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khiemtranOur outing on Sunday was to see the ACO at the Opera House in a concert entitled The Great.
We had tickets for the cheap seats above and behind the stage (section Z, no less), which were probably the best of the C reserve seats in the house. Although we were behind the stage and just behind the choir, we were close to the action and the effect of looking down at the orchestra was something akin to being at a sports stadium. From the left of the stage, we could see most of the instruments except the expanded wind section in the last piece. If we'd sat instead on the right, we would have been able to see these plus watch the harpsicordist's fingering, but we wouldn't have been able to see the actions of the cellists and bassists.
The ACO are a great outfit to watch. They play standing up and dressed by Akira Isogawa (an Australian fashion designer), and generate an energy well above their weight. The real star of the concert was Richard Tognetti, the Artistic Director and lead violin, especially when conducting. He is definitely worth seeing again. I'm quite interested in hearing his Bach violin recordings now after seeing him perform live.
The concert opened with the movement ("Cahos") of Les Elémens by Rebel. I'd heard it before and regarded it more as a novelty than anything else (being remarkably discordant for a Baroque piece), but the ACO brought a promising energy to it.
Next came the Haydn symphony, No. 64 in A Major, Tempora mutantur ("The times change..."). This was well-played and, as-expected, very likeable. It didn't make it onto my list of favourites, but it did intrigue me enough to make me want to give it another listen. There was plenty of wit and Enlightenment humour there, but a lot of it went over my head on the first hearing. The pre-concert lecture was interesting because the speaker pointed out a lot of things that I would have missed completely on my own. My opinion now on Haydn is that he has two levels - one too far below my humour line to find funny and one (or more) too high above me for me to appreciate. Today, at work, I thought I was humming the opening theme of the first movement, then I realised I was actually thinking of the opening of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 1. I'm interested now to see how close the two themes actually are. I remember the slow movement of the Haydn symphony did do some interesting things with pauses (and the way the music seemed to keep flowing through the silences rather than halting at them).
Third came a modern piece, The Unanswered Question by Ives. To its credit, it was imaginative, thought-provoking and short. My guess at the Unanswered Question (asked by a solo trumpet near the top of the auditorium) was "Where are we going?"
The highlight of the concert was the Mozart "Great" Mass in C Minor, K. 427. This was spectacular and Richard Tognetti did really well here. It was well-worth it being behind the stage just to see his gestures and facial expressions, although on the downside, we did only get to see the backs of the vocal soloists. Sarah Macliver gave a great performance in the first soprano role and Fiona Campbell was the mezzo soprano.
The lecturer before the concert gave an entertaining interpretation of the Great Mass as the ultimate love-present from Mozart to his new wife (and soprano singer) Constanze, featuring as it did a showpiece soprano aria just after the Kyrie, a cutting duel between soprano and another not-unlike Constanze's older sister (who Mozart proposed to, but was rejected by), a trio featuring the two sopranos and a tenor (not unlike Mozart), and a final showpiece after the Credo where the soprano then sees off a flute, a bassoon and an oboe while singing Et incarnates est.
The small choir did an impressive job and the ACO brought out the tension and excitement of Mozart in a minor key. Together they made up for their relatively small forces with an infectious energy and enthusiasm.
We had tickets for the cheap seats above and behind the stage (section Z, no less), which were probably the best of the C reserve seats in the house. Although we were behind the stage and just behind the choir, we were close to the action and the effect of looking down at the orchestra was something akin to being at a sports stadium. From the left of the stage, we could see most of the instruments except the expanded wind section in the last piece. If we'd sat instead on the right, we would have been able to see these plus watch the harpsicordist's fingering, but we wouldn't have been able to see the actions of the cellists and bassists.
The ACO are a great outfit to watch. They play standing up and dressed by Akira Isogawa (an Australian fashion designer), and generate an energy well above their weight. The real star of the concert was Richard Tognetti, the Artistic Director and lead violin, especially when conducting. He is definitely worth seeing again. I'm quite interested in hearing his Bach violin recordings now after seeing him perform live.
The concert opened with the movement ("Cahos") of Les Elémens by Rebel. I'd heard it before and regarded it more as a novelty than anything else (being remarkably discordant for a Baroque piece), but the ACO brought a promising energy to it.
Next came the Haydn symphony, No. 64 in A Major, Tempora mutantur ("The times change..."). This was well-played and, as-expected, very likeable. It didn't make it onto my list of favourites, but it did intrigue me enough to make me want to give it another listen. There was plenty of wit and Enlightenment humour there, but a lot of it went over my head on the first hearing. The pre-concert lecture was interesting because the speaker pointed out a lot of things that I would have missed completely on my own. My opinion now on Haydn is that he has two levels - one too far below my humour line to find funny and one (or more) too high above me for me to appreciate. Today, at work, I thought I was humming the opening theme of the first movement, then I realised I was actually thinking of the opening of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 1. I'm interested now to see how close the two themes actually are. I remember the slow movement of the Haydn symphony did do some interesting things with pauses (and the way the music seemed to keep flowing through the silences rather than halting at them).
Third came a modern piece, The Unanswered Question by Ives. To its credit, it was imaginative, thought-provoking and short. My guess at the Unanswered Question (asked by a solo trumpet near the top of the auditorium) was "Where are we going?"
The highlight of the concert was the Mozart "Great" Mass in C Minor, K. 427. This was spectacular and Richard Tognetti did really well here. It was well-worth it being behind the stage just to see his gestures and facial expressions, although on the downside, we did only get to see the backs of the vocal soloists. Sarah Macliver gave a great performance in the first soprano role and Fiona Campbell was the mezzo soprano.
The lecturer before the concert gave an entertaining interpretation of the Great Mass as the ultimate love-present from Mozart to his new wife (and soprano singer) Constanze, featuring as it did a showpiece soprano aria just after the Kyrie, a cutting duel between soprano and another not-unlike Constanze's older sister (who Mozart proposed to, but was rejected by), a trio featuring the two sopranos and a tenor (not unlike Mozart), and a final showpiece after the Credo where the soprano then sees off a flute, a bassoon and an oboe while singing Et incarnates est.
The small choir did an impressive job and the ACO brought out the tension and excitement of Mozart in a minor key. Together they made up for their relatively small forces with an infectious energy and enthusiasm.
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no subject
Date: 2006-10-16 12:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-16 07:48 pm (UTC)Actually, I thought the question itself was "Where are we going?" (i.e. in a philosophical sense), not that the piece was directionless.
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Date: 2006-10-16 07:58 pm (UTC)