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19 nov 2010

I've been hearing a lot of Russian music lately. Some Proko. and Rimsky-Korsakov at blogger's night at the St. Louis Symphony Last Saturday--a very good concert with a violin concerto by Thomas Adès. Then on Sunday hearing the Youth Orchestra play and last night, the Ladue high school band with more R-K, the Capriccio Espagnol this time.

Prokofief's 1st symphony is nicknamed the "classical" because it has that 18th century feel. The SLSO gave a crisp performance of it, but it's not my favorite piece: it feels a little sterile to me.

The Adés concerto was played by Leila Josefowicz, a wonderful player. I wasn't seduced by the composition itself, though David Robertson gave an entertaining lecture about it before they played it. When he had her play a bit of a Bach piece I found myself wishing she would play more of that.

The RK Sheherazade featured some of the excellent soloists in the orchestra and got a standing O, as Leila did not.

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Sunday's Youth Orchestra featured a Mozart war-horse, the 40th, a Barber symphony, as well as a Berlioz overture and Billy the Kid, by Copland, this last one directed by Robertson. No Russian music here. The Youth Orchestra is a fine ensemble in which my particular youth plays the trumpet.

2 comentarios:

  1. Josefowicz is quite good, and I envy you the chance to hear her. I don't totally understand why they gave her a MacArthur, though, and haven't given one to any of the dozen other amazing concertizers of her age cohort.

    This makes me want to hear the Ades, all the same.

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  2. The Adès is worth hearing, as is Josefowicz. I think the Macarthur comes from her having championed certain canonical but still contemporary composers. In other words, she's a little bit adventurous, but not too much. I'm still waiting for my genius grant.

    I hear a lot of contemporary music at the SLSO, but it's not super-avant garde. Just enough so the old folks don't like it, but not enough so that I do.

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