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Other concerts || George Enescu Festival 2019 journal

oana September 22, 2019 No Comments

RUNDFUNK-SINFONIEORCHESTER BERLIN

Date: 5 Sept 2019

Location: Grand Palace Hall

Category: Great Orchestras of the worlds

Georg Katzer “discorso” for orchestra; Brahms Violin Concerto în D major op. 77; Enescu Symphony no. 3 in C major op. 21

Vladimir Jurowski conductor; Choir of The „George Enescu” Philharmonic; Iosif Ion Prunner conductor of the choir; Romanian Radio Children’s Choir; Răzvan Rădos conductor of the choir; Julia Fischer violin

Katzer’s composition is pretty gimmicky, a mixture of sounds coming from all sorts of weird instruments, a fun work but not that impressive overall.… Read more

A Gluck infusion || George Enescu Festival 2019 journal

oana September 22, 2019 No Comments

ORCHESTRA OF THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT

Date: 6 Sept 2019

Location: Romanian Athenaeum

Category: By Midnight Concerts

Gluck “Iphigénie en Tauride”, opera in concert version

Laurence Cummings conductor, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Anna Caterina Antonacci – Iphigénie (mezzo-soprano), Christopher Maltman – Oreste (baritone), Toby Spence – Pylade (tenor), Andrew Foster-Williams – Thoas (bass-baritone), Mary Bevan – Diane (soprano), Sofia Larsson – Greek Woman (soprano), Miriam Allan – First Priestess (soprano), Jessica Cale – Second Priestess (soprano), Dingle Yandell – Scythian (bass-baritone), Brian Mcalea – Minister (baritone)

Anna Caterina Antonacci has been the one that made me truly fall in love with opera, she’s one of my favourite opera singers and seeing her live has been a ten years old dream.… Read more

Die Frau Ohne Shatten || George Enescu Festival 2019 journal

oana September 8, 2019 No Comments

RUNDFUNK-SINFONIEORCHESTER BERLIN

Date: 4 Sept 2019

Location: Grand Palace Hall

Category: Great Orchestras of the world

Vladimir Jurowski conductor, The Rundfunkchor Berlin, Benjamin Goodson conductor of the choir, Romanian Radio Children’s Choir, Răzvan Rădos conductor of the choir, Carmen Lidia Vidu multimedia director

Torsten Kerl the Emperor (tenor), Anne Schwanewilms the Empress (soprano), Ildikó Komlósi the Nurse (mezzo-soprano), Yasushi Hirano the messenger of Keikobad (baritone), Andrey Nemzer the Guardian of the Threshold, Artjom Vasnetsov, Christoph Oldenburg, Philipp A.… Read more

Tragedy, Beethoven and a Guitar | CBW21

oana May 26, 2019 No Comments

3. Milonga by Jorge Cardoso

On third place we have the most famous work of the Argentinian guitarist and composer Jorge Cardoso, namely Milonga. Akin to its composer, who is also a teacher, a medical doctor and a researcher, Milonga stands for several things: it is a musical genre from Argentina and Uruguay, a dance similar to the tango, but faster and more relaxed in movements and a weekly event where people play and dance Argentinian tango, along with valses and milongas.… Read more

War and Love | CBW 19

oana May 12, 2019 No Comments

3. “Spitfire Prelude & Fugue” by William Walton

We start the week with a man that left no important legacy, being considered more often than not as old-fashioned in his style: Sir William Turner Walton. Why are we doing this? Because I have a soft spot for wartime music, which is precisely what Spitfire Prelude & Fugue is: the score of the film The First of the Few, directed by Lesley Howard.… Read more

Handel, Vivaldi, Mussorgsky | CBW 16

oana April 21, 2019 No Comments

3. “Khovanshchina” Prelude: Dawn over the Moscow River by Modest Mussorgsky

What’s more fitting to start the day with than the image of a river at dawn? This work is the prelude to the Khovanshchina opera by Modest Mussorgsky, which sets to music the events surrounding the Moscow Uprising of 1682, in which Prince Ivan Khovansky rebelled against his sister, the regent Sofia Alekseyevna, the first woman to rule Russia.… Read more

Austrian delights | CBW15

oana April 14, 2019 No Comments

3. Concerto no. 7 in F major for three pianos, K. 242 (“Lodron”) by Mozart

No honourable mention this week, we dive directly in a concert for three pianos by Mozart, which he composed especially for a countess and her two daughters. The first movement starts in a pompous manner and then slides into a merry stroll of fingers over the piano keys with a lively tempo and ending symmetrically in the same energetic fashion.… Read more

He came, he saw, he conquered | CBW11

oana March 17, 2019 No Comments

Honourable mention: “O dolce mio tesoro” by Carlo Gesualdo

Aristocracy, murder, depression, self-flagellation, witch trials. This is the context of Carlo Gesualdo’s madrigals, one of the most experimental musical compositions of the Renaissance, not to be heard again until the 19^th century. They are absolutely wonderful, as the voices complement each other beautifully, blending in a rich and warm sound.… Read more

Masses, Carnivals and Opera | CBW09

oana March 3, 2019 No Comments

Honorouble mention: “Missa prolationum” by Johannes Ockeghem

Johannes Ockeghem was a major composer of early Renaissance, having served as singer and composer in Paris, at the court of three French kings in the second half of the 15^th century. Complex polyphonies, emphasis on bass lines and freely composed melodies (the norm then was to borrow pre-existing songs) are the key elements that mark him as one of the most influential musicians of his time, and “Missa prolationum” encompasses all of them.… Read more

Operatic rule | CBW05

oana February 3, 2019 No Comments

Peaceful, serene, soothing … this is how this week’s honourable mention makes me feel when listening to it: “L’heure excuse” by Reynaldo Hahn, a Venezuelan composer and a prodigy child (he entered the Paris Conservatoire when he was ten years old), best known for his songs. Naturally, when it comes to a voice composition, you need a great voice to portray the beauty of the song, and Susan Graham does this superbly.

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