|
TimR-J
Guest
|
 |
« Reply #15 on: 14:55:35, 10-05-2007 » |
|
Richard - I think you must mean the Philharmonia's 6pm freebie show at the QEH. According to this 'ere copy of New Notes they're playing Judgement on That Day, I'm on my way and Câtana. More info. |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
time_is_now
|
|
« Reply #16 on: 14:59:34, 10-05-2007 » |
|
alongside was very good, if falling a little bit short of a great performance, I'd say. Richard Baker conducted extremely clearly but the Sinfonietta players, not for the first time, seemed unwilling or unable to do quite what was needed to make the opening as loud and energetic as possible. But the big, long build-up to the end, with the drum tattoo and the silences between, was very effective and wonderful.
The concert on Saturday is the Philharmonia pre-concert event, from 6 till just before 7 in the QEH. I can't remember the names of the pieces, though I did know (they're not works I've heard before). I think there are three pieces being played. MF will be there to introduce it, interviewed by Julian Anderson who directs that concert series.
Ah yes Tim, that's the one. Thanks for finding the link!
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
The city is a process which always veers away from the form envisaged and desired, ... whose revenge upon its architects and planners undoes every dream of mastery. It is [also] one of the sites where Dasein is assigned the impossible task of putting right what can never be put right. - Rob Lapsley
|
|
|
Vashti
Posts: 20
|
|
« Reply #17 on: 16:23:40, 10-05-2007 » |
|
I agree with TIN's assessment of the performance. It was fine (the piece came through), but it could have been more intense and committed. I also agree that any shortcomings have nothing to do with Baker, who throughout the concert seemed to be asking for more then he was receiving.
It was my first time hearing the piece and it may well go straight into my FINNISSY TOP 10. There are a couple of moments that are a little structurally flaccid (where the flow doesn’t work quite right), but it all sounds wonderful and the way it manages such high drama without being cheap is completely stunning/breathtaking.
Although I knew that the late 70s was the period when Finnissy's music came closest to Xenakis, Alongside struck me as the closest of all. Both for its rawness/brutality, and for what I can only best think to call "content-free" material (in the sense that details are so completely unimportant).
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
jennyhorn
Posts: 76
|
|
« Reply #18 on: 13:31:32, 11-05-2007 » |
|
the full hall absorbed some of the intensity so it was apparently more savage in rehearsal....to be fair,some of the players stood out as being more giving:for instance,Clive Williamson did a great job of the piano part (also in Barry`s Lisbon),Mark van de Wiel ,Paul Archibald and David Hockings.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
richard barrett
Guest
|
|
« Reply #19 on: 13:47:55, 11-05-2007 » |
|
Thanks for all that. I guess I'll see some of you tomorrow evening then.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
TimR-J
Guest
|
|
« Reply #20 on: 15:45:41, 11-05-2007 » |
|
You just might. Alarmingly I'm following an hour of Finnissy with an evening of Eurovision at a friend's. Not my idea, I should add...
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
Vashti
Posts: 20
|
|
« Reply #21 on: 19:13:47, 13-05-2007 » |
|
What did people think of the Philharmonia/Finnissy concert last night?
I didn't know either of the first two pieces, "I'm on my way" and "Judgement in that Day" and didn't think either was super special Finnissy. Of the two, I liked "I'm on my way" better. It reminded me of Christian Marclay and Ives - it was a quite dense layering of various strands, many of which related more or less to the Gershwin song of the title. It had a nice spacious and open feel about it, and some nice moments where you could really focus in on one layer, but equally too much of the time the layers seem to cancel each other out and it got a bit undifferentiated. I really couldn't get into "Judgement in that Day". Curious to know if anyone else did...
I was delighted to hear "Câtana"live. That said, I was dead worried about the performance in the opening minutes - it began so lamely, and the contrasts where nowhere near vivid enough. But things improved and by the end I thought it was pretty good. I've got a feeling that this piece might have a classic status amongst many fellow posters, so I won't bother to wax lyrical about it.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
TimR-J
Guest
|
|
« Reply #22 on: 15:32:19, 14-05-2007 » |
|
Catana was obviously the best, but I was fairly nonplussed by both the first pieces. It was possibly the performances, which felt pretty limp from many of the players, but I'm on my way sounded woolly to me, rather than dense in any interesting way. Judgement in that day I thought better, actually; of the two it's the one I've thought about most since Saturday, even if it didn't really grab me at the time. I certainly need to hear it again ...
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
jennyhorn
Posts: 76
|
|
« Reply #23 on: 17:24:59, 05-06-2007 » |
|
Ian-
you were involved in a performance of Alongside so i wonder what you made of the LS performance, as broadcast on the listen again facility.I'd be interested to know what you think- - -
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
