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Post by pavane on May 15, 2023 19:29:51 GMT
I have to pop over to London in a couple of days - I just have to be there for an hour or so on Thursday. In these situations, I always check to see if there are any concerts that I might like and that would help to make the journey worthwhile, so I had a look and there is a concert I'd really like to go to on Wednesday evening. That's good, it all works well and I get to go to a performance of a work I really like. My grumble? The concert I'm going to is Mahler's 9th symphony at the Southbank Centre. I've mentioned before that I'm very partial to a bit of Mahler; I don't get all that much opportunity to hear them live because they all demand a big orchestra and are expensive to stage. So, why on earth have Southbank scheduled TWO Mahler symphonies at the same time? One in RFH, one in QEH. Talk about waiting ages for a bus and then a load all come at once. Sigh!
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Post by Zi on May 16, 2023 7:54:21 GMT
You sound like Morse.  |
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Post by keff on May 16, 2023 8:22:05 GMT
Hope you enjoy the concert. Think the last time I was in the RFH was circa 1977. The programme was a piano concerto by Malcolm Arnold, played by John Lill and Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra.
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Post by pavane on May 16, 2023 10:39:55 GMT
> Hope you enjoy the concert. Thank you! > Think the last time I was in the RFH was circa 1977 Funny how these things go - I haven't been there for years (not as long as you, but maybe 5 years or thereabouts) until last week. So I too am like the buses - don't go for 5 years, then twice within a week. > You sound like Morse. That's another thing I haven't seen in years - I remember he was keen on opera and real ale (and that he always seemed to end up in a sort of quasi-relationship with the prime suspect, when he really should have known better). I presume I sound like him mainly because of the grumpy old man thing |
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Post by Zi on May 16, 2023 11:25:52 GMT
No - you're not grumpy - though he is. He is exasperated by lack of logic though. I should have said have a nice time too... So, 'Have a nice time!'
I haven't been to a concert for many years now as we're reminiscing (nothing wrong with that BTW). We haven't gone since we adopted The Collie (we did see a couple of plays after we adopted her though but they were short ones!) So, I'm not too sure what the last one I went to was... I'm impressed that both of you know. But I suspect it would have been some Sibelius. I was likely at the opera after that though.
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Post by Zi on May 17, 2023 5:53:38 GMT
Do you think people consider what else is going on when they program? I've been thinking about it as I'd already been thinking about how one would go about putting together a good concert program which doesn't consist of a single piece. The exam boards talked about putting together a 'balanced' offering but I'm not sure what that really means.
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Post by pavane on May 19, 2023 10:06:34 GMT
Do you think people consider what else is going on when they program? I've been thinking about it as I'd already been thinking about how one would go about putting together a good concert program which doesn't consist of a single piece. Some thought must go into it: not to be overly cynical, but I have noticed that long symphonies at Prom concerts are very often paired with very modern works for which the audience would otherwise be very small. On the other hand, the concert I went to last week at RFH paired a Beethoven piano concerto with a Nielsen symphony that didn't seem to me to be particularly natural bedfellows. The situation this week seemed more like a left hand not knowing what right hand was doing type of event. The RFH was fairly full, but there were definitely seats available; obviously I don't know what in was like in QEH but I imagine that a huge percentage of both audiences must have thought that they would happily go to either event and it was a pity to have to choose rather than being able to go to both. I assume it comes down to having to play an A piece, a B piece and a C piece even if there aren't specific lists |
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Post by Zi on May 19, 2023 20:26:01 GMT
I assume it comes down to having to play an A piece, a B piece and a C piece even if there aren't specific lists As you've guessed, it's the lack of specific cohesion in the lists that's my problem whether they're there or not. Unfortunately, I'm not sure I can see any particular pattern in the A, B and C thing except once it was about being accompanied and not being accompanied on the recorder. With some boards that is now decidedly blurry. It's always bothered me that 'balanced' thing. I did ask my first teacher about it because I did my exam with her and she said at Grade 1 it didn't matter but she never explained the 'balanced' thing so I wasn't really any the wiser. I wonder if 'balanced' means playing three things which are very different to show that one can do a variety of things or does it mean playing things that have some relationship? I remember keff said that his group set themes during lockdown and that does make sense to me because there would be something to hang it all together even if the something was just in a title. |
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