Last Night of the Proms 2020

Watched this concert on Saturday night and thought it was wonderful. 
Singing from Gilda Schultz was wonderful she had such clarity of tine and amazing diction her Deh Vieni was lovely and she would have the perfect voice for this if she didnt add the silly trills to the high notes that sopranos seem to want to do. ‘You’ll never walk alone” as a standalone piece was just tear inducing 
Nicola Benedetti took over the playing of the Lark Ascending at the last minute. She is just so professional. I was amazed at her calm and focussed playing, she lets the music show the emotion, brings it to the fore in a way that I have seldom seen or heard. I found the montage sections on the Tv programme to be very emotional showing us what we have been missing these last few months.  What a beautiful country we live in and what talent we have available to us. It showed that there is a better way forward than this shit show of a virus and government that we will come out of in the end. 
I didn’t think that I was the only one of those listening to have a tear in my during the performance 
The usual suspects at the end of the programme were pretty good to but thats just the tradition. 
This was a concert pitched perfectly to judge the mood off the nation and to offer a level of emotional release that must have made all who listened a much needed boost. 

Beethoven

I have a playlist of all Beethoven Piano Sonatas, today I listened to 23 and 26. Played by Yundi and Paul Lewis respectively.

I have had these saved for a few years now but I have left them without a listen for a while. They seem like long lost friends, that you can start a conversation with after a 6 months of no contact.

 

Best Symphony Openings

  • A quick list of my favourite symphony opening bars in no particular order.
    • Beethoven no6 Pastoral symphony
    • Schubert no8 unfinished
    • Mahler no2 Resurrection
    • Beethoven no 5
    • Mendelssohn no4 Italian
    • Vaughan Williams no3 Pastoral

    Weekly listening

    Unfortunately work has been getting in the way of listening to music but have caught the odd sone on radio 3 and i did try the new Scala radio yesterday to see what it was like.

    Highlight of the week was a new playlist that Spotify had done for me.

    Loved it. Particularly liked the :

    1. cello Concerto in C minor by Kurt Atterberg
      Symphony no 21 Kaddish by Mieczyslaw Weinberg
  • 2 new composers to me, though they lived in the early to middle of the 20th century.
  • I would check them out Truls Mork was the soloist on the Atterberg , CBSO on the Weinberg

  • Bach

    My latest obsession is the keyboard music of Bach.

    Partitas played by Murray Perahia

    WTC by András Schiff

    Long may this continue. It is music that calms and brings happiness to my tortured and troubled mind

    Beethoven Piano Concerto no 4

    I was 19 when i first heard this at a concert in Nottingham. The London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andre Previn, with Emmanuel Ax as the soloist.

    I was in my first year studying Economics and used my student discount, think the ticket cost me £5. I was beginning to get interested  in Classical Music After watching Amadeus the Fantastic movie. I had a listened to a huge amount of Mozart after that but wanted to hear something live. So why not ! ideas interested in seeing Andre Previn to see if he was more than just the fall guy for Morecombe and Wise.

    It was a concert of 4’s :

    Mendelssohn 4 symphony : Beethoven 4th Piano Concerto: Brahms 4th Symphony

    I remember liking the Mendelssohn abut the finale of the Beethoven just blew me away and I have loved it ever since. The best performance I have ever seen or listened to was the Paul Lewis performance at the proms a few years ago.

    Look it up its on you tube

     

    John Field

    An Irish Composer, but really a composer you probably have never heard of but should have.

    Romantic – lived from 1782 to 1837

    His music is very much in the mold of Chopin, very romantic in nature.

    Key work for me : Variations on Kamarinskaya

    Music I have been listening to this week

    I listen to music everyday and have various sources.

    BBC Radio 3 – love Essential Classics, the morning show, which i try and listen to in quite moments at work.

    Spotify: – I have a premium account and download my favourite music into Playlists and listen during my commute.

    This week i have found some music i have been searching for sometime. Terry Riley “In C” saw this on a documentary on BBC4 a couple of years ago and it has been ion my Todo list for some time

    In quite moments I have been exploring Bach –

    The Well tempered Clavier – András Schiff recording.

    Murray Perahia playing Partita’s No1,5 and 6