[BPoletti]

Went to the SLSO "coffee concert" this morning to hear Brahms Violin Concerto and Pictures at an Exhibition (orc. Ravel). 

The orchestra's opening piece was a delightful composition by Ligeti "Concert Romanesc."  I had not before heard this piece that combines dark passages with some light Romanian dance themes and strong, rhythmic, dynamic expression.  Quite enjoyable, an unexpected delight.  A very good opening piece that reminded me of some of the works of Listz, Enescu and Dvorak. 

The Brahms Violin Concerto featured David Halen on violin.  His performance was good when Robertson remembered to scale back the orchestra.  This is a problem with both Powell Hall and most conductors in that venue.  They conduct and balance the orchestra from the podium, NOT from the audience's perspective.  Halen's performance was lost being drowned out by Robertson's misbalancing of the orchestra.  That said, the orchestra performed very well with some very nice timing accents thrown in by Robertson.  What could be heard of Halen's performance was superb.  His mastery of the instrument was clear and his performance clean. 

The Pictures was excellent.  This is where Robertson's style shows brilliantly.  He gives the orchestra a more free hand with its dynamic range than I recall from his predecessors.  The crescendos were anything but subdued which makes the performance much more dramatic, more fun.  Though the percussion section had a couple of timing issues through the performance, and I would have preferred a more assertive opening and brighter tonal balance on the trumpet, I would still rate the overall performance as a 9.9 out of 10.  The only other areas I would comment are strictly based on Robertson's reading of Revel's orchestration.  It's hard to take this old orchestral standard to the next level.  But SLSO's performance was well worth attending.  It was not the once-in-a-lifetime performance like the SLSO Scheherazade was earlier this season, but good enough to compare with some of the better recordings I've heard.

In summary, I very much enjoyed this morning's concert immensely.  I recommend the program to others, it is scheduled to be performed again Saturday and Sunday.  See www.slso.org for more information. 

Go, because you don't know when there will be another opportunity to hear this quality of a performance live.  And live is [almost all the time] ALWAYS better than what has been recorded. 

Bill 

[threadkiller]

Hi Bill,
thanks for the nice report.  Glad you enjoyed the performance.
I skip Robertson whenever he's conducting a favorite chestnut of mine, and save those for guest conductors, who usually fare better.  I only like Robertson on modern pieces it seems.  I've been disappointed too many times otherwise.  Give him John Adams and he's great, give him a classic and he pales.  I actually enjoy the orchestra more with Ward Stare than Robertson....oh well, each to their own, I guess.
Still, it's great to see someone posting about the orchestra, AND, live music!
When someone sits next to me and listens to a recording, and acts like they know how the recording is supposed to sound (like they were in the studio at the time) I just want to throw them out the window! 
are they still serving krispy cremes at the friday morning concerts?


take care

[BPoletti]

They were serving Krispi Creme donuts this morning.  Seems that there are only a couple of "coffee concerts" this year.  Too bad. 

I used to have the same impression of Robertson.  Then I heard the Scheherazade and now the Pictures. 

I heard some Reiner, Stowkowski and Dutoit in the SLSO Scheherazade.  They all had some uniqueness that appeared in Robertson's reading.  The result was a most memorable experience.  I understand that it's common practice with conductors to study other performances, but most don't choose very wisely. 

It's hard to do much with the Ravel-orchestrated Pictures.  Nothing to complain about today's performance.  It was good.  Would have been more interesting if he had combined a lot of different orchestrators as did Slatkin in one of his Pictures performances during his tenure with SLSO.  Ravel did a spectacular job, but just everybody plays it, heard it once, heard it a thousand times.   

At least Robertson knows what moves the soul of this classical music-loving audiophile.

 

[electricbear]

Pictures at an Exhibition is my all time favorite classical work. I've never heard it done by SLSO though.
I did have tickets for SLSO Circus Flora for last Sunday night but unfortunately had to leave town. I made sure the tickets weren't wasted.

[BPT]

I also attended the SLSO Scheherazade and thought is was quite good as was Prokofiev's Symphony #1. The Ades' Concentric Paths didn't fare as well, because it is so layered. It will however, probably sound good as a recording where you can do repeated listening.
Chris H.