The latest concert report for Show Me Something Interesting concerns a young pianist called Alexei Grynyunk (pictured left). Of British-Ukranian origin, Alexei has appeared in many of the world's most prestegious concert halls, including Show Me Something Interesting's personal favourite: the Wigmore Hall.
Alexei manages to combine technical brilliance with real emotional understanding of the pieces he performs, and his flair and involvement are clear for anyone to see, yet what fascinated me most about this artist was his humility. When receiving his applause, he semed less at ease than when he was at the piano performing. Nevertheless, it was refreshing to see a performer and artist of such skill be so humble and human. The concert itself was part of the Chopin bi-centenery, and the first half contained six pieces from the great pianist-composer. My favourites were the nocturne in C# minor, and the 'Heroic'. After this came the 'Appassionata' from Beethoven, and finally the Hungarian Rhapsody no 2 by Liszt, all of which were played exquisitely. The links below to the various pieces from the concert do not all have Alexei playing them, but are there to showcase the music. I hope you enjoy them. Full concert listing: Chopin: Polonaise in C# minor. Op 26 no 1 Nocturne in F. Op 15 no 1 Variations on a German Air in E major ('Der Schweizerbub') Three Mazurkas. Op 59 Nocturne in C# minor. Op 27 no 1 Polonaise in Ab 'Heroic'. Op 53 Beethoven: 'Appassionata' Sonata no 23 in F minor. Op 57 (Part 1) 'Appassionata' Sonata no 23 in F minor. Op 57 (Part 2) 'Appassionata' Sonata no 23 in F minor. Op 57 (Part 3) Listz: Petrarch Sonata no 104 - Hungarian Rhapsody no 2
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"A free concert?!" I said to my esteemed work colleague, "Why, of course I'll go." So, on Saturday 20th Feb, I trotted off to the Wigmore Hall to hear an ensemble I hadn't heard before: The Nash Ensemble. I am very glad I did.
The evening centred around four French composers, three of whom - Fauré, Ravel and Debussy - I knew of, while the fourth, Duruflé, I had not encountered, and it was this gentleman's music with which I was most taken. The piece performed was the Prélude, Récitatif et Variations, for flute, viola and piano (Op. 3, 1928). Duruflé published 14 compositional works, the only chamber piece being the Prélude, Récitatif et Variations. With the direction "Lent et triste," the piece starts with the piano, followed by the viola with a hauntingly sad melody which stunned me with its expressive, mournful quality. The interplay between the piano (Ian Brown), viola (Lawrence Power) and flute (Philippa Davies) was excellently realised. There followed three pieces for cello and piano by Fauré, and one by Ravel: Élégie, Op. 24 (1880); Romance, Op. 69 (c. 1870/1894); Papillon, Op. 77 (?1884); and Pièce en forme de habanera (1907). Finally, we were presented with Debussy's Sonata for violin and piano (1917). Both Marianne Thorsen (violin) and Paul Watkins (cello) played with immense skill and great intuition, yet the pieces chosen lacked for me the depth which the first piece (Duruflé) had in abundance. For me, the Viola stole the limelight that night. Today, I went to see Lucia di Lammermoor at the ENO. I didn't really know what to expect, as I have not heard the opera in full before, but I was, of course, looking forward to the coloratura tour de force that is the Mad Scene: Il dolce suono...
But the opera was much more than that. What I saw was the story of wild, destructive emotions, mistrust, selfishness and jealousy which, in the end, brought about the destruction of lives and the loss of sanity of the characters Lucia and Edgardo. The remaining characters did not fair much better either. While some of Donizetti's music can be alarmingly boyant given the force and darkness of the emotions expressed in the text, he manages to provide enough fire and rage in the orchestration at the key moments to make the opera compelling. Having the Mad Scene in context allows one to understand and relate to the fragments of music from earlier scenes woven together in it. In the recollection of the various events of her past, Lucia moves further away from reality and deeper into the illusiory world that is consuming her. Also, the opera fits together very well, making it easy to relate to the characters. Anna Christy's first Act Lucia was good, but not spectacular. Her final Act was magnificent: compelling, distressing, fragile, yet strangely free. The coloratura effortless, the final high E flat stable, though not very long, yet what made her performance even more commanding was her acting, both vocally and physically. The young girl, betrayed, unloved, desparing, and yet a murderess, falling into madness, was exactly what Christy gave us. Barry Banks' Edgardo was magnificient throughout. Vocally top-notch, his acting on form, his own descent into madness, via hatred, vengeance and betrayal, to suicide when he learns of Lucia's death, was as powerful as Christy's. What is interesting is the differing portrayals of madness, and the paths to it, for Lucia and Edgardo. Brian Mulligan's Enrico (Lucia's brother), Clive Bayley's Raimondo (the Protestant priest), and Sarah Pring's Alisa (Lucia's maid) were all excellent, as was Dwayne Jones' Arturo (he made a very good corpse too!), though extra praise must go to Clive Bailey. The sextet was amazing, and all the characters were vocally very good. The set was for the most part stark, and very atmospheric. The scene in Wolf's Crag particularly so. What was of great interest was the revival of the original instrument scored to accompany the turbulent madness of Il dolce suono. The owner of the original instrument walked out in a pay dispute before the debut performance, taking his instrument with him! Most listeners would be used to the flute in this role, but tonight it was the eerie, etherial sounds of the glass harmonica. The effect of this strange instrument was to highlight the internal world into which Lucia was descending, a world which we could not fully understand or comprehend. Overall, a great performance. One well worth seeing and, I think, one which can really shed light on the destructive power of emotions. It is doubly poigniant as Donizetti himself went mad, and it is said that only the Mad Scene of Lucia could draw from him a reaction. In keeping with the musical theme, I also went to see Anna Netrebko and Dmitri Hvorostovsky at the Royal Festival Hall.
It was an interesting night, with dancing and dress-changes from Anna, and the tightest trousers on earth from Dmitri. The singing was first class, with Netrebko’s high notes soaring across the auditorium, and Dmitri’s dark baritone enchanting the crowd. What caught my eye was the number of young people, and the number of non opera-goers, that were there. Perhaps the glamour of the two soloists drew in a more mixed crowd for the occasion? Who knows – but it was nice to see more people engage with the Opera world. The Orchestra was fantastic, and the lead cellist seemed to be having a great time! Overall, a slick, well-produced show, full of both glamour and substance, and two encores. I’m glad I went. My personal favourites for the evening were: Dvořák’s Song to the Moon (video made by pavelrysavy, see his YouTube channel here) Wagner’s Abenstern (video made by jesterimb, see his YouTube channel here) Verdi’s Overture from La forza del destino (video made by pozzil. see pozzil's YouTube channel here) The full program is listed below: William Tell Overture – Rossini ‘Abendstern’ (Wolfram’s Aria from Tannhäuser) – Wagner Cäcilie – Strauss Rákóczy March (from La damnation de Faust) – Berlioz ‘Avant de quitter ces lieux’ (from Faust) – Gounod ‘Jewel Song’ (from Faust) – Gounod Intermezzo (from I Pagliacci) – Leoncavallo ‘Nedda! Silvio, a quest’ora’ (from I Pagliacci) – Leoncavallo La Forza del destino Overture – Verdi Il bacio – Ardiyi‘Cortigiani vil razza’ (from Rigoletto) – Verdi Song to the Moon (from Rusalka) – Dvořák Yeletsky’s Aria (from La Pique Dame) – Tchaikovsky Polonaise (from Eugene Onegin) – Tchaikovsky Closing Duet (from Eugene Onegin) – Tchaikovsky Recently, I went to see a concert at the Wigmore Hall in Wigmore Street, London. Here I saw Sara Mingardo, a Contralto hailing from Venice. Sara is one of the few true Contraltos in the Classical music world, other notables being Ewa Podles, Marijana Mijanovic, Sonia Prina, and Nathalie Stutzmann. (The Contralto is the lowest of the female singing voices and in classical music, most performers that sing Contraltos roles are in fact Mezzo Sopranos, which is the next voice up).
Mingardo is not what many would view as a typical Contralto - visions of very large women singing roles like Wagner's Erda, for example, come to mind - yet she has a rich, dark tone, and a freely resonating chest register, coupled with stunning flexibility, which allows her to perform baroque music with ease. With respect to her performance, Mingardo was humble and understated, yet she had great presence and was able to carry the emotions of her audience with her. I look forward to hearing her again. Sara sang a range of Arias, starting with three from Handel's Opera Radamisto: Cara Sposa, amato bene Perfido, di'a quell'empio tiranno Ombra cara She then sang two Arias from Handel's Tolomeo: Se un solo èquel core Stille amare And finished by performing a secular Cantata by her Venetian compatriot Antonio Vivaldi: Cessate, omai cessate She gave one encore, performing Ombra mai fu, from Handel's Xerxes. Do check out her album Sara Mingardo: Contralto - a fantastic showcase of her vocal talents. The album was released by the Naïve Recording Label. |
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