[concert] Berlioz, Sibelius, Rachmaninov: RFH 30.04.09

Berlioz: Overture, Le Carnaval Romain | Sibelius, Violin Concerto | Rachmaninov, Symphonic Dances: Philharmonia Orchestra cond. Hugo Wolff, violin Nicola Benedetti. With ladymoonray, swisstone, birdsflying.

The Berlioz was cheerful, dancy, loud: it is not my favourite of his works.

Sibelius' Violin Concerto was amazing: passionate, dark, all that Nordic wind and forest and twilight, simple melodies with feathery barely-there sough of bass -- and Nicola Benedetti's stunning playing. She plays with her whole body. I hadn't heard this piece before (not live, anyway, though I'm sure I've heard recordings) and it had me rapt. Downloaded a Recommended Recording as soon as I got home, and it doesn't have a tenth of the impact that Thursday's performance did. It was rapturously received by the audience and rightly so.

I was distracted by odd breathing and glottal noises from somewhere 'twixt brass and woodwind. Sickly clarinet?

Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances is a joyous piece: I hadn't realised it was so late in his career (1941). A distinctly American piece that reminds me of Gershwin, Bernstein et al. Hard not to listen for overtones of WWII -- Rachmaninov had been in America for over 20 years and America hadn't entered the war, but it surely coloured his thinking? Some passages almost direct quotations from Piano Concerto #3. The first movement, 'Noon', is one of the pieces that always lifts my mood. And the third movement reminded me of Sibelius, actually: Valse Triste. ('Harmonic quicksand', say programme notes.)

Hugo Wolff a very passionate conductor, unselfconsciously enthusiastic, almost a caricature. I am trying not to remember birdsflying's comment about angry bees.