![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Concerts and other musical activities
Mar. 17th, 2015 12:33 pmWe've just had a particularly musical weekend, mostly to celebrate SM's 60th birthday, but not entirely.
The first concert we went to wasn't part of the celebration, but by happy co-incidence fell at the start of them. We went to Tewkesbury Camarata's spring concert of strings music, with the lovely![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
vix_spes as leader of the orchestra. It was an excellent concert - I knew most of the pieces reasonably well, but it was great to be sitting in front of the orchestra and seeing the contribution made by each of the separate elements. An excellent start to our long weekend.
Sunday we went to London and SM went to hear some Bach cantatas in the Purcell Room at the Royal Festival Hall, while I went to book us into the Travelodge and finalise birthday arrangements, of which more tomorrow. SM thoroughly enjoyed the performance by the London Bach Singers and the Feinstein Ensemble.
In the evening we returned to the Royal Festival Hall to hear the Philharmonia conducted by Edward Gardner. I enjoyed the first piece, which was Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture, although I wasn't sure how much the conductor was contributing. And, while the orchestra (male half) were in white tie and tails, he looked like an undertaker in black tie and business suit. The Mozart piano concerto which followed was probably lovely, but the meal we had eaten beforehand had taken effect and I confess to having dozed. After the concert I heard the elderly lady sitting next to me admit to her companion that she had done the same - and I'd had to nudge SM at one point. The concert was being transmitted live on Radio 3 and their audience might not have appreciated any snoring.
The second half was devoted to Mahler's 1st symphony: a grand and loud affair. I like loud music, but even so I wasn't totally impressed. This may be partly because I choose to sit at the front for concerts (and plays) and we were up in the balcony - SM's preference is to be able to look down and it was his birthday present. I even managed to doze at one point in the fourth movement, so it would be fair to say I wasn't swept up in the music - that only happened when the horns stood near the finale. The rest of the audience enjoyed the performance and SM was very happy, since it's one of his favourite pieces of music, so the concert was a success.
Monday lunchtime we went to St Martin's-in-the-Fields where some of the youngsters from the Purcell School were performing. They were extremely talented and it was a lovely way to pass an hour. I was particularly impressed by the piano duet of Rimsky-Korsakov's The Sea and Sinbad's Ship from Scheherazade.
Finally we went to Choral Evensong at Westminster Abbey. I have strong views on the use of our abbeys and cathedrals, and don't like Choral Evensong anyway, but SM likes the singing and was keen to see what it was like at the Abbey, so we went. Our preference had been for St Paul's Cathedral but that was said Evening Service. I usually manage to let my mind wander sufficiently by the time of the Anthem so I have no comment to make on the singing, but SM wasn't that impressed. The choirboys were obviously of a good standard, but there was nothing that stood out from choristors in other cathedrals around the country.
And so ended our musical weekend. Next Saturday we are probably going to Tewkesbury Abbey for a local performance of Mahler's 2nd Symphony.
The first concert we went to wasn't part of the celebration, but by happy co-incidence fell at the start of them. We went to Tewkesbury Camarata's spring concert of strings music, with the lovely
vix_spes as leader of the orchestra. It was an excellent concert - I knew most of the pieces reasonably well, but it was great to be sitting in front of the orchestra and seeing the contribution made by each of the separate elements. An excellent start to our long weekend.Sunday we went to London and SM went to hear some Bach cantatas in the Purcell Room at the Royal Festival Hall, while I went to book us into the Travelodge and finalise birthday arrangements, of which more tomorrow. SM thoroughly enjoyed the performance by the London Bach Singers and the Feinstein Ensemble.
In the evening we returned to the Royal Festival Hall to hear the Philharmonia conducted by Edward Gardner. I enjoyed the first piece, which was Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture, although I wasn't sure how much the conductor was contributing. And, while the orchestra (male half) were in white tie and tails, he looked like an undertaker in black tie and business suit. The Mozart piano concerto which followed was probably lovely, but the meal we had eaten beforehand had taken effect and I confess to having dozed. After the concert I heard the elderly lady sitting next to me admit to her companion that she had done the same - and I'd had to nudge SM at one point. The concert was being transmitted live on Radio 3 and their audience might not have appreciated any snoring.
The second half was devoted to Mahler's 1st symphony: a grand and loud affair. I like loud music, but even so I wasn't totally impressed. This may be partly because I choose to sit at the front for concerts (and plays) and we were up in the balcony - SM's preference is to be able to look down and it was his birthday present. I even managed to doze at one point in the fourth movement, so it would be fair to say I wasn't swept up in the music - that only happened when the horns stood near the finale. The rest of the audience enjoyed the performance and SM was very happy, since it's one of his favourite pieces of music, so the concert was a success.
Monday lunchtime we went to St Martin's-in-the-Fields where some of the youngsters from the Purcell School were performing. They were extremely talented and it was a lovely way to pass an hour. I was particularly impressed by the piano duet of Rimsky-Korsakov's The Sea and Sinbad's Ship from Scheherazade.
Finally we went to Choral Evensong at Westminster Abbey. I have strong views on the use of our abbeys and cathedrals, and don't like Choral Evensong anyway, but SM likes the singing and was keen to see what it was like at the Abbey, so we went. Our preference had been for St Paul's Cathedral but that was said Evening Service. I usually manage to let my mind wander sufficiently by the time of the Anthem so I have no comment to make on the singing, but SM wasn't that impressed. The choirboys were obviously of a good standard, but there was nothing that stood out from choristors in other cathedrals around the country.
And so ended our musical weekend. Next Saturday we are probably going to Tewkesbury Abbey for a local performance of Mahler's 2nd Symphony.
