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The program last night, Philharmonia Baroque performing the 'Emperor' Piano Concerto #5 by Beethoven - as followed by two interesting - and beautiful pieces: Anton Reicha's Overture in D major and Franz Schubert's Symphony No. 3.
The first, the Beethoven, was beautiful. Pianist Robert Levin was masterful, swift and commanding on the fortepiano. I had not heard the piece on the actual "historical" instrument before - a fortepiano sounds like a hybrid between a modern piano and a harpisichord. It has a VERY tenor sound - and almost has a tinny sound - making the percussive Beethoven even more interesting. Why? on a modern piano the swirls of notes might merge a little, creating a wave of sound - but on the forte piano you could hear every single note of the runs and the swirls. It was overtly precise - which really does Beethoven's concerto justice. :)
The Philharmonia itself was interestingly staged - with the strings up front - the french horns in the back - and the wind section (two flutes, two clarinets, two oboes and two bassoons) on a riser sitting above the rest of the orchestra on two levels. The affect - being that it gave the winds greater emphasis that I've ever seen before in this sort of performance.
The Reicha piece - first after intermission - demonstrated why most baroque music isn't always my cup of tea. Reicha introduces a 9 or 10 bar melody then plays it over and over and over and over. and over and over and over and over. never rethinking it - never rekeying it - just - 20 minutes of the same bars repeated. ugh.
The Schubert however! Sublime. But then I'm soft on Franzy - a great deal. Four movements with lovely little musical conversations with the strings and the winds. I enjoyed it a great deal.
As always, Mr. P's company was wonderful. We laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed. particularly talking about a woman who had dressed in the LOUDEST red silk suitpantensemble with black polkadots, a matching coat and - oh dear god - a matching silk hat that - well - someone had not thought through. it looked like the rest of the outfit (hideous already) had taken a giant fashion sized dump on her hairdo. it was ghastttttttully. (no polka dots were harmed in the retelling of this fashion disaster) Now - to set this up correctly - you have to realize that Eric P. has an armor piercing projectile laugh. so - we're walking out for intermission and I whisper "fashion disaster at 10 o'clock" - and well - Mr. P looks up at the poor dear and explodes in laughter - literally. so - we pushed our way through the crowd to outfront of the Herbst and exploded laughing. (yes, I know, karma and all - we're both headed to hell.) but - conversation then ranged from "why do red gummy bears taste so good" to outrage over the Herbst not having drinking fountains - but insisting you buy the $5 bottled water at the "bar."
anyhow. it was a great great evening.
The first, the Beethoven, was beautiful. Pianist Robert Levin was masterful, swift and commanding on the fortepiano. I had not heard the piece on the actual "historical" instrument before - a fortepiano sounds like a hybrid between a modern piano and a harpisichord. It has a VERY tenor sound - and almost has a tinny sound - making the percussive Beethoven even more interesting. Why? on a modern piano the swirls of notes might merge a little, creating a wave of sound - but on the forte piano you could hear every single note of the runs and the swirls. It was overtly precise - which really does Beethoven's concerto justice. :)
The Philharmonia itself was interestingly staged - with the strings up front - the french horns in the back - and the wind section (two flutes, two clarinets, two oboes and two bassoons) on a riser sitting above the rest of the orchestra on two levels. The affect - being that it gave the winds greater emphasis that I've ever seen before in this sort of performance.
The Reicha piece - first after intermission - demonstrated why most baroque music isn't always my cup of tea. Reicha introduces a 9 or 10 bar melody then plays it over and over and over and over. and over and over and over and over. never rethinking it - never rekeying it - just - 20 minutes of the same bars repeated. ugh.
The Schubert however! Sublime. But then I'm soft on Franzy - a great deal. Four movements with lovely little musical conversations with the strings and the winds. I enjoyed it a great deal.
As always, Mr. P's company was wonderful. We laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed. particularly talking about a woman who had dressed in the LOUDEST red silk suitpantensemble with black polkadots, a matching coat and - oh dear god - a matching silk hat that - well - someone had not thought through. it looked like the rest of the outfit (hideous already) had taken a giant fashion sized dump on her hairdo. it was ghastttttttully. (no polka dots were harmed in the retelling of this fashion disaster) Now - to set this up correctly - you have to realize that Eric P. has an armor piercing projectile laugh. so - we're walking out for intermission and I whisper "fashion disaster at 10 o'clock" - and well - Mr. P looks up at the poor dear and explodes in laughter - literally. so - we pushed our way through the crowd to outfront of the Herbst and exploded laughing. (yes, I know, karma and all - we're both headed to hell.) but - conversation then ranged from "why do red gummy bears taste so good" to outrage over the Herbst not having drinking fountains - but insisting you buy the $5 bottled water at the "bar."
anyhow. it was a great great evening.
