Conductor Tung-Chieh Chuang and pianist Per Tengstrand in Helsingborg

Last night the excellent Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra performed Rachmaninoff´s second piano concerto with the eminent Swedish pianist Per Tengstrand as soloist. The young Taiwanese conductor Tung-Chieh Chuang, winner of the important Malko competition in 2015, also made his - very successful - debut in Helsingborg.

Esa-Pekka Salonen said it: "The composer is the chef and conductors are the waiters"

Well put by Esa-Pekka Salonen:

"The composer is the chef and conductors are the waiters. Both are totally honourable professions but we have to accept that if I conduct a piece by Beethoven, I'm just a waiter. I might be head waiter, but waiter none the less and I am there to make sure the food comes to the table on time and intact."

Samuel Johnson on music

Said by the author and publisher Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784):

An old violin

Old violins are beautiful! Here are my pictures of my son´s violin:

The Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra - One of Sweden´s best

Helsingborg is fortunate to have an excellent symphony orchestra. Last night I went to one of their popular "After Work" concerts.

Below are a couple of photos from the event:

The Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra last night after Beethoven´s fourth. Stefan Solyom is their new principal conductor. The "After Work" concerts are quite informal, which is nice.

One of the celloists before the concert.

Orchestra members rehearsing before the concert.

Before the concert.

A tribute to Jordi Savall and Montserrat Figueras - two great musicians and introducers of early music

The great Catalan soprano Montserrat Figueras (1942 - 2011) at the
Fes Festival of World Sacred Music and Dance in June 2010.

Jordi Savall i Bernadet, the Catalan viola da gamba master, conductor and composer and his wife, the great soprano Montserrat Figueras have been major figures in the field of Western early music ever since the 1970s. After Montserrat Figueras sadly passed away in 2011, Savall has continued to perform with his orchestras and the couple's two children Ferran and Arianna, both gifted musicians and singers.

Jordi Savall at the Fes Festival

What a joy it was on Sunday (Mezzo television channel, February 2) to watch one of the last recorded concerts with Montserrat Figueras performing together with her husband, along with Hesperion XXI and La Capella Reial de Catalunya and a raft of Israeli, Palestinian, Iraqi, Greek and Armenian guest artists. The programme, called "Jerusalem, Peace in Heaven and on Earth: A magical journey from Sufi music to Hebraic lamentations" was recorded in June 2010 in Morocco, at the Fes Festival of World Sacred Music and Dance.

On the same evening Mezzo also showed a concert (recorded in July 2013) from the monastery church in Fontfroide with Jordi Savall conducting his Le Concert des Nations in a program consisting of Bach's suites and concerti.

A truly great evening for friends of early music! Thank you Mezzo!

PS

If you are interested in Jordi Savall's and Montserrat Figueras' recordings, the best place to get information is here

In Praise of BBC Radio 3

Thank God, there is still one BBC network, where you can hear English spoken beautifully - the (mainly) Classical music and opera station BBC Radio 3. Of course, the wonderful music on Radio 3 is the main "thing", but it is an added bonus for listeners to get to hear properly spoken English between the musical offerings.   

Internet radio makes it possible to listen to this great station anywhere in the world. I have for years now had my internet radio wake me up to the musical morning programmes on BBC Radio 3. I can't think of a better way to begin my day!

BBC Radio 3 broadcasts all BBC Proms concerts live and in full. This imageis from
last years Last Night of the Proms, with mezzo soprano Joyce DiDonato and
conductor Marin Alsop.

Another image from last year's Last Night of the Proms.

Hopefully they allow BBC 3 to stay as it is; a high quality station for those who enjoy good music - and good English!

Sunday Music by J.S. Bach

J.S. Bach: Wohltemperiertes Klavier

Music to enjoy on a cold Sunday in January (or anytime):

 

 

A 1908 New York street musician

A 1908 New York street musician, playing the cello and the violin at the same time:

One could speculate about what he was playing. Perhaps e.g. Beethoven's Rondeau Concertant No.2, Op.51
 for violin and cello ? Probably not, as the cello part would have been rather difficult to play with the technique
used by the musician in the picture.

The Best European 2013-2014 New Year's Concerts: The Dancers of the Wiener Staatsballet "stole the show"

Dancers from the Wiener Staatsballett

The televised New Year's concerts from the Berlin Philharmonie, the Dresden Semper Oper, the Vienna Musikverein and La Fenice in Venice are the eagerly awaited best "delayed Christmas presents" for music lovers in Europe and many countries on other continents.

This year was no exception. All four concerts were wonderful in their own way.



Sir Simon Rattle

The Berliner Philharmoniker under Sir Simon Rattle have been doing their "own thing" quite successfully for years now. The Philharmoniker web page describes it in this way:

For classical music fans, jaunty dance rhythms are just as much a part of New Year’s Eve as the sound of corks popping and fireworks. But need it be waltzes from Vienna, the city on the Danube, ringing in the New Year? By no means, according to the Berliner Philharmoniker and Sir Simon Rattle – and they traditionally programme different music for their New Year’s concerts along the river Spree.

The highlight of the Berlin New Year's Eve concert this year was Sergei Prokofiev's Third Piano Concerto, with the Chinese virtuoso Lang Lang as the brilliant soloist. The entire evening was a great success, with the Philharmoniker and Sir Simon in top form.

Klaus Florian Vogt, Renée Fleming and Christian Thielmann

The Staatskapelle Dresden's "competing" New Year's Eve concert has during the last few years focused on operetta music. The fact that Christian Thielemann, the orchestra's eminent chief conductor, is a self-confessed lover of operetta, is of course a god sent gift to all of us who share his passion.

This year's concert was another smash hit, with the wonderful, velvet voiced Renée Fleming as the highlight of the evening. What an entertainer this multitalented lady is! She certainly knows how to charm an audience. German star tenor Klaus Florian Vogt was as good as was to be expected, and sounded great also in the duets with Fleming.

The Vienna New Year's concerts do not need any introduction. The Wiener Philharmoniker's concert on January 1 is the world's most famous and well known annual music event. I belong to those who in the 1960s and 1970s always looked forward to see the legendary Willi Boskovsky conduct the Vienna concerts on television.

Since1986 the orchestra musicians have chosen a different conductor every year. This year it was great to see maestro Daniel Barenboim in charge of the orchestra, which - as always - sounded great.

But for this "reviewer" the greatest stars of the event were the dancers from the Wiener Staatsballett: Maria Yakovleva, Nina Poláková, Irina Tsymbal, Ketevan Papava, Prisca Zeisel, Kirill Koundraev, Mihail Sosnovschi, Ene Peci, Kamil Pavelka and Alexis Forabosco.

I have never seen more beautifully danced and choreographed concert performances than the ones in this New Year's concert. Kudos to Ashley Page for the choreography! An the dresses by Vivienne Westwood were gorgeous.

Diego Matheuz at the La Fenice New Year's concert

The last of the New Year's concerts was the one from La Fenice, broadcast on ARTE in the evening of January 1. This year the orchestra's young chief conductor Diego Matheuz had chosen a nice mix of well known, mainly Italian opera music by Rossini, Verdi, Bellini, Puccini, Mascagni and Donizetti for the concert. It was again a memorable evening of bel canto from one of the world's most beautiful opera houses. The two soloists, Italian soprano Carmen Giannattasio and American tenor Lawrence Brownlee, were excellent.

 The wonderful dancers of the Wiener Staatsballett: 

 

Suddenly the dancers turned into a painting! It was magical television!

 

Esa-Pekka Salonen - A Conductor with a Great Sense of Humour

Salonen - conductor with a good sense of humour

"Finns place great value on words, which is reflected in the tendency to say little and avoid 'unnecessary' small talk. They are better at listening than at talking."

From "The Guide to Finnish Customs and Manners" by professor Olli Alho


Conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen confirms what the professor wrote:

It is OK to take your time. Being a Finnish person, things can be quite slow so it took me seven years to talk to my wife for the first time. We've been married for 22 years now, so it was worth the wait.

:-)

The quote is from the BBC page "Esa-Pekka Salonen: 10 tips to becoming a conductor".

Salonen could have added one more tip: A good sense of humour (which he always has displayed)

The Last Night of the Proms 2011 on BBC HD channel last night

Conductor Edward Gardner and the BBC Symphony Orchestra in front of the audience in the Albert Hall.

One reason why I always look forward to the Christmas season, is that the European television channels include so many fine classical music and opera performances in their programme schedule. In addition to the great live broadcasts - e.g. from Vienna, Dresden, Berlin and Venice - there are also many rebroadcasts of older favourites, like the Last Night of the Proms 2011, shown on the BBC HD channel last night.

What a great evening, with the young conductor Edward Gardner in charge of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Symphony Chorus and the soloists Susan Bullock (soprano) and Lang Lang!

Particularly I enjoyed Benjamin Britten's The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, and Britten's wonderful arrangement of the British National Anthem.

Soprano Susan Bullock was quite a sight when she sung Rule Britannia!

Edward Gardner was the youngest conductor since Henry Wood to conduct the Last Night of the Proms.

The "father of the Proms", Henry Wood.

There is no audience like the audience on the Last Night of the Proms!

PS

Just in case you are interested:

The 2014 Proms Season launches on 24 April
and the booking opens on 17 May.

The Gala Opening of the Mariinsky II on ARTE: Ah, Those Mariinsky Ballerinas!

As part of its Christmas programming, the ARTE television channel last night brought us the opening gala concert of the Mariinsky Theater Second Stage, which took place on 2 May this year.

The concert, which featured such mega stars as Plácido Domingo, Rene Pape and Anna Netrebko, and of course the host Valery Gergiev, was a stunning display of music and dance on the highest level.

However, the ones who made the evening truly memorable, at least for this "reviewer", were the Mariinsky ballerinas. To me, they are the essence and the beauty of the Mariinsky tradition:

Yekaterina Kondarouva

Yekaterina Kondarouva

The Mariinsky Children's Chorus was another of the evening's highlights:

 

And, of course, Boris Godunov in all his splendour:

Evgeny Nikitin

 

Still another highlight: The Song of the Volga Boatmen

 

Bass Mikhail Petrenko and the Mariinsky Chorus