AND MUSIC TO YOUR EARS…
You tell us what you’ve been enjoying on disc and in the concert hall
Jim Miller Loughborough
I travelled to Nottingham recently for the Vienna Tonkunstler’s visit, and a wonderful Beethoven Fourth Piano Concerto from Angela Hewitt in the first half – thoughtful, dramatic, elegiac by turns. I have heard it many times, starting with Clifford Curzon well over 50 years ago, but this was up with the very best. Then we had a virile and electric performance of Sibelius’s Second Symphony. The orchestra was outstanding throughout, but the unquestioned star here was timpanist Margit Schoberleitner, who gave us an astonishing range of tonal effects by judicious choice of sticks, and the widest but perfectly controlled dynamic range, coupled with fearsome technique.
Janet Hall North Yorkshire
I belong to Richmondshire Choral Society and we’ve been rehearsing Handel’s Messiah. He manages to bring in absolutely everything you need in a musical work. While the uplifting tunes portray the deep emotions of mankind’s achievements and shortcomings, there are brilliant opportunities for the chorus and soloists in arias such as ‘I know that my Redeemer liveth’. I’ve got a wonderful recording by The Sixteen under Harry Christophers.
Hugh Spencer Illinois, US
The Civic Orchestra of Chicago (a training orchestra run by the Chicago Symphony) recently played Symphony No. 3, ‘Ilya Muromets’ by
Glière. It was an amazing performance for a non-professional group, made even more so by performing this 75-minute work complete – the last performance by the Chicago Symphony back in the 1960s had about a third of the score missing.
Michael Thorn Helston
I was educated by a recent concert of contemporary music in Truro by the Cornish ensemble Kevos, directed by Patrick Bailey. It included Steve Reich’s Music for Pieces
of Wood, played by the musicians on tuned wooden cylinders in which the complex rhythms intertwine and combine. This was a visual demonstration of how Steve Reich’s music works, then complemented by his Double Sextet played on conventional instruments to powerful effect. This was a revelation, enjoyed by an appreciative audience.