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To the Festival Hall on Sunday with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ladymoonray and her mum for Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting the Philharmonia: Beethoven Leonore #2, Beethoven Piano #4 (Hélène Grimaud), Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique. Very impressive. We sat in the choir, dead centre, front row, so had a perfect view of Salonen, who is fascinating to watch.
I don't think he was especially passionate about either Beethoven piece, though they were excellent: I love the gentleness of Piano Concerto no. 4, and Grimaud plays as though she's discovering the notes, as though she's startled and sometimes panicky about the music driving her on.
Symphonie Fantastique, which I don't think I've seen performed live before, was ... fantastique. "Composed at least partially under the influence of opium," but also a remarkable evocation of mania. There's so much in the music that I'd never noticed until I saw it played, saw how the strings and the woodwind were being used. The March to the Scaffold was dynamic and thrilling. And Salonen, Salonen, I could stare at him all day when he's conducting like that, captivating and charismatic. This was the piece he was passionately excited about, and there was a real sense of him playing the orchestra, of it being one huge instrument.
ladymoonray and her mum for Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting the Philharmonia: Beethoven Leonore #2, Beethoven Piano #4 (Hélène Grimaud), Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique. Very impressive. We sat in the choir, dead centre, front row, so had a perfect view of Salonen, who is fascinating to watch. I don't think he was especially passionate about either Beethoven piece, though they were excellent: I love the gentleness of Piano Concerto no. 4, and Grimaud plays as though she's discovering the notes, as though she's startled and sometimes panicky about the music driving her on.
Symphonie Fantastique, which I don't think I've seen performed live before, was ... fantastique. "Composed at least partially under the influence of opium," but also a remarkable evocation of mania. There's so much in the music that I'd never noticed until I saw it played, saw how the strings and the woodwind were being used. The March to the Scaffold was dynamic and thrilling. And Salonen, Salonen, I could stare at him all day when he's conducting like that, captivating and charismatic. This was the piece he was passionately excited about, and there was a real sense of him playing the orchestra, of it being one huge instrument.
