looking out at the audience, much like a pop "artist", and it seemed to detract from his focus as well, as there were multiple technically difficult passages that were not soundly played. Perhaps he should focus less on the onstage persona and more on the onstage performance. The music wasn't helped by the musician selection of the orchestra itself, as it seemed that the orchestra decided to forgo the idea of using its best musicians and instead, especially for the strings, use the oldest musicians under contract, and the quality greatly suffered as a result.

Also, since Lang Lang is a major Chinese celebrity, the Chinese turned out in major force. I for one generally cannot stand having a large group of Chinese people around me at an event that's not catered towards Chinese people, as they tend to misbehave and I look bad and get lumped in with them because I'm Chinese. This case was no exception of their misbehavior. Firstly, this resulted in some clapping between movements. I suppose it also doesn't help that half of the Chinese people were either pianists or their parents, none of whom have any understanding of orchestral music as they're too narrowly focused on their piano. Additionally, there was so much picture-taking and use of cell phones during the performance itself, and the performance was not treated with any type of formality (just like most Chinese events where silence and good behavior is not required). Also, the coughing and other noise-making was in no way silenced at all, compared to seasoned concertgoers who would at least try to muffle their sounds if possible. Needless to say when it comes to large groups of Chinese people we can't have nice things.

Seattle Symphony Opening Night!

Opening Night Concert & Gala

Saturday, September 19

7PM

Overture to Wonderful Town - Leonard Bernstein

Piano Concerto, Op. 30 - Samuel Barber

Allegro Molto

Kevin Ahfat, Piano

Winner, Seattle Symphony Piano Competition

Suite from Appalachian Spring - Aaron Copland

-Intermission-

Danse Bacchanale from Samson et Dalila - Camille Saint-Saëns

Piano Concerto No. 5 in F Major, Op. 103 "Egyptian" - Camille Saint-Saëns

Allegro animato

Andante

Molto allegro

Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Piano

After several long months, it is now time to usher in the 2015-2016 season of the Seattle Symphony, with a good number of guests dressed to the nines for the gala preceding the concert. The concert itself was the typical Seattle Symphony affair, with the orchestra being a little rough around the edges. I was very impressed with Kevin's performance as he mastered the Barber concerto and had great stage presence. Since I couldn't see his hands, I could only watch his face and feet, and you could really tell that he was having fun with the peace (though maybe a little too much, as his mouth rarely stayed closed during his performance. Thibaudet was even more impressive, with pinpoint technique to go along with a flowing melody. We were also treated to an encore of Saint-Saën's Carnaval des Animaux featuring our two soloists. The "Pianists" was nice and lighthearted, especially intentionally playing the scales out of time, and the performance concluded with the "Finale" movement. So far a great start to the season!

Mahler Symphony No. 3

Mahler Symphony No. 3

Saturday, June 20, 2015

8 PM

Symphony No. 3 in D minor - Gustav Mahler

Kräftig, Entschieden

Tempo di menuetto: Sehr mässig

Comodo, scherzando, ohno Hast

Sehr langsam, misterioso

Lustig im Tempo und keck im Ausdruck

Sehr langsam und durchaus mit inningster Empfindung

Christianne Stotjin, mezzo-soprano

Northwest Boychoir

Women of the Seattle Symphony Corale

This was my final concert for the 2014-2015 season, and needless to say I was excited heading into the concert, as it's not every day someone performs a Mahler symphony. Most are marathon affairs, and the third symphony is no exception, with the performance clocking in a shade under 2 hours from start to finish. I was impressed by the overall body of work , but as usual, I was not blown away by the performance. Most of the piece was technically sound and everything was together for the most part (and they even sent the trumpet player up high into the balcony for the 3rd[?] movement), but there were some things that stuck out (including the dude two rows in front of me and the guy next to me who were both using their phones during the performance).  Firstly, it is my belief that no one individual should stand out during the performance, but at every performance, there is one guy in the first violin section who sticks out like a sore thumb. He is much more animated than the rest of the section (and by a long shot), and it's always a little unnerving for me to see a head (and the musician) not quite in sync with the rest of the section, bobbing and swaying excessively to a point where I feel it is distracting. Additionally I didn't feel that the soloist was able to project into the hall, as I had some difficulty hearing her in the middle of the orchestra-level seating.

As the season has concluded, you are now free from hearing me write about my Seattle Symphony performances until September! Rejoice!

Brahms Symphony No. 1

Brahms Symphony No. 1

Thursday, June 11, 2015

7:30 PM

Egmont Overture - Ludwig van Beethoven

In lieblicher Bläue for Violin and Orchestra (US Premiere) - Julian Anderson

Carolin Widmann, Violin

-Intermission-

Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68 - Johannes Brahms

Un poco sostenuto - Allegro

Andante sostenuto

Un poco allegretto e grazioso

Adagio - Più andante - Allegro non troppo, ma con brio

Originally I wasn't planning on going to this performance, but I had a change in plans and I was unable to attend Pinchas Zukerman's performance. I was able to exchange that ticket for this one, as subscribers are allowed to have free exchanges. I have always been a fan of the Egmont Overture and the Brahms symphony, but I'm always skeptical of anything recent, and Anderson's work did nothing to dissuade me from my dislike of contemporary music, where I feel that the composers are so obsessed with following rules that the choose these rules over the music itself. The work began with the soloist offstage before the soloist emerges and begins playing from the side of the orchestra. The white noise continued, and the piece concluded with the soloist turning away from the audience. Interestingly, this performance was the first time I had heard the conductor speak before a Seattle Symphony performance (another no-no in my book). Barring another change in travel plans I'm hoping to avoid any more performances featuring anything contemporary.

LSO!

London Symphony Orchestra

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

7:30 PM

Michael Tilson Thomas, Conductor

"Four Sea Interludes" from Peter Grimes, Op. 33a - Benjamin Britten

Dawn: Leno e tranquillo

Sunday Morning: Allgro spiritoso

Moonlight: Andante comodo e rubato

Storm: Presto con fuoco

Concerto in F - George Gershwin

Allegro

Adagio-Andante con moto

Allegro agitato

Yujia Wang, Piano

-Intermission-

Symphony No. 5 in D minor, Op. 47 - Dmitri Shostakovich

Moderato

Allegretto

Largo

Allegro non troppo

This past week I had the pleasure of attending a performance by the London Symphony Orchestra, known in popular culture as being the orchestra that plays a lot of movie scores. The orchestra was led by MTT, one of the LSO's guest conductors, for his 70th birthday tour. I also noticed that he had previously worked with the soloist, most prominently during the first YouTube Symphony Orchestra.

Naturally, the LSO is much better than the Seattle Symphony-the orchestra is much more technically sound and plays much better as a unit. The orchestra flows as one body, and MTT, despite his age, was still very animated. The main issue I had with the performance was with the stage presence of the soloist. While she was very technically sound (and has some of the fastest fingers I have ever seen), it seemed she didn't know what to do when she wasn't playing the piano. I was almost afraid that she would trip and hit her head on something given how fast she went through her bowing motion. At least she wasn't as awkward as the pianist that played Tchaikovsky's first piano concerto earlier in the season. The concert did run very long with three total encores, and by the time the final note was played, only around half the audience remained-it seemed that people did tire a little bit towards the end, as three hours for a concert is longer than most.

A Dose of Contemporary

Catalyst Quartet

Thursday, March 19, 2015

7:30 PM

Karla Donehew-Perez, Violin

Jessie Montgomery, Violin

Paul Laraia, Viola

Karlos Rodreguez, Cello

String Quartet No. 1 - Charles Ives

Chorale: Andante con moto

Prelude: Allegro

Offertory: Adagio cantabile

Postlude: Allegro marziale

String Quartet No. 3 "Mishima" - Philip Glass

1957: Award Montage

November 25: Ichigaya

Grandmother and Kimitake

1962: Body Building

Blood Oath

Mishima/Closing

In Memory - Joan Tower

-Intermission-

Strum - Jessie Montgomery

Tenebrae - Osvaldo Golijov

String Quartet Op. 11 - Samuel Barber

Molto allegro e appassionato

Adagio

Molto allegro (come prima) - Presto

The Catalyst Quartet is a much younger quartet that likes to play a lot of contemporary music. Naturally I'm not a fan of contemporary music, but I did attend the concert since it is part of the Chamber Music Series and I bought tickets to see the entire series. While the musicianship was fine it didn't mask the overuse of dissonance that has been all too present in an effort to follow certain musical rules at the expense of the music just sounding good. What was interesting is that the Catalyst Quartet certainly lacked the stage presence of more seasoned quartets. For example, after they finished a piece, they would bow, sit down, bow again, and rearrange the violin players (the only professional quartet that didn't have set first and second violinists). It just seemed that outside of playing the music itself, the quartet wasn't really sure what they were doing, almost as if they were playing together for the first time and never really went over things such as bowing at the end of a piece. It really detracted from the performance and would make the Catalyst Quartet not worth a repeat attendance.

Sibelius Festival!

Currently the Seattle Symphony is in the midst of its Sibelius Festival, where it will perform all of Sibelius' symphonies and other select works over the course of several weeks. This past weekend I was able to attend the first series of performances featuring the first two symphonies and guest conductor Thomas Gausgaard.

Luminous Landscapes: Sibelius Symphonies 1 & 2

Saturday, March 14, 2014

8 PM

Thomas Dausgaard, Conductor

Finlandia, Op. 26, No 7 - Jean Sibelius

Symphony No. 1 in E minor, Op. 39 - Jean Sibelius

Andante, ma non troppo - Allegro energico

Andante, ma non troppo lento

Scherzo: Allegro

Finale (quasi una fantasia): Andante - Allegro molto

-Intermission-

Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 43

Allegretto

Andante, ma rubato

Vivacissimo

Finale: Allegro moderato

With Dausgaard, the conductor of the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, at the helm, this was easily the best performance by the Seattle Symphony I had witnessed thus far. Dausgaard brought a sense of excitement and energy that the orchestra had previously lacked, making the performance much less mechanical than previous performances. Dausgaard's passion and extensive knowledge of Sibelius was very apparent. Unfortunately I will be out of town for the remaining concerts of the series, but if you get the chance and are able to definitely find some tickets to the remaining concerts.

Jerusalem Quartet!

Jerusalem Quartet

Thursday, February 19, 2015

7:30 PM

Alexander Pavlovsky, Violin

Sergei Bresler, Violin

Ori Kam, Viola

Kyril Zlotnikov, Cello

Quartet No. 59 in G minor, Op. 74, No. 3 "Rider" - Franz Joseph Haydn

Allegro

Largo assai

Menuetto: Allegretto

Finale: Allegro con brio

String Quartet No. 4, Sz. 91 - Béla Bartók
Allegro
Prestissimo, con sordino
Non troppo lento
Allegretto pizzicato
Allegro molto

-Intermission-

String Quartet No. 14 in D minor, D. 810 "Death and the Maiden" - Franz Schubert
Allegro
Theme and Variations: Andante con moto
Scherzo: Allegro molto
Presto

This was a truly spectacular performance by the Jerusalem Quartet. The quartet was the most technically sound of all the chamber groups thus far this season; able to masterfully execute all the running passages and in particular the chaos that is the Bartók. I was very impressed with the cellist in particular. The quartet was also the most musically talented of the chamber groups this season, able to play as a group, covering the spectrum of musical expression. I was a huge fan of how they performed the Haydn and Schubert, and they at least made the Bartók bearable instead of the random jumbled mess of sound that it normally sounds like. Hopefully I'll get to see them perform again!

Revisiting Perlman.

This past Thursday I had the opportunity to see Itzhak Perlman perform for the third time (I believe) and conduct for the first time. Naturally I was very excited to attend this concert.

Itzhak Perlman with the Seattle Symphony

Thursday, January 15, 2015

7:30 PM

Violin Concerto No. 2 in E Major, BWV 1042 - Johann Sebastian Bach

Allegro

Adagio

Allegro assai

Itzhak Perlman, Violin

Academic Festival Overture, Op. 80 - Johannes Brahms

-Intermission-

Symphony No. 3 in E-flat Major, Op. 55, "Eroica" - Ludwig van Beethoven

Allegro con brio

Marcia funebre: Adagio assai

Scherzo: Allegro vivace

Finale: Allegro molto

Previously when I had seen Perlman perform, he actually came onto the stage on his motorized scooter. This time, he chose to walk on stage supported by two forearm crutches. While it was great to see his resolve, it often took a lot of time for him to get on (and off) stage, and the audience wasn't particularly great at sustaining the applause either. That being said, he is still more than capable of playing the violin, and played the Bach with the same warmth and technical dexterity that we have all been accustomed to over the years. His conducting wasn't of much note and I didn't feel it added much to the performance (and I pay to hear soloists play, not dabble in other things). I left slightly disappointed in the overall performance, mostly due to my high expectations coming in to the performance.

More Chamber Music!

This past Tuesday I had the pleasure of hearing the Takács quartet as part of the UW World Series program. This follows the previous performance by the Miró quartet last November.

Takács Quartet
Tuesday, January 13, 2015
7:30 PM

Edward Dusinberre, Violin
Károly Schranz, Violin
Geraldine Walther, Viola
András Fejér, Cello

Quartet No. 50 in B-flat Major, Op. 64, No. 3 - Franz Joseph Haydn
Vivace assai
Adagio
Menuetto: Allegretto
Finale: Allegro con spirit

String Quartet No. 13 in A minor, D. 804, Op. 29 - Franz Schubert
Allegro ma non troppo
Andante
Menuetto: Allegretto
Allegro moderato

-Intermission-

String Quartet No. 13 in B-flat Major, Op. 130 - Ludwig van Beethoven
Adagio ma non troppo-Allegro
Presto
Andante con moto, ma non proppo-Poco scherzoso
Alla danza tdesca. Allegro assai
Cavatina. Adagio molto espressivo
Finale: Allegro

Overall I was very impressed with this performance-this quartet has been playing together for a long time, and it shows. All the passages are generally well-coordinated and they were able to play the lighter passages in the Haydn and the heavier parts in the Beethoven with ease. However, there were several things that did leave me unhappy. Firstly, the violist decided to choose her own dress code while the other members wore only black, daring to wear a red shawl. I'm a little old school in believing that there some be some uniformity in the dress. Also, I feel like the second violinist is probably past his prime and seemed to occasionally try to set a new tempo separate from the other members, which seemed to cause some pretty tense moments on the stage. Otherwise I was generally happy with the performance.

Chamber Music!

This past Tuesday evening I attended my first real chamber music concert since attending performances by the Pacifica Quartet and Avalon Quartet during my time at Interlochen (in 2006!). (This also doesn't count the celebrity Itzhak Perlman/Yo-Yo Ma/ Emanuel Ax piano trio, and chamber music concerts were not all that common growing up.)

Miró Quartet
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
7:30 PM

Daniel Ching, Violin
William Fedkenheuer, Violin
John Largess, Viola
Joshua Gindele, Cello

String Quartet in D minor, Op. 76, No. 2 "Fifths" - Franz Joseph Haydn
Allegro
Andante o più tosto allegretto
Menuetto: Allegro ma non troppo
Finale: Vivace assai

String Quartet No. 5 - Gunther Schuller

-Intermission-

String Quartet No. 9 in C Major, Op. 59, No. 3 "Razumovsky 3" - Ludwig van Beethoven
Introduzione: Andante con moto-Allegro vivace
Andante con moto quasi allegretto
Menuetto grazioso
Allegro molto

This performance was held at UW's Meany Hall, which was a smaller auditorium providing a much more intimate atmosphere.

View from the back row of the balcony (Click to Enlarge)

The quartet was quite amazing-they were able to blend their sounds into one group instead of playing as a group of talented individuals. The balance was never really skewed towards or away any particular musician. Most of the passages were very crisp and clean, except for the violist, who seemed to occasionally struggle with running 16th notes, particularly in some of the faster passages in the Haydn and Beethoven. The Haydn felt a little heavy at times, but was otherwise excellent. The Schuller quartet is a new quartet currently enjoying its premiere season, which, coupled with my distaste of modern music, did not satisfy my tastes. I felt that some composition rules were too overbearing, and that there wasn't really that much of a progression throughout the piece-just more "white noise". I was particularly excited to hear the Beethoven, as I had previously played Razumovsky 2 and another quartet had played from Razumovsky 3 during my time at Interlochen. This piece was the highlight of the performance and was executed very well (except for some of those running 16th notes in the viola).

One thing I did notice (which can be seen from the photo), was that the stands were very low; in some cases the tops of the stands were barely above knee-level. While stands can't be eye level as you need to see other members of the quartet, knee-level is too low. The violist in particular was slouching quite a bit, and as he was sitting on the outside, his viola's body faced the cellist.

Skipping Intros

I attended a performance with the Seattle Symphony last night, but it originally was not a part of my concert-attending plans. I was invitedd to the concert by the symphony as a new subscriber in concert with their new donor and subscriber pre-concert reception. I think it was somewhat obvious why that concert was chosen given the program.

Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony

Saturday, November 8, 2014

8:00 PM

Second Essay for Orchestra, Op. 17 - Samuel Barber

Violin Concerto - Esa-Pekka Salonen

Mirage-

Pulse I

Pulse II

Adieu

Jennifer Koh, Violin

-Intermission-

Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36 - Piotr Ilych Tchaikovsky

Andante sostenuto

Andantino in modo de canzona

Scherzo: Pizzicato ostinato

Finale: Allegro con fuoco

I personally am not a huge fan of contemporary music, though while the Barber is an acceptable piece, the violin concerto is a complete mess. Needless to say it would not have been very difficult to offer every new subscriber and donor two tickets to this concert. Incidentally, dinner before the concert ran a little long-I would highly recommend the Hibachi Supreme only if you have something similar to passport corporate (2 for $40), as the $45 price tag is very rich for one, even for the very nice chateaubriand and lobster tail.  We ended up arriving halfway through the violin concerto, which exemplified how I feel about modern music: obsessed with rules at the expense of actual music (and the soloist played with music!). Thank goodness the intermission quickly followed. Our seats were in the back of the third (and highest) balcony, and while the brass and percussion had no difficulty reaching the upper echelons of the hall, the strings sometimes struggled to fill the entire hall. The performance of the Tchaikovsky was pretty good, and there was no nervous feeling that the orchestra would fall apart, especially at the very fast sections involving a lot of back and forth eighth notes. I felt that parts of the symphony highlighted the symphony's ability to be loud and that other parts showed that the symphony isn't quite able to fill the entire venue on some of the more delicate and expressive sections.

Edit: I forgot to mention that Ludovic Morlot, the conductor, did his best Gustavo Dudamel and tried to conduct the Tchaikovsky without a score. Of course, he's not Dudamel and ended up exiting the stage between the first two movements (through for unknown reasons).

Finally, A Memorable Performance

Once again, I'm ridiculously not on-time about writing about the Seattle Symphony performance I attended last Saturday. Initially I had my doubts about this concert, as Hillary Hahn had pulled out of the performance, citing a medical concern at the advice of her physician. In her stead was Philippe Quint, a Leningrad-born violinist who I had previously never head play, whether it be live or on a recording.

Dvořák and the New World
Saturday, October 4, 2014
8:00 PM

Lollapalooza - John Adams

Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35 - Erich Korngold
Moderato nobile
Romance
Finale

Philippe Quint, Violin

-Intermission-

Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95, "From the New World" - Anton Dvořák
Adagio-Allegro Molto
Largo
Scherzo: Molto vivace
Allegro con fuoco

My aversion to more modern works was not reduced by the performance of Lollapalooza. It seems to me just to be a bunch of noise, with the composer more concerned about following a set of rules than creating something people want to listen to. This was all put to rest with Quint's performance of the Korngold violin concerto. While I'm not a big fan of the particular piece, Quint's mastery of the violin, in both the technical and artistic sense, was phenomenal. It was the first time in recent memory where I couldn't sense any unnecessary nervousness or tension in the music. He was able to fill the auditorium with incredible warmth and his spiccato was both articulate and penetrating. If you get a chance to listen to him play I would take it and not look back. The New World Symphony saw the Seattle Symphony play its characteristic good, but not great style or seeming to play as a group of individuals instead of as one body.

A Slight Redemption, With A Twist

Two Thursdays ago (I know, I'm bad at this updating thing), I went to see a second performance of the Seattle Symphony. However, the adventures began before I even arrived at the concert hall.

I previously detailed my various bus adventures, including someone getting arrested and my poor luck involving the downtown tunnel station. This time both were combined when someone was arrested on the bus heading towards the downtown tunnel station. When the bus arrived, the driver wouldn't let anyone on, citing that the engine was overheating and needed to cool down. After about 10 minutes, we were allowed to board the bus, but the bus wasn't moving. Several minutes later, the police arrived to arrest a rider. Apparently he had been drinking and was verbally threatening other passengers. At this time, the bus driver then spoke to the officers and we disembarked from the bus to catch the next bus to the tunnel station. Needless to say, that bus was pretty packed with two busloads of riders, and I barely made it into the auditorium before the program began.

Tchaikovsky & Dvořák

Thursday, September 18, 2014

7:30 PM

Prelude to Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg - Richard Wagner

Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, Op. 23 - Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky

Allegro non troppo e molto maestoso – Allegro con spirito
Andantino semplice – Prestissimo
Allegro con fuoco

Daniil Trifonov, Piano

-Intermission-

Symphony No. 7 in D minor, Op. 70
Allegro Maestoso
Poco adagio
Schertzo: Vivace - poco meno moso
Finale: Allegro

This time I had orchestra level seating, which means I had a more "standard" view of the orchestra (sorry no pictures). Overall I felt that the orchestra played more as one cohesive unit, which was a nice improvement over the previous performance. I was pretty excited to see the Tchaikovsky piano concerto performed, though it would be difficult for anyone to match the legendary Van Cliburn. Trifonov is a very technically talented pianist, though he seemed to give off a nervous vibe, hurrying through certain passages; more concerned about finishing without a mistake than being expressive. His movements were a little jerky, and this was most evident when he was walking/bowing/etc. It seemed to reflect some lack of elegance and stage presence, reducing his ability to truly bring music to the audience. Overall the performance was pretty good, but definitely not great. My next date with the symphony is this Saturday, a performance that Hillary Hahn has pulled out of due to medical concerns. We'll see how that goes...

Returning to Concerts

This past Saturday was the first time I had attended a classical music concert in over a year, and I chose to attend the Seattle Symphony's opening concert of the 2014-2015 season. Program as follows:

Opening Night Concert & Gala

Saturday, September 13, 2014

4PM

Suite Symphonique "Paris" - Jacques Ibert

Le métro

Faubourgs

La mosquée de Paris

Restaurant au Bois de Boulogne

Le paquebot "île-de-France"

Parade foraine

Gymopédies Nos. 3 and 1 - Erik Satie (orch. Debussy)

Lent et grave

Lent et douloreux

Havanaise for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 83 - Camille Saint-Saëns

Gil Shaham, Violin

Méditation de Thaïs - Jules Massenet

Gil Shaham, Violin

-Intermission-

Selections from Suite No. 2 from Coppélia - Léo Delibes

Entr'acte and Waltz

Prelude and Mazurka

Carmen Fantasy for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 25

Gil Shaham, Violin

Selection from Orphée aux enfers - Jacques Offenbach

Ballet des mouches: Galop

Couplets des baisers

Duo de la mouche

Overture

Alexa Jarvis, Soprano

Charles Robert Stephens, Baritone

Ludovic Morlot, conductor

Chinese Classical Music Audiences Suck

When I go to a classical music concert, I go to see the performance, and I'm usually not pleased with the audience. It seems that half the audience is sick and the other half is unwrapping candy. I can usually ignore it and enjoy the performance, but when I went to a concert in Beijing a couple of weeks ago, the audience was the worst I had ever seen.

The audience looked like it just came from a game of basketball or a nice nap. Many people were wearing their everyday clothes, while I fell it's appropriate to dress up a little bit and be presentable, instead of a t-shirt, shorts, and sandals or a tank-top and basketball shorts.

Also, Chinese people tend to not care about many things related to authority, so naturally many of them had their cell phones out and some of them were even taking pictures (and even a few with flash!). Of course I was not pleased.

Between pieces there was also a lot of introductions of the upcoming piece, which I feel is also not appropriate. I can understand that the Chinese audience may not be very educated about classical music, but put that in the program notes (or maybe even have a program...).

Note to self: don't do this again...

Capitol Steps! Year 4!

A couple weekends ago I went to see Capitol Steps for the last time as an undergraduate, and I'd have to say it was the best performance yet. It seemed that this year there were more new songs, and the old ones generally had new spins to them. It's also a good sign that the show is good when the performers are laughing so hard that they have to pause during the middle of a song. I'd definitely recommend anyone who keeps up with news and political scandals go watch Capitol Steps at some point, since their news is much better than any you can get from a news agency. Visit them at www.capsteps.com!

Capitol Steps!

This past Saturday evening I had the pleasure to listen to the Capitol Steps perform for the third straight year. For those of you who have never heard of the Capitol Steps before, they are a singing group that essentially writes political satire to the tune of popular songs. For example:

 

I would have to say this performance was the best one in my three years that I have seen them live. The first year was good, but the second performance lacked new material. With the new election cycle, this year's performance was by far the funniest and most original. My one advice would be for you to actually know your political scandals/presidential candidates/etc before you go see them, or else it won't be as funny as possible.

You can find more information about them and their performance schedule on their website.

Il Voce

Last night I had the pleasure of seeing Il Voce. If you haven't heard of them, they're a Vancouver-based singing group of the popera (classical-crossover) genre.

[Edit: Il Voce closed down their Youtube account, so the video is gone as well]

They blended very nicely and sang very well, and it was a great end to a not-so-good week. Their voices blended beautifully, and I was most impressed by their ability to sing in minor keys and their ability to resolve as a group. It was very refreshing to see a group of singers who could stand on their talent alone and not use all the flares we have grown accustomed to in this age of "music".