Tag: orchestra

REVIEW: Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra

Tsukumo
Looks like they’re all giving us magical spells! Courtesy of UMS

The first thing that I could say is “Wow.” I was so pleased with their playing that I did not want the concert to end. Each and every note was performed with so many different colors, with tones that we often cannot find in American-based orchestras. I was especially drawn by the extremely wide range of dynamics that the orchestra was able to produce, and the conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s ability to convey all of his artistic visions with just his body language.

I was most inspired by their performance of Ravel’s Concerto for Piano in G Major (1931), with Hélène Grimaud on piano. Ms. Grimaud’s technique was beyond words — her fingers flew everywhere but knew exactly where to land, and produced the right kind of sounds for particular parts of the pieces. I absolutely love this concerto, and I was looking forward to hearing it live — soloist Hélène Grimaud and Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra with Maestro Yannick Nézet-Séguin all exceeded my expectations, and captured so many characters that this piece contains. They left me loving this concerto even more.

I also loved watching Maestro’s conducting style. A little bit of background story here: I am part of the conductor search for the orchestra I play in right now, and thus I’ve observed so many conductors in the past month. Through this search, I’ve realized that I really love it when conductors focus more on conveying the artistry rather than showing a steady tempo all the time. Mr. Nézet-Séguin’s conducting had just that — hand gestures that got the most out of the orchestra. How I wished he could conduct our ensemble! (Haha, right.) I had a lot to learn from the musicians in the orchestra as well, especially those in the woodwind section, who moved with the music to invite other players to play with them. It was beautifully done.

Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra was visiting Ann Arbor as a part of their U.S. tour, with the other stops at North Ridge, San Diego, Costa Mesa, Palm Desert, San Francisco, Chicago, and New York. They performed the same program — Ravel’s Ma Mere l’Oye and Piano Concerto in G Major as well as Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 — right before they left for the United States, in their hometown of Rotterdam, Netherlands. It is such an honor that an orchestra of this high caliber has visited Ann Arbor to share their art.

PREVIEW: University Symphony Orchestra & University Philharmonia Orchestra

Tsukumo

When: Wednesday, November 12 at 8pm

Where: Hill Auditorium

Tickets: none (free)!

U-M School of Music’s two orchestras come together to perform a program that reflects on what it means to be American — from Native American, African American, and Bohemian visitor’s perspectives. The concert with musicians from University Symphony Orchestra (USO) & University Philharmonia Orchestra (UPO) features a movement from William Grant Still’s Afro-American Symphony (1930); Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate’s Tracing Mississippi, a concerto for flute (2001); and finally, Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, “From the New World” (1893). I’m sure many of you are familiar with the tune “goin’ home, goin’ home…” Did you know that this is one of the most famous solos for English horn in Dvořák’s “New World” symphony? From rarely performed works to many audiences’ favorite, this concert will surely be worth your attention. Also, this is one of the very rare chances to see School of Music, Theater, and Dance’s Dean Christopher Kendall conduct. Don’t miss out!

REVIEW: New York Philharmonic

Kayla Silverstein 3 Comments
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/02/24/arts/24WOLLHEIM_SPAN/24WOLLHEIM-articleLarge.jpg
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/02/24/arts/24WOLLHEIM_SPAN/24WOLLHEIM-articleLarge.jpg

Saturday night, Hill Auditorium was absolutely packed. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the auditorium sold out before, but this was just about at peak capacity. And only after I’d finished appraising the crowd, everyone so nicely suited up, did I notice the orchestra was already tuning on stage. It was a smaller section of the orchestra that they used for the first two Mozart pieces, making up the first half of the concert. Regardless, their sound was more than impressive. From the moment the conductor walked on stage, I entirely forgot where I was until it all ended in a final, flourished wave of his arm.

The first piece, Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, K. 492 was absolutely staggering. Every turn of the music left me wondering, what’s coming next? As I sat their listening, I tried to imagine what I would be doing if I were in a silent film where this was the soundtrack. I imagined me dancing, then the floor gave out and I was falling, then I was laughing and flirting with a dashing gentleman, then he murders me! With every twist and lift of the synchronized first violinists, the attitude of the piece entirely shifted. As every overture should conclude, it was a valiant finish that left everyone squirming in their seats, wanting more.

Mozart’s Symphony No. 36 in C Major, K. 425 was the second piece and even more fantastic than its predecessor. Just as flourished albeit a little more charming and embellished with shadows of passion, this piece too was breathtakingly perfect.

That’s the other thing about the New York Philharmonic – I don’t think you can do it any better! Both their Mozart pieces and the Brahms were absolutely flawless. After the show, I had froyo with a friend of mine who attended the concert with me and I asked her, seeing as she is quite an esteemed musician herself, how do you do it better than that? She replied, simply, you don’t.

The Brahms piece they played was one that took Brahms nearly 11 years to compose. 11 years on the same symphony!? I can’t even imagine. I write short fiction as part of my creative writing major here and that would mean that I would have started a story back when I was nine if I were to write a story in the time it took Brahms to write his first symphony. What?! The piece was, of course, stellar. It said in the program that it was fairly lengthy compared to the average arrangement of the time, however, I swear it felt like I sat in my seat for not 10 minutes when it had actually been two hours for the whole concert. I couldn’t believe it had ended, and I was actually sort of upset I hadn’t seen it coming.

In conclusion to my rave review of the New York Phil, it was just so great. Peter Laki, UMS correspondent, wrote in the program book: “The classics provide us with much-needed emotional stability in these volatile and uncertain times, and we must make sure we bequeath our love of them to those coming after us, just as we inherited it from those who have been here before.” Truly, nothing is better than that.

PREVIEW: New York Philharmonic

Kayla Silverstein

Saturday, February 23 at 8pm, the New York Philharmonic will be performing in Hill Auditorium! Come check out this prestigious ensemble alongside the UMS Choral Union as they wow the audience with fantastical overtures by both Brahms and Mozart. It is sure to be a stellar performance!

So, where will you be Saturday, February 23 at 8pm?

Hope to see you there 🙂

http://ums.org/performances/new-york-philharmonic <-- more info on the performance!

REVIEW: Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra with Lang Lang

Cynthia

Program
· Prokofiev : Symphony No. 1 in D Major, Op. 25 (“Classical”) (1917)
· Prokofiev : Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Major, Op. 26 (1917-21)
· Encore – Chopin : Etude, Op. 10, No 3
· Brahms : Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 73 (1877)
· Encore : Smetana’s “Dance of the Comedians” from The Bartered Bride

Did you know Lang Lang has his own shoe? Of the facts from the talk at the Arts and Eats Program, that was probably the most interesting one! Never mind that all of the members of the orchestra are all 26 years old or younger (they’re all virtuosos)…a shoe with his picture and his name in Chinese on it. Of course, the first thing I did when I returned to my room was to google it.

Our seats were in the very last row of the middle of the mezzanine section. While these seats are usually pretty cheap, they turned out to be perfect for my friend and me. The person in front of us was at least 6.5 feet tall and if we were sitting down, we would not be able to see anything! We ended up letting the seat fold up and then sit on top of that. The Arts and Eats program turned out to be a pretty good deal after all!

I found the selection of pieces to be very intriguing. The first Prokofiev piece took me by surprise and was much more “cheerful” than I expected. To be honest, I was expecting a loud crash of the symbols, dissonant chords played by the strings and brass, topped off by a smattering of the drums and timpani. Instead, the symphony sounded more reminiscent of a classical symphony, but with a little more freedom and less restriction of the form. The second piece, the piano concerto with Lang Lang had more of modern music that I was expecting. The piece was not hard to listen to though, since the piano melody helped relieve some of the tension felt in the notes played by the brass and strings section.

By the last piece, a lot of the audience was gone. I had a vague impression that the majority of the Asians who had tickets (I noticed there was a larger percentage of Asians at this concert than in previous classical music concerts) were gone. Lang Lang was also done playing. I loved the Brahms symphony though. It turned out to be a very characteristically “orchestral” piece. And throughout, I was sure I heard snippets of Brahms’ famous “Lullaby,” creating the perfect ending to a long day.