Concert – Berkeley Square Barbarian

Preview of Rattle and LSO performing Stockhausen at Tate Modern

June 29, 2018 No Comments

We’ve just returned from our visit to the preview of Sir Simon Rattle and the London Symphony Orchestra performing Stockhausen at the Tate Modern, and what a treat it was! The evening (of only 50mins performance; 60mins in total) started with Olivier Messiaen’s 1964 Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum (And I await the resurrection of the dead), a piece for brass, winds and percussion. Perhaps the most memorable bit about this part was how one of the musicians (no instruments/names mentioned; anyone present tonight would know who I’m talking about) thoroughly got it wrong big time, and – much more impressively – how the great maestro, Sir Simon Rattle walked up to the person in question at the end of the piece, and gently, smilingly, warmly, and clearly trying to suppress a burst of incredulous laughter, asked “What happened?”, to which the perpetrator said “I don’t know”. The world’s most famous […]

Art and Culture, London, Music

Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Philharmonic at the Barbican

May 12, 2018 4 Comments

We are just back from a concert of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and conductor Gustavo Dudamel at the world’s fourth best orchestra’s (London Symphony Orchestra) home, the Barbican, and it was a riveting performance. This 37 years young Venezuelan-Spanish composer and conductor seems to burst with energy. He is already conducting the 8th best orchestra in the world (LA Phil ), perhaps the coolest orchestra in the world (the Venezuelan youth orchestra), and if this weren’t enough, he’s taking on guest conductor assignments this year at the second best orchestra of the world (Berlin Philharmonic, with whom he’s touring Europe ) and the #3 (Vienna Philharmonic, with whom he’s touring America). The evening started with Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms. I’m no fan of Bernstein and never understood the hype about him, to me his music often has the touch of mere musicals and not classical compositions, I’m regularly missing proper depth, […]

Art and Culture, Germany, Music, Travel

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra at the Old Opera, Frankfurt

November 11, 2017 9 Comments

While Ms B was visiting Mr B from London in Frankfurt recently, we decided to buy surprisingly good value tickets (at €50 each, for stalls seats in the centre 20 metres away from the stage) to see the world’s best symphony orchestra, Amsterdam’s Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest, perform pieces of Haydn and Mahler at Alte Oper in Frankfurt. Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 was, as it happens, conducted by the composer himself at the 1904 Dutch premiere of his work. This time around, it was directed by the amazing Daniele Gatti, who took over the reins at RCO at the beginning of the last season. Alte Oper, who have a long-standing cooperation arrangement with this orchestra, were welcoming Mr Gatti for the first time since he joined them. (c) The Arts Desk (Featured image is by BerkeleySqB). Some in the audience (not us) were initially rather disappointed when it was announced at […]

Art and Culture, London, Music

Haydn, an Imaginary Orchestral Journey with Sir Simon Rattle and the LSO

July 12, 2017 3 Comments

We are just back from our evening at the Barbican, where Sir Simon Rattle and the London Symphony Orchestra performed pieces of Wagner, Bartok, and Haydn under the headline of “Haydn, an Imaginary Orchestral Journey”. Sir Simon Rattle is currently finishing his tenure at the world’s 2nd best symphonic orchestra in Berlin (where his tenure ends in 2018) and will already take over the reins at the LSO, usually ranking #5 worldwide (#1 being Amsterdam, #3 Vienna, and #4 Chicago) in September this year. So this evening is a nice way of saying hello to his new home. He seems to be taking Brexit with good humour, but some say he would have made a different decision had he known about it. As expected, the evening was a brilliant experience. I normally dislike Wagner’s music, because in my mind it’s got the (unjustified, of course, I admit that!) feel of […]

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