Two Concerts
Monday, February 21st, 2011 10:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tamaranthWeber / Schumann / Beethoven, 17th Feb 2011: Philharmonia (conductor Dohnanyi, piano Jean-Efflam Bavouzet)
Beethoven, 20th Feb 2011: Philharmonia (conductor Dohnanyi, piano Kit Armstrong)
Weber's Oberon overture was nice, and not a little emphatic, though some fluffed notes. Schumann's Symphony #3 ('Rhenish') reminded me of Brahms, especially in the first movement, though it didn't have quite the grandeur.
Beethoven Piano Concerto #5 ('Emperor') is one of the few pieces of music I know note-for-note. This meant I could tell that not all the notes produced by Bavouzet were in Beethoven's original. I don't know how intentional this was: but he played with immense brio and joy, and the performance felt dynamic, unique. (Also, there's a thwarted rock god in Bavouzet if his dramatic gestures are anything to go by.)
The 'all Beethoven, all the time' concert was, oddly, less interesting. The 'Egmont' overture was suitably brave and uplifting; Symphony #6 ('Pastoral') is always a joyful occasion and Dohnanyi conducted with speed and grace. (The 'storm' movement was extremely stormy; the country dance still makes me want to get up and move.)
Piano Concerto #3 was … technically perfect, but Kit Armstrong didn't have the passion of Bavouzet. Armstrong is only eighteen, and something of a prodigy: he's a mathematical genius as well as a musician, and I think it shows. I'll watch his career with interest, but at the moment his perfection and precision doesn't do as much for me as the imperfect passion of other pianists.
Beethoven, 20th Feb 2011: Philharmonia (conductor Dohnanyi, piano Kit Armstrong)
Weber's Oberon overture was nice, and not a little emphatic, though some fluffed notes. Schumann's Symphony #3 ('Rhenish') reminded me of Brahms, especially in the first movement, though it didn't have quite the grandeur.
Beethoven Piano Concerto #5 ('Emperor') is one of the few pieces of music I know note-for-note. This meant I could tell that not all the notes produced by Bavouzet were in Beethoven's original. I don't know how intentional this was: but he played with immense brio and joy, and the performance felt dynamic, unique. (Also, there's a thwarted rock god in Bavouzet if his dramatic gestures are anything to go by.)
The 'all Beethoven, all the time' concert was, oddly, less interesting. The 'Egmont' overture was suitably brave and uplifting; Symphony #6 ('Pastoral') is always a joyful occasion and Dohnanyi conducted with speed and grace. (The 'storm' movement was extremely stormy; the country dance still makes me want to get up and move.)
Piano Concerto #3 was … technically perfect, but Kit Armstrong didn't have the passion of Bavouzet. Armstrong is only eighteen, and something of a prodigy: he's a mathematical genius as well as a musician, and I think it shows. I'll watch his career with interest, but at the moment his perfection and precision doesn't do as much for me as the imperfect passion of other pianists.
